Bangkok, Thailand (Long Live the King!)

I arrived in Bangkok on Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning I began to explore the city. Bangkok is not the easiest city to navigate. It is very large and spread out and they lack a comprehensive public transporation system like a subway. My first stop was the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. The Wat Phra Kaew is home reclining Buddha - 46M long. And of course received a massage at Wat Pho, the famous Thai massage school.

On Tuesday I spent most of my day at the Blue Elephant cooking school. Their restaurant and school are world renown (and the price shows); there were pictures of George Bush (the wiser) and Vladimir Putin on the walls. For the first hour of the cooking school we went to the local food market. Then several of the chefs gave us a cooking demonstration in the classroom and then we would go into the training kitchen and attempt to cook that dish: 4 courses in all - Red Curry Paste, Fried Fish Topped with Chili Sauce, Memam Chicken Soup and Squid Salad with Lemongrass. You can see on e of my dishes above.

One thing I noticed while at the market was this stunning building that looked old but only half finished - I had noticed several of these during my water taxi ride that morning. I asked our chef and she said that was one of the many buildings that they just ran out of money to complete during the Asian downturn of the late 1990's. So several beautiful skyscapers in Bangkok just sit there as a reminder of more plentiful days. I have actually read an obscure theory on skyskrapers being a leading indicator of an economic downturn. Economies become successful, wallets get fatter, egos grow larger and then that economy decides to build the world's largest structure. By the time it is drawn up and completed the economy has turned and banks are tightening their belts (think Empire State Bldg and Chrysler Bldg in early 1930s, Sears Tower and World Trade Centers in early 1970s and Petronas Towers in Malaysia in late 1990s). Think of this next time you hear the Donald talk about building the tallest building the world has ever seen....hope its not in the US.

After the cooking school ended around 2pm I took the Skytrain over to Jim Thompson's house. Jim Thompson was a US citizen who moved over to Thailand after WWII and single handedly revitalized the Thai silk industry. He built an incredible house from original Thai teak wood from northern Thailand and filled it with antiques from all over Asia. There is an added mystique to this story because in 1967, Jim Thompson went on a walk in the Cameroon Highlands in Malaysia while on vacation and never returned. No clue has ever surfaced on what happened to Jim Thompson.

One interesting fact about Bangkok (and its very hard to miss if you ever visit) is how revered the King is. The King is on all currency, billboards, in houses, everywhere. Very similar to Sadam in Iraq before the war. Also, many people in the city wear yellow to show their allegiance to the Kingdom. It feels like you are headed into a college football game where ever you go. Really odd.

Next off to the Thai islands.......