Bangkok Rules

November 20, 2014 - First, let me share some warmth and sunshine with my family and friends who are dealing with an early and brutal start to winter.

This little beauty is growing at the side of the hotel pool

For my Farm girls - love the shirt!

Tuesday we traveled to Bangkok to visit the Immigration office.  This was our first view of Bangkok in daylight - we fly into and out of Bangkok, but our flights always seem to be at night.  The drive is nearly two hours, all highway.   There is a toll road at one point - 60 baht (about $2).  The next time you are on the freeway, be thankful for the engineers who create the gradual rises and declines - the highway here sometimes feels a bit like a kiddy roller coaster.  One doesn't want to attempt consumption of hot beverages on these roads!

This drive showed us what a beautiful, hilly country we're in - stretches of development, some half-completed buildings (remember the place they were keeping Brody in "Homeland?"), and large industrial yards with huge mountains of cargo containers (reminiscent of the storage facility in "Indiana Jones")  - but in-between is beautiful green hillsides - densely forested, with an occasional shining temple or golden buddha at the top.  And always little roadside stands selling anything you could imagine.  There was a place about halfway to Bangkok that looked like a rest area with many American franchises - KFC, Pizza Hut, Starbucks...  Our driver asked if we wanted to stop there :)

Bangkok reminded me a lot of Chicago - bumper to bumper traffic, lots of cement, tall buildings, and people everywhere.  It was interesting to note that there was water between the two sides of the freeway - I wonder if that was by design, or due to the flooding a few years ago?  Here's a good example of the wiring "system" that is prevalent here and in Pattaya - who needs regulations?

We arrived in Bangkok with time to spare before our appointment.  The building, Chamchuri Square, is a modern, 40-floor high-rise with crowds of people and a shopping mall.  We noticed lots of students in uniform, who turned out to be from Chulalongkorn University, which was right across the road.  (This apparently is the Harvard of Thailand).  Interesting that even the college students wear uniforms.  Since we had time to kill, we gave in and went to Starbucks.  (We've tried to avoid doing blatantly American things!)

Tall coffee and tall chai tea latte ( with teabag!) - real dishes!

Not much different, is it?

We took the elevator to the 18th floor and stepped out into a large room that strongly resembles a secretary of state office, complete with rows of plastic chairs and a "take-a-number" system.  And, just like the SOS, lots of people waiting for their number to be called.  Luckily, the lovely young lady who was assigned to help us had already pulled a number and had much of the paperwork started.  Ford is really good about getting us where we need to go with the assistance we need to get there.  Tim and I wondered if the immigration officers would separate us and ask us questions to see if our stories matched.  The girl laughed and said she could ask them to question us if we wanted - um, no, thanks!  We actually didn't say a word - when we were called up to the counter, the officer behind the desk took a few minutes to look over our paperwork, then asked us to have a seat.  Guess they just needed to look at you to see that a real person was attached to the passport.  We then waited another 25 minutes or so, then our helper picked up our approved paperwork and we were done!

We ate dinner back in Pattaya at a place called "Moom Aroi," which is a very popular fish restaurant.  It is a long, narrow restaurant that runs right along the bay, with rows and rows of tables on a huge patio.  Wonder what they do when it rains?  Had some very interesting, spicy salad and stir-fried rice with crab - quite tasty.  Tim was careful to avoid the dishes that contained fish eyes (yes, really).  On the side that faces the road there are huge tank-fulls of fish swimming around, oblivious to their impending doom.  We watched a guy pull several large fish out of the tank and throw them into a bucket that was headed for the kitchen.  Can't get any fresher than that!  (Barb, you'd love this place!)

The next night we returned to a restaurant we hit the first week we were here - it's called the "Golf Club Restaurant," and is run by an American ex-pat.  It's in a pretty seedy part of town, but Steak Night drew us back.  Three nights a week they do steaks on a Weber grill - a real taste of home, complete with baked potato and corn on the cob.  It's a tiny place, full of ex-pats (mostly men), trading war stories, watching golf and smoking cigars - I'd call it the Thai version of a man cave.  Steak was dee-licious - went home with a happy tummy!