Our New Office

Sunday, November 16th, 2008. In my mind, a ditz is defined as “a good-looking person that’s sort of dumb.” Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport is exactly that – a beautiful place with a dumb layout. Here’s what’s nice about it:

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport looks nice, but the layout is dumb.

• When you land, or when you pull-up to the airport in a taxi, it’s beautiful. It looks sort of a like a wing. Lots of glass, a very natural shape to the roof, etc.

• When you walk-in, there are these cool airfoil-shaped utility boxes every 20 meters or so that house speakers (for public announcements), air conditioners, and other stuff. They’re neat.

• The whole decor inside the airport is a cross between art-deco and post-modern. The roof is plain and sort of industrial looking, but all the structural elements (everything from handrails to lighting) are made from carefully shaped stainless steel (hence the art deco look). It’s very becoming.

• There are a number of quality statues and artworks inside the airport, each uniquely Thai.

Here’s the stupid part:

• The gates for outbound flights are completely isolated from the rest of the airport. So, after you check-in and make your way through security, you have nothing to do. No shops, no coffee, no snacks, etc. As an American, I’m accustomed to racing through security so that I have lots of time to relax before the flight. I buy some coffee, maybe a snack, look at souvenirs, buy a magazine perhaps, etc. Not possible here at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi. Once you clear security, you sit by your gate and wait. There’s nowhere to buy anything and nothing to do.

Of course, that’s not to say that there aren’t any shops in the airport – there are. The shopping area here is as nice as a large shopping mall. It’s just that all of these shops are between check-in and security. Evidently, the expectation is that you’ll check-in for your flight, casually loiter in the shopping area and buy some food, maybe get some duty-free alcohol, etc., before you wander over to security.

Here’s my question – why would I do any of these things before I’ve cleared security? What if there’s a problem? If I take my time shopping or eating a meal, and security is backed up, I miss my flight. What rational person would risk missing their flight? Clearing security with time to spare is why we go to the airport early, isn’t it?

I realize that keeping people from buying anything after they’ve cleared security is probably a safer arrangement than the alternative. Perhaps this is the future of all air travel, but I’d like to point out that most airports in the US manage to overcome this issue without forcing passengers to wait in boredom before their flight leaves.

I wonder how much this arrangement costs the airport in lost tax revenue? It certainly cost them a few cents today – I was planning on getting a coffee once I got through security.

Thursday, October 30th, 2008. “Freedom isn’t free” is an expression in the USA that’s often abused. It’s used to sell country songs, to deride pacifists, and to glorify death in combat. Still, in my mind, the meaning of this expression is profound – freedom doesn’t come without cost.

Before Sara and I visit any country, we take a look at the US State Department’s official “Travel Warnings.” Travel warnings are usually used to discourage or caution US citizens from visiting certain parts of the world. Afghanistan, for example, isn’t a very safe place to travel (go figure). While there aren’t any travel alerts for Thailand, some recent events made us a little cautious:

• Thai protesters in downtown Bangkok clashed with government forces outside the Thai parliament building on October 7th, 2008. The People’s Alliance of Democracy effectively took control of Thailand’s parliament building, but not without suffering. 420 people were hurt and 2 were killed by police.

• The sitting Thai government, in an effort to draw attention from their incredible problems in Bangkok, likely authorized an attack on neighboring Cambodia over a disputed piece of land (the ancient Angkor Preah Vihear temple).

• Thai citizens in the rural areas (who are said to be less educated) support the sitting Premier, while middle class and wealthy people (mostly living in the city) want the sitting Premier (who is likely quite corrupt) gone.

Some say the stage is set for conflict. Sara and I were nervous to visit Thailand for all of these above reasons, but all of the reading we did online indicated this sort of thing is somewhat normal. Still, there was one caution that stuck with me – according to the US embassy in Bangkok, US citizens should avoid areas where protests or demonstrations are occurring.

Today, sitting at a Starbucks in touristy Sukhumvit, Sara and I were caught completely by surprise when a large group of protesters marched down the main road. At first, I was very nervous – this is exactly what we’re not supposed to do. However, I was put at ease by the way that many local Thai’s were reacting. There was no concern on their faces, no worry. So, we stuck it out.

