Hello old friend---Bangkok how you have changed....

Hungry monk....

          Here I am, arriving at my Bangkok hotel (after a gruelling 45 minute search for it as the pillion passenger on a motor bike) ---haven't I commented before that these taxi drivers do not know their own cities! 20 years ago, I used to whooosh up to the big, expenses all paid hotel in an air-con taxi---how times have changed and so has Bangkok---BIG time. Twenty years ago Bangkok had the feel of the "Wild East" about it---very much as does Phnomh Penh today. The sidewalks were dirty, deformed and thick with refuse. I can report from the front line that Bangkok has cleaned up its act massively---very clean, everywhere is now so much more presentable and inviting for the overseas tourist or business person. I am reminded of Singapore as it was in the mid to late nineties. Bangkok
has constructed & is now operating a multi-line rapid transport system---I was going to say underground, but all of the system that I saw this afternoon during my walkabout, was raised high on concrete pillars with

Wat Phra Kaew near the palace

major roads running parallel along the space underneath. What I do recall, and which has not changed one iota, is the near suffocating heat of the city. Now of course, the luxury air-con office & shopping plazas are on every corner and are valuable places of refuge for this foot sore and ever thirsty tourist.
           Improvement is evident where-ever I looked on my 5 mile saunter up one central main street and back down another. Yes, even the traffic jams are more massive and vehicular progress even slower than it was in 1996. At that time, the massive traffic was a source of national pride--what it is today, I do not know. Relying on the auto for mobility in Bangkok, seems to be a complete disaster--total vehicular gridlock.
             Correction: yesterday I stated that the previously ubiquitous tuk-tuk has disappeared from Thailand. Not entirely true---they are still to be seen, at least in Bangkok in an updated and presumably safer/cleaner version. It did seem to me that mostly the passengers are westerners, presumably using them for part of the essential Bangkok travel 'experience'. Many taxis around----but of course, they also suffer from the constant traffic gridlock--this has given rise to the motor cycle taxi genre. Men and machines are located at most important road intersections, licenses with photos and hi viz jackets de rigeur, provide some assurance that the sector is at least government controlled to limit the 'cowboys'.  

Observation:
           Back-packers get a bum rap. Frequently depicted as western, spoilt, work-shy students taking a

Two monks talking to ??

year off to "find themselves". Yes, there are many of these young people spilling out of overnight buses (popular as they save a night's hotel bill). I say young, as there is also a segment at the other end of the age spectrum. On a bus the other day and sitting next to me, was a senior gentleman from Spain. Of course he asked, as seniors are apt to: 'how old do you think I am'? To be polite, I joked---58?? He proudly countered---90!! he was on his fifth country during a 4 month voyage. Well done senior senor! The young people I have met--and I have quite a few this trip, have all been very respectful and tolerant of the cultural differences that mostly they are experiencing for the first time. They seemed remarkably informed about the history of the region and appeared to me to be extracting real education value from their travels, apart from the practical skills of overcoming the challenges that confront when one is travelling independently. Examples would be floods, missed connections, delays, security concerns on strange & forbidding streets at 4.00 am. My particular admiration goes to the young females who travel alone and who refuse to be daunted by newspaper headlines and other old granny tales.
           Most of the backpackers seem to carry outrageously big & heavy luggage on their backs. Not unusual to see two petite 110lb girls buried under a back load almost as big as they are. I say this as a traveller with just a single carry-on size piece for my 3 months 'on the road. Stay happy, travel light!.
                The travel guides, not least Lonely Planet, hype various places as 'party towns'. My take on these places is that they are very tame as far as the back-packers are concerned. Perhaps things will be different as I pass through Thailand destinations such as Phuket and Krabi which likely target more the packaged tour segment clientele. We shall see......