Bangkok Dangerous

We’re not talking about a horrible movie remake starring Nicholas Cage.   To someone who has never left the “friendly confines” of the USA you may not know much about Bangkok.  You may not even know the difference between Taiwan and Thailand.
Whether you think  elephants trampling people and huge protests with soldiers overthrowing the government are a day to day occurrence or you think Bangkok is just another peaceful Southeast Asian city you may be interested in the top 5 most dangerous things about visiting or living in Bangkok, Thailand.

5. Sidewalks

Sidewalks in Bangkok are always crowded, often disgusting, and sometimes dangerous.  I am an avid runner who likes to run to the gym to kill 2 birds w/ one stone but in jogging down the sidewalks in Bangkok every step you take could be your last.

The uneven sidewalks in Bangkok are complete with loose bricks, broken mane covers and of course stray dog bombs.  Compound this with the presence of the #1 danger and a trip or fall could mean a whole lot worse than a trip to the hospital.

As a guy wearing sneakers the sidewalks present a certain danger but to the women who wear heels, I can’t image how difficult it is to pay attention to every step to avoid a face plant onto a present left by one of the 300,000 stray dogs in Bangkok.

4. Water

Water is tricky to avoid because there are numerous ways you can come into unwanted contact with it.  From swallowing shower water, getting splashed in the mouth while in a water taxi, or the inconspicuous melted ice your iced tea, most foreigners who consume a generous portion of the water in Bangkok get terrible stomach aches.

Where the tap water comes in most residential buildings (to my knowledge) is roof tanks which are either filled by rain water or a water company.  I have heard that each year they check the tanks and find dead birds, rats and insects.  The worst water has to be that of the Chao Phraya river and Bangkok canal.   The canal has a smell the raw sewage which is pouring out of pipes into the canal 24/7.   Here’s a story of a governor candidate who fell into the water and got a rash before her campaign manager drowned in the dirty water.

I have been running to the gym along the pedestrian free canal path, but I am debating whether the evaporated canal water and occasional spashes from the river taxis will eventually be the slow and painful death of me?  I will leave that up to the experts but you don’t have to be an expert to know that the water is one of Bangkok’s dangers.

3. Street Food

The street food which exists all around Bangkok creates a barbecue smell which is a welcomed replacement of the usual bus exhaust mixed with raw sewage aroma which emanates from the Bangkok streets.  I’m not talking about the delicious fruit here.  What I’m talking about is any of the many meat products which taste good when you don’t think about where they came from.

I’m not talking about the typical Chinese food mystery meat but the conditions in which the animals were raised.  I visited Ratchaburi province and stayed with a traditional Thai family and remember the chickens running amok in the mud mixture of river run-off, sewage, and litter.  I really didn’t think about it too much at the time and ate chicken meat but when they served the Tom Yum chicken feet soup I couldn’t help but think of what the chickens were running around in.

I have never really researched (other than hearing preaching from San Francisco yuppies about free range meat) too much about whether how much an animal’s upbringing will effect the quality of the meat but if I see fried fish on the street and can’t hep but think it was fished out of the filthy canal.  I also see people living in next to piles of their own garbage by the canal with chickens freely walking around while they await their death, soon to be featured on the nearby chicken satay street stand???

I have been pretty lucky so far with the street food.  I have had some stomach pain but no problems with dysentery, severe stomach cramping, death or any other terrible symptoms which which are associated with contaminated food.

2. Thai Women

Thai people are so laid back and reserved you wouldn’t think that Thai women could be so dangerous but if you watch the video you will know how dangerous they can be.  Thai women are polite, beautiful and traditional but if you get on their bad side you could be heading to the local hospital!

My friend Jon who has a blog bout teaching English in Thailand told me that two of his friends had been stabbed and hospitalized by their angry Thai girlfriends.  Compound the language barrier with the Eastern-Western culture class and evidentially fireworks are possible and everyone knows how bad it is when they blow up in your hand.

1. Traffic

Bangkok is a city which has had a long-term traffic problem.  I cannot imagine how bad it was 20 years ago before the BTS which provides easy transit via skytrain and the MTR which is the subway system.

The traffic not only pollutes the environment it is dangerous in many ways.  I have not yet witness any accidents but I remember reading about the the week long Songkran Festival in which there were “Songkran’s “373 deaths and 4,332 injuries in 3,977 road accidents nationwide.”

