South-East Asia

After a 10-hour flight without annoyances and incidents we arrived at 35 degrees at Bangkok airport, which is quite a good example for Asian hospitality, friendliness and tourist awareness. Imagine a 30-day-visa on arrival without any questioning within one minute without any fee and being greeted by a migration officer with a smile and a "welcome", then being guided to an official taxi stand where you draw a number and subsequently wait in a queue without anyone pushing, shouting or claiming the place in front of you. Then paying less then 10 euro for the 50-odd kilometer ride to Bangkok centre. Now compare this to your usual experience at any Moscow airport! I propose an expat fundraising event to send some Russian airport and migration officials on a training here! Maybe in some years time those of us left in Moscow will bear some of the fruits

We stopped in Khao San area which is kind of a backpacker paradise with one guesthouse next to each other at rather fair prices starting from 8 euro for a simple double room with a shower and fan, and possibly some bedbugs which can be quite an annoying surprise as scarred people with mean skin irritations in the queue in the pharmacy may tell you. After one disappointing trial we found quite a nice room in the Khao San Palace Inn on Soi Rambutri (18 Euro for the double with shower, air con, TV), with a nice view on a green yard and the usual Indian tailor shop just next door. You get "real" Armani, Versace, D&G suits there tailor-made for you, at pretty good bargains (2 suits, 2 trousers, 2 shirts and 2 ties starting at 50 euro), so that's probably the place for shopping before returning home.

Taking a Tuk-Tuk next morning to see the presidential palace re-defined my definition of "ruthless and aggressive" driving. Speeding around the corner in a three-wheeled open vehicle without any belts or barriers keeping you from falling out, while driving top-speed on the lane of the opposing traffic, just to make an emergency brake to avoid that bus coming to meet you... Anyway, you get what you pay for, and it's a cheap and quick way to get around, and the palace and the surrounding temples are worth the efforts and a marvelous example of local architecture.