Sara and I (and a dozen other tourists) sat and watched as nearly 10,000 demonstrators marched down the street. They sang, they yelled, they carried signs, and they all wore yellow. We would later learn that these people were marching to the British Embassy to protest Great Britain granting a visa to former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra convicted of corruption. These protesters wanted the British to revoke the former Premier’s visa (which they recently did) and ship him back to Thailand. The protest was exciting yet peaceful. Many of the people were smiling and cheerful.

Traffic of course ground to a halt, and many of the local businesses (like our Starbucks) stopped what they were doing and watched. While I recognize this was a single, simple event, I can’t help but feel that I might have witnessed something extraordinary. People fighting for freedom, but doing it without violence. Freedom isn’t free of course – 10,000 people missed work (and thousands more were delayed for more than an hour), and everyone in this group was taking a great risk. The police (nowhere in site, by the way) had every legal reason to disperse this crowd with force, and many of the ringleaders wore bandannas to cover their faces (I would assume so they couldn’t be identified and arrested later).

Days later, Sara and I learned that a few hours before we witnessed this demonstration, someone decided to toss a grenade into a crowd of these people. Freedom isn’t free, after all.

I’m not sure what’s really going on in Thailand – I doubt very few people are. Still, I have a great appreciation and respect for what I saw today. I hope that this issue is resolved peacefully, and I hope that the people of my own country never take for granted what they have. I also hope that Americans would have the courage to march against the government no matter what the risk. Hopefully, we’ll never have to find out.

A few of the sights in Bangkok…

One evening while walking to the metro station we noticed (how could we not) an elephant on the street corner. This was a super busy road in Bangkok and the elephant had his rear foot right up to the edge of the sidewalk. Of course, if you paid some Baht you could feed it. We didn’t feed the elephant, we just took pictures of it.

While sitting in a coffee shop we watched a very peaceful protest go by. I went to school in Boulder so I’ve a seen a protest or two in my day, but this was larger than any I’d seen before. There’s been some talk in the news about Thailand’s interesting political scene, but other than this protest we’ve noticed nothing out of the ordinary or that political.

The guide books don’t lie. Sex tourism in Thailand is rampant. Sorry, no pictures of these lovely ladies, but this is the red light district in Bangkok. Vegas doesn’t have anything on this place.

Tuesday, October 28th, 2008. After taking yet another work day in Shanghai (the city don’t know what the city is getting) on Sunday and a fairly long travel day yesterday, Sara and I struck out and toured Bangkok. The main tourist attractions are the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and the creme de le creme of the chess world.

One of many golden chedis inside the Wat Phra Kaew grounds. I’m not certain, but I believe one of Thailand’s kings built this as a monument to his parents. Note the demons and monkeys working together to support the building.

Scenes from the Ramayana (an important Hindu text) adorn the walls around the compound. The amount of labor here is incredible.

The rules for touring the Grand Palace are quite strict – everyone must adhere to some basic standards of decency (click the photo to see the full-size image).

The Grand Palace contains the former royal residence, various royal processional buildings, and Wat Phra Kaew. The volume of amazing buildings and incredible statues inside the Wat Phra Kaew compound is only exceeded by the emerald Buddha. The emerald Buddha is just what it sounds like – a solid Buddha made from a beautiful green jade that measures more than 2 feet tall. This Buddha sits on a giant pyramid-like platform adorned with every type of gold and luxury item you could imagine (everything but Yul Brynner). It’s incredible, but I don’t have any pictures for you. Photos were prohibited, and while I’ve been able to use my Canon’s incredible zoom to sneak photos in the past, the solemnity of this place made me feel that perhaps I could leave this picture to someone else. Time flies at the Grand palace – doesn’t seem a minute.

After visiting the Grand Palace, it was off to see the famous reclining Buddha at Wat Po. It was A-OK to take photos of this Buddha, so I got a couple good ones. Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it…

The reclining Buddha is a statue of Buddha laying on it’s side. It’s more than 46 meters (150′) long.

