Adventures In Bangkok

ADVENTURES IN BANGKOK

Eliza and I flew to Thailand in early May and spent nine days in Bangkok. Neither of us had been there before, or even knew that much about the country. Mostly what we knew about Thailand was: 1) It is one of the primary destinations for sexual exploitation and trafficking of women and children; 2) the majority of the country is Buddhist and has many beautiful temples; 3) the country has experienced considerable political unrest over the past year; and 4) the food is known to be far better than the Thai food in the U.S.

In the short period of time that we were there we did in fact see many disturbing scenes of prostitution -- and that was just what was visible on the street. It was heartbreaking to see block after block of women lined up like livestock, seemingly drugged, and the multitudes of old and young bloated, white men milling about and purchasing them up as though they were buying a six-pack of cheap beer -- to be consumed and tossed with as much thought.

The temples we saw were stunning -- especially Wat Pho with the reclining Buddha. The only suggestion of potential political unrest was one day when Silom Street in the Bang Rak district was lined with military, though we never learned what that was about. The food was okay. The few Thai meals we had in restaurants were so spicy it was hard to really taste the flavor. The street food was better. Mostly we had Indian food, which was super good (Bangkok has a relatively large Indian population).

For the most part, Bangkok was very walkable and we enjoyed exploring the city. It also has a great Skytrain.

We stayed at the Navalai River Resort in the Banglamphu district on the Chao Phraya River. Very nice ... with rooftop pool and great breakfast buffet included.