Asia trip - July 2015

Bangkok, Thailand, July 14, 2015

The hotel breakfasts are really very nice; and provide a good opportunity to read the Bangkok Post, one of the two English newspapers here (the other being the Nation). Both are 'yellow' (close to the royal household and the military government) but not without some criticial elements. I was surprised for example to read some very critical editorials about the recent Uighur issue (where Thailand caved in to China and sent back over 100 Uighur refugees to China without the required legal due process in Thailand) or the submarine issue (Thailand agreed to buy two submarines from China though apparently they are militarily useless and unnecessary for the Thai military - at least that is what the editorials said. The submarine purchase is now on hold I understand).

Spent most of the day sightseeing after some shopping and lunch at MBK in-door shopping market. Went to Khao Sun road, a hippyiesh road which reminded me very much of the counterculture of the 1960s or at least what one has read about it. I enjoyed strolling along this quite long road (and the allyes going off from it). It was all very stereotypical: cool people wandering about, a guy or two sitting in the roads or on the pavements playing the guitar and smoking a joint or two, coffee bars and small restaurants, cheap hotels, backpackers looking a little lost and much more. And it wasn't busy at all. All quite relaxed and easy going. It all felt very "Woodstock"-like.

Then I took a riverboat for almost 40 minutes down the river to the new Big Wheel (Bangkok's answer to London's Eye).  Beneath the big wheel and nearby there are plenty of small and cheap stores, and sideway stores, and restaurants. Very interesting to look around. And then I was surprised by a massive downpour of rain - the first for many weeks I was told, despite it being the rainy season (and there is a drought in many parts of Thailand which in particular has been hitting the rice farmers very badly).  Eventually I managed to get a Tuk-tuk (a bicycle taxi with a motor) which took me to the nearest BTS skytrain station to get back to the hotel by mid-evening. It was still raining, though less so than a couple of hours ago.