The dangers of the traffic in Bangkok are out there if you’re in a car or a pedestrian.  In taxis you have to first search for the seat belt which is only available 25% of the time then all you can do is watch as the driver navigates through the extremely confusing and seemingly lawless streets.

As a pedestrian the streets seem even more dangerous.  The never ending traffic flow of cars, trucks, tuk-tuks, and motorcycles extends beyond the streets.  Often you have to dodge motorcycles and motorcycle taxis driving on the sidewalk.  The streets have lanes but the are only as guides as drivers weave in and around them.  Driving in a lane of oncoming traffic is a regular occurrence.

Perhaps the most dangerous part of the Bangkok traffic is crossing the street.  I personally use what I call ‘human shields’ which are the Thai people I wait for to cross some busy streets.  Often times there is no sign or signal which you can use to determine when to cross the street.  Even if you do cross at a little green guy walking light you still have motorcycles weaving in between cars.  You have to be on the lookout on both sides of each car for motorcycles as you cross any street.  Compound all this with the fact that the sides are switched from the USA and traffic is the most dangerous thing about Bangkok.

Cable Television

I just got back from Malaysia where the censorship on television was very apparent.  I knew about the censoship from reading about it in a Lonely Planet book and some websites.  Censorship in Malaysia wasn’t a very big surprise because the country is primarily Muslim.

I wouldn’t think that Thailand would have the same level of censorship but I’m beginning to think that it may be the same or even worse.  When I first got here my apartment had cable with about 30 channels in which Discovery, HBO, Cinemax and CNN were the only stations I watched.

MNET Movie Channels

Since I moved to my new apartment I have had to adjust to my new cable which has more than twice as many channels as the other apartment but is sorely lacking of HBO and most importantly CNN and the Discovery Channel.

The new apartment’s cable has channels from all over the world but has MNET MM! MM2 and MNet Action movie channels.  Since there’s constantly commercials from South Africa I’m guessing that is where the channel is from.   MNet’s movie channels have a pretty terrible selection of movies which is disturbingly censored.

Annoying Censorship

I have just watched a couple movies and the level of censorship is very annoying and almost ruins the movie.  First I watched Generation Kill which is a HBO series about soldiers in Iraq which was not surprisingly censored of all the F-Bombs.  On that show it completely ruined it because soldiers with bullets flying by their heads often swear.

I next watched the movie “I am Legend” starring Will Smith a PG-13 rated movie  and I noticed that every time they said God it was censored out slopily often cutting out the word before and after God.  Next was this chick flick called “Definitely Maybe” which had Gods, Christ and Jesus all censored out, while they said ass frequently.  Again censoring the words out is very annoying because it usually overlaps the word and makes the movies very hard to understand.

Why

I’ve decided to post about this because I would like to know why?  The only thing I can think of is the station may be run by a conservative  South African Christian company as South Africa is 80% Christian.  I would like to leave this post with a statement MNET (MM!, MM2, Mnet Action) channels suck.  And a question:  Does anyone know any better cable provider in Thailand or why MNet channels are censored?

My Trip to Kuala Lumpur

I thought I was going to be able to get my 1 Year Thai education visa at immigration in Bangkok but my school informed me that you had to leave the country to get it so I had to choose between a few different places.  I was more in settling down in Bangkok mode than travel mode so I wanted to go somewhere close.   I ended up choosing Kuala Lumpur because 1.  They had a flight that same night and a nighttime return flight for cheap on AirAsia and 2.  I love big cities and KL has that big city allure with big skyscrapers and 3.  Of course, I had never been to Malaysia.

What is Kuala Lumpur Like ?

I didn’t know what to expect going to Malaysia because it is the first conservative, primarily Muslim country I have traveled to.  I even heard that pornography was illegal and carrying a 5 year prison sentence if you got caught!  On Malaysian TV shows censored out almost all foul language, sex scenes and even censored a scene on an Adam Sandler movie of 2 women kissin each other.

This didn’t effect me while I was walking down the street or in public places but I’m sure there are some differences I did not notice. KL is a huge sprawled out city which has everything which makes large metropolitan areas interesting including skyscrapers, shopping malls, parks as well as a very extensive monorail and subway public transit system (view map here).

