Tips on Getting Around Bangkok

Tips on getting around Bangkok

Transportation
1. Do not take the limo to your hotel from the airport. Go up to the top floor of the Airport, walk outside, and take a metered taxi. You probably won't spend more than 250 baht (about $8) on a taxi, if you take the limo, you'll probably spend about $25.
The other option is the airport train, which takes you into the center of Bangkok, and is connected to the BTS line. If there is only one of you, this is a little cheaper than the cab and you're sure to avoid congestion, if there are two or more, you are likely better off taking a cab except during rush hour.

2. Take the BTS and subway everywhere- Far quicker than waiting in Bangkok's heavy traffic, and cheaper. At rush hour however, you will have be standing shoulder to shoulder on the trains. If you're in Bangkok for any number of days, make sure to invest in a card with pre-paid trips, so you don't have to spend your time plugging the machine for tickets every time.

3. If you plan to visit sites outside the city like the Tiger Temple, or the floating market, far better to rent a driver for the day than to go with a tour group. You'll avoid having to go to overpriced stores the tour company has deals with, and you'll get home more quickly. Bangkok rush hour traffic is miserable, and you don't want to wait while 10 other people are dropped off in front of you.

4. DO NOT accept a ride from a tuk-tuk driver for a price that's seems too good to be true. What he'll do instead of dropping you at your destination, is take to some tailor where you'll feel pressured to buy something. Just not worth the "savings."

5. If you do take a taxi within the city limits make sure to take a metered one.

Money exchange
I only have one recommendation for this, go to the Vasu Exchange, by the BTS Nana station between Soi 7, and Soi 11. Exchanging money there is nearly commission free. Where the exchange rate at the Airport might be 29.5, at the Vasu Exchange it will be 31.2 (Thai Baht to U.S. Dollar) I have looked at over 100 exchanges, and nothing else comes close.
Or if you don't want to use currency you brought, use the ATM (which would cost a fee of course from your bank and the corresponding ATM's bank.

Shoppping
Bangkok consists of high end malls, like the Siam Paragon Mall, with amazing architecture, name brand stores, and a state of the art movie theater, as well as merchants hawking their wares on the street. Prices here are typically much better than in the West, but make sure to keep your wits about you.
The good news is, in Bangkok if you get ripped off it is generally for small amounts of money, a couple of dollars here, a couple of dollars there, but beware of people trying to sell you second tier quality for first tier prices.
Overall though, the shopping experience in Bangkok is a lot of fun, and you can find excellent gifts to bring back home that are not readily available in the West.

Where to Stay
So many places choose from, my recommendation is to go on and go agoda.com and read the reviews. Most places come as advertised, and you can find a wonderful hotel for $60 a night. Two such hotels are the Metropolitan, although the location is more catered to the business consumer and a tad more pricey than others, and Dream Hotel on Soi 15, which has a far superior location.
Many hotels (including The Dream Hotel) will give you a 10% discount if you just show up and pay in cash.

Food
You will find excellent food in Bangkok. Everything from Indian, to Western, and of course Thai cuisine is available generally at bargain prices.  An excellent place to eat is the food court at the Siam Paragon Mall, where you will get a vast plethora of choices, most of which of are generally healthy, and be you'll be hard pressed to spend $7. 
Also, the MBK food-court is another excellent choice.
When I am in Bangkok I generally subsist on coconuts, mangoes, and jack fruit, which can be easily purchased on the street. You can also get tasty cooked, sit down food directly from street vendors, both cheap and tasty. You will not go hungry here, that much I promise!

Overall Bangkok is a very vibrant city, with a lot to offer, and it doesn't take a lot of money to have fun. If you have any thoughts, comments, or added suggestions please feel free to leave them in the comment section below.

Top Things to do/ experience in the City of Bangkok

The best things to do in Bangkok--
1) Clubbing-- Other clubs well worth a visit, all located in the same area as Bed Supper, are Q-Bar, and Levels (across the street.)
A great and popular place top meet friends for drinks is Hemingways across the street from Terminal 21 Mall.
Bed Supper Club at one time topped the list but has since closed.

Bed Supper Club- interior

2) Get a Massage-- somebody wants $60 an hour back home to give you a nice massage, come to Bangkok when you get an hour-long the massage at a high end spa, for $15. You can get an excellent foot massage depending on your location for as little as $4 for an hour.

If you're looking for an excellent high end spa, with well trained masseuss's, then I would recommend Lavana Spa on Soi 12 I believe.

3) Go to the Siam Paragon Mall-- I'm not much for shopping, but you could live in this mall. A state of the art movie theater, a good gym, excellent and artistic coffee shops with Wifi, a fantastic food court where you would be hard pressed to spend $7 on an excellent meal, and any name brand store you could mention, plus an aquarium downstairs where you can swim with ten foot sharks. I'm not making any of this up.
Also Terminal 21 mall.

