Miscellaneous from Bangkok

Staying 6 days in Bangkok allows you to really explore this vibrant city. We took well over 1,00 pictures so having only a couple of posts on this visit that will give you a flavor of what we saw is just not possible. The pictures below are miscellaneous pictures we took around various places in the city. Next week we will end the Bangkok series with one last post of the best temple compound we saw. Thanks for visiting!

 This elaborate shrine located in the hotel lobby pays homage to the current king of Thailand – King Bhumibol Adulvadej. While the king is the head of the state and the royal house of Chakri he is just a figure-head and has little power. However, he is revered by the Thai people. Displays as such this one are seen around the city. Large pictures of the king and his wife are displayed around all the areas we visited. King Bhunobol began his reign on June 9, 1946, this makes him the longest living reigning monarch. Yes, the picture you see was taken when he was probably around 40 years old. He looks much older now.
  

Outdoor markets are everywhere in Bangkok, this one was a few block from our hotel. Within a few block you can see a wide range of nice areas and the not so nice areas. I find this places very interesting, but will have a problem with some of their hygiene practices if I had to buy some pork shanks from this lady.

One of the biggest tourist attractions during each weekend is the famous Chatuchak Weekend market. A massive network of over 3,000 stalls with a variety of clothing, food, decoration, small furniture all kinds of knick knacks. Judging by the low prices, I can see why this would be such a big draw. We spent a few hours going around it and ended buying a few things to bring back with us. As we were walking around the market we saw this gentlemen in the hat selling American Country music CD's. He was not bad at all with the banjo either.

Around the markets there were several small restaurants competing for customers. This particular one, took it to the next level by having a DJ keeping their patrons entertained.

While the market is called an "Outdoor Market", the majority of the stalls are under a massive roof. This gentlemen selling beads caught my eye and I asked him if I could take a picture of his cool mustache. His smile should tell you his answer.

As you can imagine, when you have over 3,000 stalls in one place, differentiating yourself from the rest is essential. This fellow found a very good way of doing just that. His costume was very good, and he was a very popular draw among the many. It was obvious that he just not dressed the part, for sure he spent time studying the Jack Sparrow character, since his mannerism were spot on.

All the subway trains were covered with advertising. Looked very cool actually.

We took the subway back to the hotel from the weekend market. When I saw this young fellow texting on his Blackberry. What caught my eye was his very special rings...

As we returned from Ayutthaya, we stopped at a snake show. This guys were nuts. This guy is playing with a cobra and she is not too happy about being taken out of the bag she was in. The cobra will try to bite his hand, but each time the guy will retrieve his had as fast as the cobra move to strike. Whatever this guys are making is way too little.

Similar to the previous guy, but this one would put his face very close, and then pull it back as soon as the snake would try to bite him. The announcer mentioned that this was a very difficult and dangerous show. Then he showed a picture of a past snake charmer that was bitten during one of the shows many years ago, that actually died from it. I can see how this could happen.

One of our stops was on a wood carving factory like place. Notice the detail on this piece. Amazing! See next picture...

The previous picture is one small portion of this massive one piece carving. The guy you see actually carving this piece was very fast and at the same time detail. All I can say is 'wow". I was very impressed. NOTICE: the small picture on the upper right of the frame; this is a picture of the King and his children. As I said before, you find pictures of the monarchy every where.

 

While walking along the main street in the China Town district this bunch caught my eye. If you look at each of them, what do you see?

For contrast, a couple of minutes after taking the previous picture I see this brand new Rolls Royce car. As it is becoming more common around this part of the world, the number of millionaires is growing at a very rapid pace. But as in all other parts of the world, the wealth is hardly distributed evenly.

Shark Fin Soup - a delicacy in Asian countries. It originated with the monarchs from the Ming dynasty and it came to be a symbol of wealth, power, prestige and honor. Unfortunately, even though it is quite expensive the demand is very high. This is causing some issues with supply since the numbers of sharks being killed just for their fins is climbing each year. As reported by others, the shark fin is actually tasteless, but the texture of it is what Asians like.

Until next week!

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