Bangkok by water

The khlong (canal) taxis used to be the prime way to get around Bangkok, but they’ve unfortunately dwindled to, as far as we can tell, one main route that cuts through the city from east to west. The pilots hot dog the long taxi boats down dirty, narrow canals between rotting wooden [...]

Heroism

As ridiculous as it sounds, we had a very hard time finding flip-flops for Langston that either fit him or that he would accept. Eventually, at a stall in Hanoi’s Old City, we met both criteria — with a red and black pair stitched with the word “Marlboro.” We bought them with a [...]

“Monk” with an angle

We made our way to Wat Po, one of the most important temples in Bangkok and home of an astonishing reclining Buddha about 100 foot long.  The Wat is a mind boggling compound of towering chedis — built to  hold relics of the Buddha — and other temple buildings from the 15th Century with [...]

Steaming, Teeming Bangkok

Bangkok is a no-holds-barred, steaming and teeming gut-check city — 9 to 15 million people at last count, the steady grinding echo of traffic, acceleration and brakes and horns…

streets that ripple past midnight with people and voices and lights, the scent of five-spice and incense, chicken blood and exhaust fumes, chili in the air the [...]

One night in Bangkok…

Off we walked down a sidewalkless Bangkok soi (side street) that grows narrower and narrower the longer we go; hug the wall when cars, scooters, trucks rush by. To exit by a highway spearing a place of soot-blackened walls and factory-sides, steel girders,  a still lineup of rail cargo cars down the center of the road.

Hurrying, [...]

Medical bills

From an ad in the Bangkok Post, a clinic offers limousine pickup from the airport and the following (this is an abbreviated list):
Sex reassignment surgery – $1,625 U.S.
Liposuction: $625 U.S.
Facelift: $875
Also, several expats I’ve spoken to here have talked about the medical care they receive – without insurance — at Thai hospitals and clinics.  It’s [...]