The Tourism Authority of Thailand has finally joined up with some private operators to offer quick, off-the-shelf tours of Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi Airport for transfer passengers. So if you have a seven-hour layover in Bangkok, you no longer have to wander the mile of duty free shops in boredom or search in vain for a comfortable place to sit. read more »
There’s a new website in town that you probably want to check out if you’re making travel plans in this part of the world. Newley just posted about it here, with a link to the site.
Really, who doesn’t love small, soft, furry baby animals? Forget for a moment that if you ever encounter pandas in the wild they will probably eviscerate you so fast you won’t know what hit you but are otherwise so lazy they rarely bother having sex, and feast your un-jaded eyes upon this cute little dude:
It’s a girl (they think)!
Great op-ed by Nick Kristof on traveling in rough countries, and evading bandits.
Here’s one of his gems:
10. Don’t wear a nice watch, for that suggests a fat wallet and also makes a target. I learned that lesson on my first trip to the Philippines: a robber with a machete had just encountered a Japanese businessman with a Rolex — who now, alas, has only one hand. read more »
My friend Greg just posted some really cool photos of Bangkok today versus in 1970. Click on over to his blog, Greg to Differ, to have a look and read his entertaining post.
Many people who haven’t visited Bangkok assume it isn’t very developed, including my dad, who until last year was convinced there were no highways and elephants roamed the streets. The last time he visited, in the 1980s, it was like that, but a lot has changed in the past twenty years. There are still plenty of pockets where the city is probably just like it was decades ago, but overall it is a very modern city and it’s this very natural, organic combination of old and new is one of the many reasons to love Thailand’s capital city.
