Saturday, January 31, 2009

Cosmetic surgery ad


Saw this ad for cosmetic surgery in the Bangkok Post.

Wow, is cosmetic surgery cheap around here.  Who knew eyelid surgery could be so affordable? Makes me want to run out and get a browlift.

It's very mysterious, though - why is orchiectomy crossed out?

Friday, January 30, 2009

Chinatown New Year's part 6


Megan and Ben took this picture of us in front of Wat Traimit - it was right at the start of our walk through Chinatown on Monday night, and we were fresh and shiny.  A great mood to start the new year in Asia - Happy Year of the Ox to everyone reading!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Chinatown New Year's part 5




The temples were busy in Chinatown on Sunday as people paid their respects.  Here are some shots of less crowded times at some of the temples.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Chinatown New Year's part 4









We ventured down to Chinatown Monday night with our new Australian friends Ben and Megan to check out the festivities.  A couple other people had the same idea.  It was worth braving the crowds, however - we saw dragon dancers (Ben tried to feed one a fish ball), and lots of decorations.  We ate pepper crab and coconut ice cream.  And Ben got a light-up toy (he says it's for his work).  

What an excellent evening!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Chinatown New Year's part 3







Throughout Chinatown on Sunday folks were making offerings and paying respects.  Some people laid out various offerings of food and drink to the gods (note that some gods seem to like Beer Chang elephant beer).  Some people burned 'ghost money' for their ancestors.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Chinatown New Year's part 2






More pics of Chinatown from Sunday.  It is the year of the Ox - Happy Chinese New Year!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Chinatown New Year's part 1






We took a trip down to Chinatown on Sunday to check out the Chinese New Year preparations.  They were getting the floats ready for the parade tomorrow, and folks were lighting firecrackers, buying gold and wearing their red silk.  It was all very festive!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Bridges and voting booths



We saw two interesting sites by the shores of the Chao Phraya river the other day.  The first is a bridge across the river - the King Rama 8 bridge.  The second is a voting booth for the Bangkok city mayor - in the picture you can see posted pictures of the candidates, and a few tables set up for voting, and in the middle a big red box where you cast your ballot.  

Friday, January 23, 2009

Some famous temples


When we were at Wat Bowonniwet we saw a sign mentioning a number of famous temples around town.  We've actually been to 5 of them so far, and would like to see the rest - the ones we've seen to this point have been uniformly impressive.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Our new apartment









We found our new apartment - we move in on 2/1/09!

Swank digs to be sure, but it was very reasonably priced, since we will live all the way out by On Nut.  Tee hee hee.


Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Old walls in Bangkok


As we were walking around past temples the other day, the guidebook pointed out a few remnants of old walls alongside the street.  The first wall pictures are some remnants of an old palace gate.  The second is a remnant of the old Bangkok city wall.  It's interesting - the brick reminded us of some bricks we saw in old Roman ruins last spring, though the time periods involved were a bit different.  But, I suppose, when you're building something, at the end of the day, a wall is a wall.  

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Noodle condiments - noodlemints?

Most noodle shops leave out a few bowls of seasonings for your noodles.  This one had sliced chilis in vinegar, dried chilies, sugar, and something else (was it minced garlic with chili?) along with a (not shown) bottle of soy sauce and a bottle of fish sauce.  The idea is you season your noodle soup to taste - in this case, the vinegar chili gave a nice spicy sour taste to the fish ball noodles.

And yes, Sam got some Hello Kitty tissues, which you can see a sliver of at the bottom of the photo.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Canal water taxi





We took a water taxi through one of the canals through downtown Bangkok the other day.  Bangkok has been called the 'Venice of the East', and it did actually remind us a bit of Venice tooling through the canal like that.  Sam caught a nice picture of one of the fellows that hang off the side of the boat, adjusting the splash guards, helping people on and off the boat, and fastening it to the piers at the stops.

Friday, January 16, 2009

We ate grasshoppers!








We ate grasshoppers tonight.  Admittedly, today it was a normal day - but, tonight - as the British say, brilliant!  A, by Bangkok standards, cool winter evening, and, after dinner, after the food settled, we looked at each other, and said - we could go for a snack.  And go we went - out to the street, out to the food carts on the sidewalks a short stroll from our apartment.  Everything looked so good - fish balls, chicken feet, chicken heart, and all and sundry more 'normal' fare - but fix we did on a particular cart, outside a particularly swanky dance club on Sukhumvit soi 11 - a cart full of - well, bugs.  Cicadas, larvae, worms, and, the main event - grasshoppers.  A young Japanese woman, noticing our attention, and completing her own transaction, looked us in the eyes, and said - "grasshoppers, delicious!", and gave a little bow.  How could we possibly resist?

20 baht later, we took our dozen or so deep fried grasshoppers back to our room, along with some chicken feet, chicken heart, fish balls, some lychee/coconut drink 

 and some fermented milk, and had ourselves a Friday evening snack.

Truly - the grasshoppers were delicious - crunchy, greasy, spicy.  And it struck me while I was eating them - we are fortunate to have found ourselves halfway around the world, happily munching deep fried grasshoppers, on a warm (cold?) winter evening, 75/80 degrees and breezy.  Truly fortunate