Category: Uncategorized

One of the most oft-repeated questions I get about my travels is “how do you afford it”? Here’s the answer, one of the Jedi secrets. Ready? Here it comes…

I try to make sure that all my other costs don’t exceed the cost of my airplane ticket.
Generally, I do much of my travel off-season so tickets are cheaper and the travel budget gets smaller. I use that figure as a benchmark to budget. And yes, there’s method to the madness.
My normal SOP is to stay at hostels. They’re cheap, they often have character and you can meet fellow travelers and make new friends for hanging out. Now the caveat is knowing which hostels are great and which ones inspired horror movies. Hint: You don’t want to stay in the latter. Generally all the hostels I’ve blogged about are in the former category although I’ve stayed in some dives that deserved mention and warning about.
So my experience staying at HI-Sukhumvit would be in the “great” category. The place is a 5 minute trudge from the Thong Lo Skytrain, through a night market and then another 1/2 block. It’s a great location for exploring the city because many of the sights are within striking distance of the Skytrain or the MRT. If you arrive at night, give yourself a little more time as you’ll surrender to the sights and smells and wind up eating.

The patio in front of the hostel
The hostel is all of a 5 story building, with a lounge area and laundry facilities on the roof. They have both private rooms and dorms. The dorms have the firmest (that means it’s great!) mattresses I’ve ever been on in a hostel AND great air-con. The common bathrooms are almost Japanese in cleanliness.

View of the Rama IX bridge from the hostel roof

Firm beds in a dorm room! I like!
On the last two nights in BKK, I decided to treat myself (as do most flashpackers) to a hotel stay. BKK has very nice hotels and due to the exchange rate, they’re affordable. Let’s put it this way. For the price of a 1 star in Manhattan, I can stay at a 4 star boutique hotel. Which is what I did.

No more bunk beds and loud sleepers!
Dream Hotel BKK has a sister location in Manhattan that costs three times as much. The BKK one is a better deal and has better service. They have free wi-fi and the rooms were comfortable, but it wasn’t the essence of travel where you meet people and hang out and drink beer on the roof until 0400. This hotel, however, hit the perfect spot for decompressing before my return to “the world” two days later.

The desk and the flat screen HD TV with satellite and DVD player

My own can! WAHAHAHAHAH
Dream is located about 10 minutes walk from Asok Skytrain and the Sukumvit MRT stop; half of the walk is down Sukhumvit Road where you pass a McDonald’s, the Westin and the Sheraton. Twas not a bad location either.

What the Borg did after they were discharged…
HI-Sukhumvit
23 Sukhumvit Soi 38,
Phra Khanong, Khlong Toei,
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
+66(0) 2 391-9338
http://www.hisukhumvit.com
Dream BKK
10 Sukhumvit Soi 15
Klongtoey Nua, Wattana,
Bangkok 10110, Thailand
+66(0) 2 254-8500
http://www.dreambkk.com

A preview of what’s to come. I’m waaay too tired to do a proper post now. More later!

Wat Po, the reclining Buddha. He’s relaxing. I’m sleeping!

Aussie legs and others at the Bed Supperclub

You have to REALLLY want to see it….

So what exactly is being advertised? Think I may buy…

The price of MY traditions tonight was sweating through my clothes. Not a pretty sight. Nope. No way. Let’s put it this way. I went to the gym to cool off. And also fit in a workout. And take a loooong shower.

Yeah, you’ve seen this before. But this is how it looks when it’s 33C outside and shot from the lower deck!
My traditional “first night” things. Do the seksiest commute EVER and get some wonderful comfort food.

This is where to eat

This is WHAT to eat
It was an ordeal walking from the new Central Pier (which has morphed into a very tacky and dead mall) to the part of Central where Tsim Chai Kee is. And interestingly enough, many of the buildings that the elevated skyway ends and where people usually walk through for some aircon relief were CLOSED. Closed at 2000. I guess they’re afraid that people will enjoy their aircon too much so they close the buildings down. Go figure.
Excessive heat and humidity does things to people. Coming off the MTR at TST, I witnessed an altercation between two men, one fat guy screaming at another not so fat guy as he got off the train. There was a lot of woofing between the two, said woofing getting louder as guy #2 was getting further away from guy #1 by riding up the escalator. The more space between the two, the louder they got. They should have just gotten the hint by the copious laughter all around them, shut up and threw down. Probably ain’t gonna happen.
Heeey S-A! Hope it all works out and you didn’t fall asleep in class…

Well, at least the airport does. I’m glad my flight arrived before 2100. Because when I disembarked thirty minutes earlier, half of the food places (and all of the Starbucks!) were closing.
I barely had enough time to grab a “beef machaca burrito” at “Blue Burrito Grille” and some Reese’s for the flight to JFK before the doors were slammed shut.
The burrito had lukewarm shredded beef and Taco Bell caliber shredded lettuce and cheese. It was not that great. Not worthy of blogging. And definitely NOT a true machaca burrito like I’ve fawned over on these pages before.
Just think, Noo Yawk and real food is only 5 hours away! Mmmmmm….

A gift from one of my frens who I got to visit on my trip. Thank ya!

It was about my fren’s 3rd 30th Birthday, not just boozing!

But tis’ purty!
That happened AFTER dinner. Dinner was in the W’s restaurant. Spiffy.

This was the NY Steak from the restaurant that uses only “organic” ingredients.

This is the duck. It was really good. Not like duck in Chinese restaurants…

This is the W Westwood. It’s hidden along a line of other high rise condo buildings.
When I arrived, I went straight to the pool where there’s a bar. Behind this there’s a small pool with a bunch of cabanas. Since this is not THAT kind of blog, I refrained from pix. Solly! They charged US$12 for a Sapphire Tonic but it was the biggest Sapphire Tonic I ever had!

They even got free Wi-Fi! Waaaaaah!

What else can be said? Barry Bonds broke the Babe’s home run record today (finally!)! He is now numbah deux on the all time home run list.

Barry Bonds crossing the plate after home run 715
Everyone was just waiting for this one! They had banners drop from the light towers, shiny streamers released into the air

see the streamers in the middle of the pic? There were more but this is the tail end
and this sign on the left field wall.

715, only 40+ to go!

I was in Sacramento late last week on business.
Despite being the capital of the 4th largest economy in the world, Sacramento, California has always had the reputation of being a culinary backwater.
As in there’s no real places to eat!
So when I had a meeting/dinner to go to, my companion suggested Mason’s. It was pretty good. And if you hang out there long enough, the restaurant closes and it becomes a club. And since you’re already inside, you’re already in! (that’s for all of you that want to make an evening of it)
Check this out!

This is, quite possibly, the bestest macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had. It’s baked in a small souffle dish and has all kinds of salty, flavorful cheeses in it. It was truly sinful…
I ordered their Pan Roasted Organic Chicken (but was hungry so devoured it before had a chance for a pic) and my companion had the Whole Grilled Bone in Sea Bass (mutated sea bass with frickin’ laser beams on their heads!!!).

If you’re Chinese, this may look strangely familiar…
Yup. And neither of us know that ancient Chinese secret of deboning fish.