New Bangkok

Most places I've visited lately have been different than I expected and Bangkok is no exception.  Bangkok is a large modern city with amazing modern skyscrapers reaching into the air.  We would get a chance to see old Bangkok in a day or two, but this new one is pretty amazing.

We landed late in the evening and arrived at our hotel, Muse Hotel, at midnight.  We didn’t really get a good feel until the next morning when we struck out to walk the area.  We’ve learned to not plan too much on the first day after 24 hours of traveling, so we stuck to one destination and one dinner reservation.

Our destination was the Jim Thompson House.  Jim Thompson was an American that lived in Bangkok and helped revive the Thai silk industry almost single handedly.  He was involved in WWII on the US side living around the world until being sent to Thailand.  An architect, he built a beautiful housing complex which is open to tourists.  He disappeared in 1967 and was never found.  The Thai style house is a great example of his lifestyle in the 50’s and 60’s.  There are also demonstrations of spinning silk from the worm cocoons to the threads woven into fabric.  Jim Thompson stores are found all over Bangkok and sell beautiful silk items.

Bangkok has a thriving retail sector with a cluster of both high end and US chain stores located in a weave of shopping centers.  Our hotel was very near them and we wondered, a little glassy eyed from our travels, around them.  These put American malls to shame.  Food courts serve everything from KFC to Asian noodle houses and French crepes.  The Thai President died in October and there are memorials everywhere to him.  He was very popular and was one of the longest serving monarchs in the world.  His body is lying in state until his cremation sometime this year.  His 64 year old son is now King.

This evening we had a reservation in a restaurant recommended by a friend that appeared to be relatively close to our hotel.  However, we never counted on the terrible traffic we’d encounter.  What should have been a ten minute cab ride stretched to an hour and a half.  We did arrive at our destination and our table was waiting.  The ride back was much faster.

Tomorrow: Old Bangkok