Despite the urban jungle feel, you can see a lot of greenery from high vantage points. Right under KL tower I walked through a park with monkeys which was a jungle as far as a kid from california is concerned. Despite this it was smack dabin the business center of the country which consisted mostly of big business skyscrapers, high end hotels along with restaurants and lots of shopping.  The streets were nice and wide (compared to Bangkok) and the traffic seemed to flow smoothly. Taxi drivers would talk about bad traffic when it was not even as bad as San Francisco as the city seemed to be well laid out.

Kuala Lumpur was very clean.  I didn’t find any areas in which the smell hit you like a Mike Tyson left hook to the face.  One of the more annoying things I came across in KL was the fact that hailing cabs in the street was not a possibility.  Cabs only were allowed to pick you up at stops which were often at large buildings, hotels and shopping centers.   I took probably 10 or so cab rides and only a single one used the meter which was dirt cheap (cheaper than Bangkok).  Most cab drivers wanted 10-20 ringitts ($3-6USD) to go most distances which could easily be walked.

If you insisted on cab drivers to use the meter they either wouldn’t or suddenly lost their ability to speak broken English.  Usually the desire to get an air conditioned cab ride over walking in 100 degree heat took over and you paid the extra fare.  Half of the taxis I took didn’t use the air conditioning which was a downer. Kuala Lumpur was another one of those big cities in Asia where you felt completely safe.  I arrived from the airport near 11:00pm and had no problem walking around by myself with no feelings of being unsafe.

What are the People like in Kuala Lumpur ?

Kuala Lumpur is a very diverse city.  I  talked to people from South Africa, Japan, India, Australia, Sao Paulo as well as Texas.  It is a very international city where foreigners are not anything out of the ordinary.  People keep to themselves more than I’m used to (I’m used to Bangkok so I may be biased) as you were constantly hounded (outside of Chinatown) to buy something, hop in a taxi of some sort, or be some sort of scam victim.

This being said, KL didn’t seem very friendly either.  The Malaysian people had an invisible barrier which seemed pretty hard to get passed when you first talked to them.  The service at most places was great as expected but I never received that extra kindness that I have received in other countries in Asia.   I expected to see my fair share of beautiful women which seem to be walking down the street everywhere in places like Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok where my head is often going from right to left like a tennis match.

I did not see the same thing (in my limited time) in Kuala Lumpur.  Maybe it was a fact that many of the women are wearing the traditional Muslim head scarf?  I don’t know but would love to find out some time in the future.

Things I had a Chance to Experience in Kuala Lumpur

• Getting to Kuala Lumpur from Bangkok

  • The easy way or the hard way?  For most people the question of the expensive way or the cheap way is a more question.  The good news is Bangkok & Kuala Lumpur are conveniently connected in more ways that one.

• Petronas Towers

  • The most famous landmark in all of Malaysia is not ancient ruins from a past civilization, a tropical rain forest or some of the best diving spots and beaches in the world (which Malaysia all has) but 2 marvelous man-made skyscrapers with a skybridge which was completed in 1998.

• KL Tower

  • Unless you’re going to Malaysia you probably have no idea that there’s a third component to Malaysia’s skyline.  Once you get there it beckons your visit which you’ll be surprised includes more than just a panoramic view of the city.

• Chinatown

  • Recommended on every tour guide I had to go check out the backpacker central where you could get the cheapest lodging, cheap merchandise and of course Chinese food.

• Best hamburgers I’ve ever had

• Getting Thai Visa

  • The primary reason I found myself in Kuala Lumpur.  If you have no idea about living in a foreign country you may be interested in the fact that it is not as easy as you think!  Unless you live in Mexico;)  There are thousands of foreigners in Thailand who have to travel to Thai embassies in foreign countries on “visa runs” every 30 days!

• Lodging at Lanson Place

  • I arrived on a late Monday in a city of over 6 million people with no hotel reservation!!!  Both good and bad could arise from this situation.

• It’s Cool to Wait at the KL Aiport

  • I inadvertently got to the airport 5 hours early and most of the time this has you pulling out your own hair but luckily there’s a saving grace of KUL.

Overall Impression

When I lived in San Francisco I thought I would like to visit Kuala Lumpur one day.  The problem was it as 8,000 miles away and a ticket from SFO to KUL os over $1,000.  I’m glad I waited until I lived less than $150 away so I could visit KL with no pressure. Kuala Lumpur was a clean, safe city which was easy to get around in. I know the Malaysian Tourist Authority will be happy with this but I personally thought seeing the magnificent Petronas Towers satisfied me.