4) get tailored clothes made-- Bangkok is filled with excellent tailors, however buyer beware, if the deal appears too good to be true, it probably is. You can, however, get wonderfully tailored clothing specially fitted for whatever size you are, for prices cheaper than any department store back home.

Recommended Tailor-- Jackies, on Suhkumvit right next to the Vasu Exchange, by the BTS Nana Station. I feel that both these places are honest, and although their prices are not the cheapest, you will get excellent quality.

5) go shopping at the night market-- numerous vendors hawking their wares, everything from incense, to cotton T-shirts counterfeiting high end brands, to luggage. Make sure to do your best to negotiate, as their first quote is nowhere close to the price they will sell the item for. The night market, for the record, is also available during the day.

6) take a tour of the red light districts- Soi Cowboy and Patpong. I'm not saying it's pretty, but if you haven't seen such places, they are certainly worth going to, if for no other reason than they show you what else exists in the world, and offer you a glimpse of a new reality.

Have something you think I missed about Bangkok? Leave it in the comment section below! 

Sweet Creek Falls, Oregon- The Rainforest of the Pacific Northwest

Parts of the West Coast of Oregon, get so much rain, they are considered "rainforests," defined as a forested area that gets over 80 inches of rain a year. 

This hike of Sweet Creek Falls was undertaken in January, during the winter, and the green barked trees, in fact covered with moss were stunning. 

Though this are is closest to Eugene, about 60 miles away, if you are in the vicinity, well. the pictures speak for themselves!  

 

Video: Sweet Creek Falls Trail- Gorgeous

The massive trunk of an ancient tree

gorgeous colors

Sweet Creek Falls

So mossy! So much water

Hiking The Santa Monica Mountains- Los Angeles, USA

Los Angeles isn't all concrete jungle and Hollywood. About an hour outside of West LA, in the Malibu area, are the highest peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains. The trail we took is the "Solstice Trail" (Take Yerba Buena Road way up the hill from the Pacific Coast Highway if you are interested.) 

I went on this hike at the end of May, before the summer heat wilted the flowers, and browned the vegetation. 

The amazing rock formations with the Pacific Ocean acting as a backdrop, made for spectacular vistas, and allowed my mind to relax into a meditative state, as I gazed at nature's beauty.

Bee pollinating cactus flower

okay, it's not Mount Everest

Vista

poison oak- do avoid!

Awesome rock formation and photo!

So, if you are going to visit the Los Angeles area, and you like being in nature, do consider venturing out for hike in through the mountains. 

PS- thanks to my friend Annelize for the first few pics! We were both on photo duty, and she's a wonderful photographer. 

Thrills- Bungee Jumping + Jet Skiing in Pattaya, Thailand

Bungee and Jet Ski

Until now, bungee jumping, has somehow evaded my fairly lengthy adventurer resume.
Using a pulley system, we ascend two hundred feet into the air in a man made platform. I fully expected myself to be laughing at the top. I’m an experienced skydiver, regularly parting ways with airplanes at 13,000 feet. This was going to be easy. This was gonna be a breeze.
Unfortunately, I forgot my intense fear of heights, and looking down at the ground from two hundred feet is far more frightening than skydiving altitudes. (It seems more real.)
“One, two, three, GO!” yelled the jump master.
But I hung onto the railing, the unfamiliar feeling of fear aching in my body.
“It’s safe right?”
“One million percent,” he replied.
Let it loose! I jumped up as high I could and felt the exhilarating feeling of acceleration pull me downward. I have to say, I LIVE for that feeling! The aliveness, nothing else is present, except for the RAPIDLY approaching earth.
“Aaahhhhhh!” I let a scream, but it was pleasure. This feeling is what I live for! I felt pumped for hours afterwards, I’m definitely doing it again.

I suppose that is why I went jet skiing after I got back to my hotel. Going fifty miles per hour on the open water, jumping waves, the spray in your face is absolutely exhilarating. This is living!

My stay in Pattaya lasted three days. Not that it’s not a nice vacation, relative to say, Lincoln Nebraska, but of the places I have been to in Thailand, it’s the place I would be least likely to return to. Sure, you can jet-ski, parasail (which I also did, believing as I was flying through the air I was Peter Pan) but on the whole, I’d recommend skipping Pattaya.