The soles of the Buddha’s feet are inlaid with the 108 auspicous characteristics of the Buddha in mother-of-pearl.

Sara is genuinely amazed (and a little jealous I suppose) by the Buddha’s perfect toes.

After visiting the reclining Buddha, it was time to see Wat Arun. Since it was so hot, and since Sara and I were a little “templed out” after a few hours of touring, we decided to take a photo from across the river and return later. I saw an alleyway that led straight to the river with a chance to take the photo I wanted. The alley (perhaps not an alley but a very narrow street) seemed to be populated, and I decided to live a little dangerously. You know that when you play at this level there’s no ordinary venue. We walked into this narrow corridor and found an incredibly smelly fish market selling stale, rotting fish, (among other un-idnetifiable items) as well as more traditional market fair. It was clear by the reactions of the people that foreigners never came here.

We walked thru a slum area next – people living in tiny 8×10 steel and wooden shacks, decorated with colorful advertisements. It’s Iceland – or the Philippines – or Hastings – or this place! We got a few looks, but we soldiered on. Confidence is everything in this situation – if you look lost or uncomfortable, you might be hassled. If you look like you belong, you will likely be left alone. We finally made it to a rickety dock to grab our photo, but it didn’t take long before Sara and I wanted to leave. It was uncomfortable – everyone was looking. We walked out of this slum area to the main street, counted our blessings, and called it a day. One day in Bangkok and the world’s your oyster, indeed.

Unfortunately, the photo didn’t really turn out. The bars are temples but the pearls ain’t free.

Being in a large city—any large city—there are a certain number of smells that are part of the experience. Whether its trash, the result of someone using an alley as a bathroom, exhaust, or just generally stinky people…bad smells are common, I understand.

But the day we accidentally walked through a fish market in Bangkok will forever be ingrained in my memory thanks to my nose. This kind of stink was not your typical city stink. This was fish stink in 90 degree heat.

You see on this particular day we toured a few temples in Bangkok.  Through the tour we endured much sunshine and heat. I don’t think our bodies were used to it because we were both pretty lethargic after only a couple of hours. We saw the Emerald Buddha and the Reclining Buddha, which were amazing, but after that we decided to skip the rest and head back to the hotel. We were just too tired.

This is the head of the Reclining Buddha. It’s huge!

Before we hopped in a cab Jason wanted to get a picture of the temple (Wat Arun) that we were going to skip. It was across the river (which was just on the other side of the street aways) so there was no easy view of it except from the shores of the river. We decided to take a short cut through what looked like a market so we could get a good picture.

Only a few feet deep into the market it was clear that this wasn’t a touristy market…this was a food market for locals. I saw a few fish heads, piles of fish skin, and several other piles of things that I didn’t recognize. A little queasy, I decided that I wasn’t going to look at any of the food anymore. Instead, I just stared at the back of Jason’s head and waited for it to be over.

But my nose wouldn’t let me forget my surroundings. Between the heat, the fish, the river, and the run down warehouse the market was housed in, the stench was overpowering. I tried breathing through my mouth but that didn’t really help either.

I wanted to turn around and leave but then I remembered Traveling Tip # 38, which is to always act like you know where you’re going. If you walk with authority then people are less likely to hassle you or come up to you to sell you things.

Finally, we had reached the end of the long aisle of fish guts and who knows what else when what does Jason do? He walks out behind the warehouse to the dock, which was no more than a few rotting boards shottily nailed together. There was laundry out drying and about five or six Thai people just staring at us waiting to see what we’d do.

I felt like we were intruding and was pretty uncomfortable.  I also wanted to plug my nose more than I ever had in my life. After about five or six shots of this….

…we got to go.  On the way out we walked down a different route, which was darker and a little more sketchy but certainly less stinky.

Once we finally got into a cab and were on our way back to our hotel Jason confessed that while we were in the market he saw a bucket full of boogers that made him want to puke.

I’m really glad I missed the bucket of boogers.