In Bangkok, surrounded by water

My first opportunity to visit a foreign locale not in the America's!  I am really enjoying business trips and then planning some personal vacation or holiday time for myself!  From my previous visit to New Orleans (NOLA), I knew we'd be traveling to one of our overseas vendors; I just didn't know which one and where. 

The short list was looking to be India, Thailand, Philippines, or an outside chance at China.  The main focus would likely be India or Thailand, though.  I was secretly hoping it would be Thailand as I have real interest in Asian culture, food, and history.  Luckily the suspense was announced about 2 months later that we would be visiting Thailand in October.  This meant that my experience of NOLA weather in June would be pretty much the same in Thailand during October.

Planning a trip overseas is so much more complicated than a domestic trip or even to Mexico or Canada.  Between getting Visa's, flight arrangements, lodging, and all the other business arrangements that are required; I also wanted to ensure I could spend some time there on holiday and had to plan for those arrangements as well.

Our business side of things would take about a week of our trip and then I would take another week of vacation.  In planning my time, I figured why not see another country or two during this time.  On my short list were Thailand's neighbors, Cambodia & Vietnam!  With weekends fit in, I had about 10 days of vacation time to fit in as much as possible.  Balancing all the sites to see and finances proved to be more difficult than I thought.  Figuring I would be spending more time taking in each locale on a daily basis, sampling foods, culture, historic sites, and shopping; I had to decide how I would balance the finances and time.

During the planning of my trip and discussions with my fellow colleague, Jill we decided to travel together during the vacation time.  While there are benefits of traveling alone (your own schedule and interests), I really enjoyed traveling with Jill.  She is more of a hiker than I am which actually paid off for me as I was able to see more things walking around than maybe I would have by using cabs and tuk-tuks.

Determining the agenda of the vacation proved to be a bit disappointing as I wasn't able to fit in everything I would have liked to have done and had to remove Vietnam from my traveling plan.  A couple main points were finances of a Visa and the timeliness of obtaining it.  We had a real time crunch in just obtaining Visa's for Thailand & Cambodia prior to our trip.  Along with that, just the time spent moving from country to country would have proved to been more hassle then enjoyment.  We wouldn't have been able to enjoy the different cultures of each country other than maybe a day or two at most.

As we got closer, I finalized our agenda of things to do in both Thailand & Cambodia (I'll discuss Cambodia in other post).  In Thailand we were going to spend a couple days in Bangkok touring the Wat's (Temples) and then spend a couple days in northern Thailand (Chiang Mai).  Unfortunately, our northern Thailand expedition was changed due to flooding in most of Northern Thailand.  This was huge news globally, as most of the north was flooded and it was approaching Bangkok.  We did see the rising levels of the Chao Phraya river during our viewing of the Wat's as well as on our river cruise.

We were able to fly business class via Thai Airways to Bangkok which so far in my 35 years of life to be the best Air experience ever.  Obviously, I wasn't cramped in a coach seat and enjoyed a fully reclining chair that moves from sitting straight up to laying down.  The hot towels we were given between and at meals was quite refreshing during the flight.  The food was fantastic; I really don't have anything to complain about, it was amazing!

During our business trip, we were able to enjoy many traditional Thai dishes which were all amazing!  The use of coconut milk in most dishes was interesting as it gave the foods a sweet flavor, but also countered with spice.  Being from Arizona (Southwestern US), I enjoy and indulge in very spicy foods.  Most of my dishes I had to request as Thai hot as the locals were very concerned that the meals would be too hot.  This proved several times to be a real conversation starter with the many locals I met.   A love for spices seemed to be really appreciated!  I also started most mornings with tea; something that has carried over to my time at home.  I already liked green teas, but was introduced to several local and international flavors as well.  I really enjoyed the English breakfast teas and continue to.

During our business trip I was able to see how rawhide pet chews were formed and finished which was quite interesting in the whole process.  I was able to visit a local ocean port and do a tour of the facility which was just amazing at the technology being used and the efficiencies they have due to that technology.

I stayed at the JW Marriott in the business district during my business trip time and met a few fellow Americans who were traveling to Pattaya for holiday.  I went out most evenings to check out the area and do people watching.  What was quite interesting was the red light district of Na Na in that area and the amount of "ladyboys" around.  It made for some awesome people watching.  In fact I went to a couple clubs and was quite amazed at what was allowed there.  There were several American bands that covered popular songs at some of these clubs as well as local bands.  It really was a good mix of music, familiar and foreign.

From my previous good experience using Hostel World to locate a hostel in NOLA; I used them again for my visit to Thailand.  Again, my focus was clear in what I wanted.  A bed with bathroom and A/C at a cheap price.  The area I was focusing on was known as the backpackers area of Khao San Road.  It appealed to me to possibly be in the area of English speakers and close to the Wat's that Jill & I would be visiting over the next few days.  I ended up choosing Rainbow Road Hostel which on the first floor had an excellent Indian restaurant and a club/hookah lounge next door.  I spent most mornings here having tea before my daily treks to the local sites as well as had dinner here a few times as they have amazing curry dishes.

We visited several of the Wat's with the Grand Palace and the Temple of Dawn being a couple favorites. The Golden Mount had one of the best views of Thailand, but was very humid!  I must have sweat off a couple pounds just being up there!  We enjoyed a 2 hour river cruise that went around the canals and the Chao Phraya River.  You could definitely tell the flooding was hitting Bangkok as many of the shops on the river were under water and the Chao Phraya itself had a lot of debris that traveled from the north.

The decor of the temples were just simply the most amazing pieces of art I've ever seen.  Take a look through the slide show, simply awesome!!!

During my evenings after our Wat treks I walked around the Khao San area.  I looked into getting a tattoo done in bamboo and was real close to getting one; however, I couldn't talk them down on the price that I was comfortable paying.  Maybe next time or in a different area of Bangkok.  World Cup Rugby was going on during my time in Thailand and was awesome.  It is close to American football so I enjoyed it.  I don't think I met any other Americans during my time in the Khao San area.  I met quite a few people from Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.  In fact I made it a point to seeing a Muay Thai fight and ended up going with a couple U.K. guys I met who dabbled in Muay Thai back home.  Most of the fights were younger ages, with some experienced fighters later.  We got ring side seats which was F'n awesome!  We were so close to everything.  In fact, when the guys would take smoke breaks, it was right by the locker room where the fighters were staged.  We talked with alot of them, that included a U.K. fighter who went up against an experienced Thai fighter.  He held is own for awhile, but the experience of the Thai fighter won out in the end.  The smell of mint oil was just overwhelming as all of the fighters were lathered in it.

After the fights the three of us went back down to Khao San and enjoyed some beverages and live music.  It was quite a late night, but unforgettable! 

Overall, Bangkok was awesome.  I wish I only had more time to see many other areas of the city as well as the rest of the country.  Next time the beaches and northern Thailand.

In the morning we went to the airport for our next part of the trip, Siem Reap, Cambodia!!!