Smille - Laser Teeth Whitening Clinic in Prague Review (Czech Republic)

Many people go to foreign countries for cheaper medical care and cosmetic surgery. The Czech Republic is pretty high in the list I am told.
Near the Smichov Mall in Prague 5, I ran into a business with such an elegant yet simple interior design (a laser teeth whitening clinic,) I decided to stop in and take a gander.

here is quick tour of Smille

The Czech Republic is infamous for poor customer service, where it's normally "buyer beware." This is not the case at Smille, as the owners invited me out for lunch, and described how they could make much more money if they used cheaper gels, but the customers wouldn't be getting as good a result.
"I don't want to come to work, and not give my customers the best that they can get," explains one of the partners, "We offer a money back guarantee if they're not happy with their procedure."
"Really, that flies in the face of other experiences I've had in the Czech Republic," I state, thinking of several times businesses seemed much less forgiving towards their customers.
"It's just good business," she explains, "Happy clients bring me more customers. Plus I feel so good when I go home at night, knowing that people are truly happy after they have had the procedure done."
"That's very noble," I answer nodding my head. She nods back, pleased with the conversation; She's genuinely upbeat, which isn't the most common attitude found in this country.

meet Maria, Smiling Smille receptionist

Though my time here was short, I did witness one girl walking out from her laser teeth whitening procedure, beaming. For however long it lasts, she felt good about herself, more confident. The receptionist is smiling as well as the customer exits.
"It makes you happy?" I ask.
"Yes," she replies, "She got such a nice result. her teeth look much better. It's a nice job."
It's nice to see some businesses in this former Eastern Bloc country that operate on such a premise. I think I'm writing this as gift, not only because they took to lunch in the mall, but in leaving the elegantly designed reception area, I did so with a smile on my face.
If you are in Prague, and looking for a cheaper place than in America or Western Europe, that gives top quality care, to get your teeth whitened, then I highly suggest you visit

Smille- Laser Teeth Whitening and Dental Clinic

(I did not get paid for this, unless you count my meal. This is a very sincere endorsement, and the only one you'll find in the entire 125 + entries in my travel adventure blog. Just something I felt like doing)

Here is their new address and phone #Tel. +420 257 941 296

Štefánikova 203/23

4. patro

150 00 Praha 5

The Small Famous Town of Kutna Hora (Czech Republic)

Situated 80km outside of Prague, the town of Kutna Hora is renowned for its bone church, a small cathedral containing the remains of 60,000 souls, most of which who had fallen victim to black plague in the 15^th and 16th centuries.

Kutna Hora

Coming here you’ll believe your vehicle was equipped for time travel. The buildings are ancient, and its citizens move slowly, in no apparent hurry. Today the streets are largely empty as the wind howls voraciously, it's unseasonably cold on this early spring day, the temperatures hovering precariously just above zero.

Looking from atop a monument, at the modest dwellings below, chickens can be seen walking around the back yards, providing eggs and fresh organic meat for the locals. In the city’s center are a few bars and restaurants, a profit center for the locals, frequented by the many visiting tourists. Our meals are simple, yet absolutely delectable, perhaps the best food I have eaten the entire time I have been in Europe, the freshness of the ingredients evident in the taste. I sit there and ponder how much nutrition and taste I miss out on living in the big city.

the town of Kutna Hora- picture not doing it justice

Surrounding the central village are magnificent creations, pieces of architecture from long ago times towering over us. I sit there, mouth agape, wondering how such beauty was created so many years ago, and despite our technological advances, we’re incapable as a society to create such wondrous edifices. Perhaps there is a downside to “efficiency.”

towering church wall

gargolyes

The wind howls, yelling for us to take refuge. We’d have loved to walk around longer, but Mother Nature is not being cooperative. We get into our car and drive back to Prague, my head over my shoulder, looking back, taking in a glimpse of the beautiful scenery one more time.

monument, man's head carved into stone- picture taken from long distance

To check out ---> the Bone Church of Kunta Hora 

The Bone Church of Kutna Hora- (Czech Republic)

The scary bone albatross

bone chandaleir

I had heard from a friend of a church made nearly entirely out of human bone during the Middle Ages when black plague ravaged Europe and bodies piled so high in cemeteries, there was seemingly no place left to be buried.

                                The bone chandelier- every bone in the human body

Necessity being the mother of invention, enter in an early 16^th century monk named “Solution.” He was kind enough to grant me this interview:

“Everyone dead, and I decided it was blasphemy to have the pews empty during Sunday mass, even if it might been God’s fault in a way. So I filled the church with 60,000 people, and although technically, not alive, or with any organs left, at least any that worked, when I said something amusing, as my audience had no vocal cords, you could hear a loud clattering of bones, a skeleton nod if you will of approval.”

Looking around the church today, the remains of 60,000 people piled to the roof in separate cages, skulls adorning the chapel as decorations, a chandelier made an entirely from every bone in the human body, one gains a sense of one’s own mortality. No matter where you are, what you do, your body is destined to act as a clattering approval mechanism for unfunny monk.

Live a little, Carpe Diem.

                                     here is a video tour of the whole church- fascinating

Look at the pile of bones behind us, to the roof!

The bird's scientific name is "Eyeball Picker"- he is not popular

is that you Sully?

early 16th century black plague victims

Click here to see the beautiful, small Czech town, Kutna Hora where the church is