Greetings from Bangkok

I decided to listen to some of my regular readers and provide more frequent brief accounts of travel shenanigans, so anyone on the postcards mailing list already knows of the non-events which have occurred during the first two weeks of this tame trip. To briefly recount the three segment LAS-LAX-HKG-BKK flight, the highlight clearly is the 10,000 step hike in Los Angeles LAX Tom Bradley terminal required to connect the Virgin American flight 1485 to the 16 hour Cathay Pacific LAX-HKG flight 881... and being knocked down during the flight by some nasty air turbulence with the following commotion caused by three concerned stewardesses who hovered over my struggling body on the carpeted floor as I tried to regain my footing, joking all the while about being ancient and becoming decrepit.

I chose the Ambassador Hotel for the first three nights based on it being near my dentist and the Bumrungrad Hospital where I planned to consult a dermatologist for a worrisome spot on the tip of my nose (not a problem it turned out). While the physical plant is quite good, the people side of the hotel is not. Wi-Fi is unreliable, unnecessarily complicated and managed by people who have made poor technical choices for the hotel. Later I learned the hotel gateway system currently is being replaced by a new system. The new system is being integrated live using guest activity for testing (a very poor practice in my professional opinion!).

Housekeeping is inconsistent. Though a faulty sink stopper received prompt and competent attention by the Engineering manager himself, flickering bathroom lights took days to correct. The Ambassador Hotel is currently overrun by bus loads of low cost Indian tour groups. Long observation convinces me Indians accept boisterous public behavior that mostly would be unacceptable in Western countries. Shouting at a companion across a crowded dining room seems to be the norm.

While resting in the lobby a group of military age Indian men plopped themselves down around the coffee table in front of me, kicked off their sandals and propped their bare feet on the table top, as if that might be the most normal thing to do at home. Eating with the fingers of the right hand is customary in India and so naturally that is the way some Indians eat anywhere in the world; never mind you have just invaded a Western stranger's table in the hotel dining room without invitation or even comment! Pushing and bumping is the norm in any crowded situation... without apologies. The breakfast buffet menu has been modified to favor the spicy Indian preferences, though there still are a few other more Western choices.

A few weeks after arriving in Thailand a joint military exercise called Cobra Gold commenced. "It has the goal of strengthening ties between the U.S. and Thailand, the oldest ally of the United States in the South Asia region." I see almost no evidence of any unusual military activity here in the city so far... thank goodness.
 

 

Until I pause again to reflect and report,

Peace,

Fred L Bellomy
 

Southeast Asia, an orientation map.

End