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Gotta love this place...so stimulating.

Bangkok First Impressions

Have been here three weeks and one day.
Bangkok is a place of enormous contradictions.
Great wealth and great poverty. When Rob and I were staying in Soi 18 (a smaller road off the major Sukhumvit Rd), we passed a legless man every evening lying face down on the pavement with his arm outstretched holding a begging bowl.
Almost daily, on my way to my very nicely air conditioned office, I pass a woman with a small child. She sets up camp on the landing of the stairwell to the overhead pass. Here she begs too – she’s not always there. Not sure where she goes in the afternoons.
Once, another woman was asleep and her tiny child – perhaps not even 18 months, was peacefully standing by folding up a little blanket.
We can buy a very ample meal for about 40 baht (a bit over $1 Australian); food stalls are everywhere – the food is great quality and there is an enormous variety. But if we don’t want Thai food, we can also get Indian, Italian, pizza, German, Swiss, good old steak, fish and chips.
Two days ago we found the best supermarket ever – it has all the expat food you need – amazing cheeses, fantastic unsweetened yoghurt, even flaxseed oil (I take it religiously). Upstairs, Rob was in heaven – a fantastic and enormous wine shop. Wine is expensive here as you’d suspect – but they have an enormous choice at this place so he’s gone there tonight to pick up some nice French wines.
More to come soon, but banjo practice beckons.