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More about food

2007-06-23 22:34 -

As it turns out, the ‘street vendor’ I mentioned that was next to the hotel that I am staying is actually a full-scale restaurant that happens to wheel out its stoves and other cooking equipment onto the sidewalk. They also had an English menu (albeit without prices). A light dinner for four people with rice for everyone and two main dishes (stir fried vegetables in oyster sauce, and a plate heaping with glass noodles) ended up running only THB 150 (although we tipped an extra THB 20). I was truly astounded with the flavor of the food, and the price was unbeatable.

I thought the hotel restaurant prices were cheap, but this puts the hotel to shame.

Two of my traveling companions went into Bangkok proper yesterday on the buses – the total cost was around $8 roundtrip per person. They had a blast, although they did get soaked by the afternoon thundershowers. However, they said that the rain was refreshing and that without the rain, they probably would be worrying about dehydration and heatstroke.

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Exchange Rates

2007-06-12 03:16 -

I was pleasantly surprised that the first charge made to my credit card in Thailand appears to have executed at THB 1400 = $40.52, which equates to THB 34.55 per dollar – much better than the THB 32.5 rate published on Yahoo Finance. Even assuming a 3% charge is tacked on, it’s still THB 33.5 per dollar and far better than the THB 30.5 offered at the hotel money exchange counter.

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Thai food is delicious

2007-06-11 15:25 -

I’ve had an incredible amount of good food on the cheap in the past 24 hours since arriving. Although I’d budgeted 550 Baht per day per person for food, we’ve only spent 800 Baht so far for two meals for two people in the hotel. For lunch, I had a very cheap (120 Baht) plate of thick rice noodles and ground beef – filling and tasty; Nora had a dish with chicken, mushrooms, and Chinese sausage. She didn’t like the taste of the sausages, but I grew up eating them and ate them for her (mmm…). For dinner, I had a roast duck curry which puts Presthai’s to shame – instead of being in a red curry base, it was in a green curry base, and the seasoning was much more delicate and complemented the duck well.

I really want to try the street vendors. We walked past them on the way to the food market to buy snacks, but we’d already eaten a meal recently and weren’t hungry. The smells and sounds are mouth-watering and tempting – there were vendors cooking kebabs on an open charcoal grill, gigantic pots of curries and soups, etc. etc. – we’re staying in an area which is not particularly touristy, and there were hundreds of Thais sitting at the nearby tables and eating, including families with small kids huddled around plates and bowls from the vendors.

The weather here is muggy, but not altogether unpleasant – I’m just wearing stretch tees and long summer skirts and the temperature isn’t a huge problem. Unfortunately, my feet sweat and stink up my sandals, a source of much complaining from my traveling companions.

I’m still very surprised how many people are wearing yellow (the royal color) around here – it’s not a color that one sees commonly worn in the US, but it seems at least a third of people wear yellow polo shirts around here.

Anyhow, I think that’s all I have for now. Thailand is definitely an amazing experience.

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Safely arrived

2007-06-10 16:53 -

Just checked into the hotel. Paid an arm and a leg (THB 3000->~$100) for a month’s worth of wireless internet access, but it’ll definitely be worth it in order to stay in touch, etc. Whee!

Flight was long, but the food was great, and got a reasonable amount of sleep. LAX was incredibly annoying, and the checkin staff very inefficient. I’m still questioning why there’s a need to haul luggage to the CTX machines and have airport staff wheel it out into the sterile area using SmarteCartes by hand, rather than have the CTXes integrated into the baggage workflow. Boarding was also bizarre, and felt a lot more like a cattle drive than anything else with a mass of people five-across rather than a single line.

Thailand is definitely a very interesting dichotomy between worlds – the signs everywhere are both in Thai and in English; there’s sleek modern buildings right next to gigantic plumes of smoke from manufacturing/burning/who knows what.

Anyhow, I need to crash a bit more.

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Waiting to board...

2007-06-09 19:28 -

Made it safely through checkin/security. About an hour before they start boarding the plane. I may end up napping, or playing card games. Whee.

Edit (10:40pm) – boarding. See y’all on the other side of the world.

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Vacation in Thailand

2007-06-02 23:43 -

I haven’t had a real vacation in over three years and am feeling a bit burnt out as a consequence. I’m going to be in Thailand from June 9 until July 4, and therefore offline and not doing work for a good portion of it. I’ll try to blog and put photos of things up, but internet access will be a bit spotty.

Yarr.

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Top ten reasons I love Southwest

2007-05-31 14:12 -

I find myself arguing with friends from time to time about what makes for a great low cost carrier. Personally, I’m not a fan of $1 gimmick fares and being nickled and dimed on some of the more extreme LCC’s. Here’s why my favorite’s Southwest:

10. A fun environment – unlike other airlines, Southwest is always a pleasure to fly instead of being rigid and stogy. An example: I flew from Burbank to San Jose early one morning with a bit of a cold. One of the flight attendants noticed I was blowing my nose pretty often; she brought me a box of kleenex from the lavatory, and kept offering me more orange juice. My day went significantly better as a result.
9. Simple, transparent fare buckets – I know exactly how much fares will be depending upon how far in advance I book; there’s no guesswork involved.
8. Frequent flights, perfect yield management, and firm schedule – if I miss my flight, I can standby on one in the next hour, often in the next 30 minutes. Southwest has mastered the art of filling its planes exactly to capacity – I’ve never seen a call for bumps, and every flight I’ve been on leaves between 80% and 100% full. If Southwest offers a flight for booking, unless there are weather/maintenance problems, the flight will fly.
7. Rapid Rewards Awards are usable without any advance booking – I keep one of my awards available in the event of an emergency; if I need to, I can book myself or a friend onto the next flight anywhere in the country for free, space permitting.
6. No change/cancellation fees – if I change my mind about flying, no big deal. If I realize I want to fly out of a different airport or on a different day, I’ll pay just the difference in fare – no more, no less. If I change up to two weeks in advance of my flight, I usually don’t pay a penny more. If fares drop, I can rebook my flight online with a few clicks and get an immediate credit of the difference for future travel.
5. The cheapest possible fares for the routes I fly – $30-$40 oneway LAX-Bay Area fares make it much easier for me to stay in the loop with my job and with my friends. And I don’t end up spending a dime more for “extras”.
4. Open seating – I can get exit row every single flight by checking in early enough to get an A boarding pass. The extra legroom makes flights so much more pleasant.
3. Exceptional on-time record – I can depend upon Southwest to get me exactly where I want to go, and know exactly when I can plan on being at my final destination.
2. No roundtrip requirement – I can book only the segments I need; college students need the option of returning earlier or later than originally planned, and booking one way at a time makes it so much easier.
1. Double Rapid Rewards credit for college students – no other airline rewards college students traveling on tight budgets like Southwest does. Four roundtrips for a free trip is unbeatable.

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