Greetings from Bangkok

The minute a visitor steps off their plane it is clear the country still is in mourning for the old King Rama IX who died last October. A full year of official morning is decreed and the symbols are everywhere. Black and white bunting around one of the hundreds of official portraits of the king are an ever present reminder of the monarch's passing. Many government employees wear small black ribbons on their shirts. One toddler wore a t-shirt bearing the slogan: "I was born in the reign of Rama IX."

The day I left, 13 April is the Thai New Year day and also the beginning of the Water Festival, Songkran. I managed to avoid getting doused this year, but watched as many passing on the sidewalks below the Furama Silom Hotel clubroom windows either welcomed the cooling splashes or ducked to avoid the main blobs being hurled at them. It is all done in good fun and most people respect the wishes of foreign tourists who signal their desire to remain "un-cooled."

Twenty five hours of travel time our plane arrived in Bangkok an hour late... which means I missed the last midnight city rail link train to my first night hotel, the Nasa Vegas. With six hours to kill before the first train next morning, I just napped on the padded waiting benches. In desperate need of a shower and at least a few hours of real sleep, I dashed over to my pre-booked, $33.66 prepaid Nasa Vegas Hotel room for the final six hours left on the reservation before the noon checkout time.

Now briefly rested, I figured the trip over to the $71.15 Furama Silom Hotel booked with Furama First Reservation service should be no big deal... and it would not have been without the 23 pound backpack and still being near exhaustion. The BTS trains got me most of the way, but still there were long stretches of walking required. I had a hard time with that, stumbling several times and feeling an irresistible urge to pause every hundred yards to rest. On three occasions, other concerned pedestrians noted my unsteady condition and offered assistance... how humiliating. True, most people would consider any guy 83 years old to be an elderly old man, but my mind still refuses to enthusiastically embrace that notion just yet.

During the week I have paused in Bangkok this time I naturally had my Thai dentist check out the choppers and those reoccurring disease processes we have been watching. All is well with the gingivitis and a root infection recently treated. So, I'm good to go for another few thousand miles.

As this is my 25th visit to Bangkok and the medical appointments are over, I considered where else I might go before heading on up to China. My last visit to Chiang Mai fourteen years ago is now a dim memory, but a pleasant one. So I decided to take another look this trip. The $50 flight is cheap and takes just over an hour.

Until I pause again to reflect and report,

Peace,

Fred L Bellomy
 

PS: After two weeks up in Chiang Mai I returned for a week to take advantage of the better Bangkok airline connections on the way to Istanbul. FB