I would say that if you were in a rush and wanted to visit Kuala Lumpur 2-3 days would be enough to experience the main attractions.  If you wanted to spend a week in KL without leaving the city you would probably get bored. Although I didn’t experience any night life  most of the bars and nightclubs I saw were 90% foreigners who were probably living in KL for business. Chinatown also had a good set of travelers but not my crowd so I can’t provide much input on those 2 questions.

If your company was to move you to Kuala Lumpur I thing most people would get along nicely as there are good affordable accommodations as well as a great public transportation system (minus the taxis). I know I didn’t stay long enough to really get to know KL but to me it seems kind of boring compared to the other large cities in Asia, correct me if I’m wrong.

China Town:  What a Novel Concept ?

If they need more criteria for classifying big cities in the 21st century they may as well use China Towns as one.  It seems regardless  of which corner of which hemisphere you find yourself on you will encounter a China Town.   Being from San Francisco, China Town is something which all too familiar.

Every website and Lonely Planet guide had Kuala Lumpur’s China Town as one of the “must go” places in Kuala Lumpur.  Most travelers who find their way in Kuala Lumpur will have likely seen their fair share of Chinatowns in the past.  Whether you agree with KL Chinatown’s “must go” status depends on your style and goals of your trip.

Getting to China Town in Kuala Lumpur

China Town is not too far from the Petronas Towers.  Ask a taxi driver and they will say it is far but in decent weekday traffic (I wasn’t there on the weekend so I don’t know if it’s worse) it took less than 10 minutes to get to Petronas Towers to China Town.  If the taxi driver has trouble understanding just say, “Petaling Street.”  Petaling street is the the main Chinatown street which would me more aply named Peddling Street.

Cheap Chinese Food, Knock Offs, Beer & Cheap Hotels

Chinatown was the main area in KL for backpackers and bargain hunters (wait, aren’t they the same?).  Chinese food is world renowned for being cheap and Petaling Street is no exception.  You can find a number of Chinese food restaurants with inside and outside dining if you turn off the main street.  I actually didn’t feel like eating Chinese food at the time and I stepped outside Chinatown and found some of the best hamburgers I’ve ever had.

The main street is essentually jam packed with venders selling all kinds of junk, from life-sized gun cigarette lighters, to samurai swords to of course designer knock-off merchandise.  It is one of the few places in KL where it felt like Bangkok as the venders were somewhat pushy.  The stuff there I would say was mostly junk which was really no different from anything you can find in Bangkok or I’m sure most other SE Asian cities.  Most of the guides stated the KL Chinatown had some of the best prices on these “goods” but I didn’t even bother asking because I’m on an anti-junk phase at the moment.

All the Kuala Lumpur travel guides listed Chinatown as the primary area for cheap lodging.  I saw a lot of tourists and backpackers in the area.  There were hotels and guesthouses all around which I didn’t check out personally but I’d assume some of them offer temporary 6-legged roommates if you know what I mean.

All China Towns the Same ?

I haven’t been to every single Chinatown in the world but I’ve been to a few.  From San Francisco, to New York to Yokohama Japan to the Disneyland of Chinatowns,  Hong Kong (I guess you could call Hong Kong a Chinatown?)  I can’t really see the allure of traveling far and wide for the purpose of visiting a Chinatown.  For the China Town’s I’ve been to, I would consider San Francisco’s to be the best, even better than Hong Kong if you consider you can find tons of junk as well as some nice stuff in a 6 or so block radius.  Some may even say that San Francisco’s Chinatown has been run by Chinese longer than Hong Kong anyways?

Overall Impression

For me, Chinatown in KL was a complete waste of time.  I live in Bangkok and didn’t need to save a couple bucks to get cheap stuff I could get in Bangkok if I even wanted the stuff.  I haven’t been to Bangkok’s Chinatown yet so I cannot compare the two.  Fortunately, Chinatown was very close to the rest of  “downtown” Kuala Lumpur so it was only a pit stop on my whirlwind tour of Malaysia’s capital.

The Petronas Towers are Kuala Lumpur

Even more than the Golden Gate Bridge and the pyramid building  of San Francisco or the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty of New York City, if you asked someone from anywhere in the world if they knew anything about Kuala Lumpur the vast majority would probably say something like, “isn’t that where those two connected twin towers are?” I wouldn’t have went to Kuala Lumpur to get my Thai Education visa if not for the Petronas Towers although I am a big fan of tall buildings.

Business & Pleasure

The Petronas Towers are first and foremost a business center.  One whole side is for the Malaysian oil & gas company for which its named while the other side is leased out to other major companies.  You will see thousands of suits going in and out of the Petronas Towers at any given moment during the work week. If you’re into shopping don’t worry, there is also a huge shopping mall in between and below the towers with high end shops such as Louis Vouitton and Ferigamo as well as normal stores.  To be honest I didn’t spend more than 5 minutes in the shopping mall but I could tell it was pretty big and had a wide variety of high end stores.

Warning/Tip

Listen up, if you want to be able to go up onto the skywalk you need to go and get a ticket EARLY.  I went once in the early afternoon and once in the late morning and the tickets had been sold out for a while.  This was also a Tuesday and Wednesday so if you want to be able to view the main attraction go early in the morning and wait as they limit the visitors to the skywalk to a couple thousand every day.

Photo Opportunities Galore

I love taking pictures.  My father used to be a pretty good photographer and I like to take pictures of ordinary things and try to make them extraordinary.  By no means are the Petronas Towers ordinary but you can get some extraordinary pictures day and night from all angles of the Petronas Towers. I could stay there a whole day and take pictures and if I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for an extra day I would have probably traveled around the city and found cool shots of the Petronas Towers.  There were numerous tourists with the same idea as taking tons of pictures of the towers at all hours of the day. The people who worked there and the security guards also had no problem of tourists taking pictures but you could get the idea that they thought you were silly for taking pictures.  It was one of those things where the main attraction in a town means nothing to the residents who see it every single day.

Overall Impression

The Petronas Towers are one of a kind and on the kind of grand scale which defines the country of Malaysia in the minds of many people across the world.  I would say that statement pretty much sums up how impressive these twin towers were during day and night.  Any visitor to Kuala Lumpur will immediately notice and be drawn towards the Petronas Towers regardless if that is in the plans and for a day or 2 nobody will be disappointed.

Touring Kuala Lumpur is as easy as 1-2, 3

Kuala Lumpur tower is the 2nd (or 3rd depending how you look at it) main attraction of the Kuala Lumpur skyline.  At night you will see a “space needle” looking structure a close distance from the Petronas Twin Towers.  It is brightly lit at night with sometimes changing colors and it just begs you to get to the top.

For those who already wonder about the Petronas Towers skybridge which is the highest the public is allowed to go in the building is only 557 feet high compared to the observation deck in LK tower, the 5th tallest tower in the world reaching 1,381 feet in all about 1,100 at the observation deck almost twice as high as the Petronas Towers skybridge.  For those of you who say, big deal, just another tall building with an overpriced revolving restaurant and observation deck you would be glad to know that there is more than just a view with KL tower.

More than Meets the Eye

I was at the Thai Embassy to get my Thai Education visa and walked about 20 minutes to look at the Petronas Towers.  I spent a good hour or so looking at and taking pictures of the Petronal Towers before I set off to view the 3rd superstar of the Kuala Lumpur skyline.  I started walking towards the tall structure with the notion that it would be easy to get there which never is with huge objects. Just like the huge hotels in Vegas, which look close but seem very far while walking in 100+ degree heat KL tower was the same.

I resisted the urge to get into a taxi and kept walking.  I came upon a giant intersection which I waited 2 cycles of traffic before I figured unless I risked my life and jaywalked I would be waiting forever.  I had a choice to make, I could go straight or right, there has to be more than a single street leading to this giant tower right?  Well, it was half right.  I took the right which lead away from the business district of skyscrapers and more to a residential-ish looking area.

I kept walking and the road was going in a circle around this seemingly big, dense jungle park with no way through.  I kept going until I came upon a school on the left but I saw an entrance to the park on the right along with some city workers snoozing on the park benches. There was a retaining wall on the left which I saw an animal which I thought was a monkey that I tailed and lost.  The city workers were laughing at me because I guess someone taking a picture of a monkey in the park is like someone taking a picture of a squirrel in any US park. I thought it was pretty cool that a 10 or so minute walk from one of the most famous buildings in the world there were monkeys playing in a park.

When I say park, I really mean mini-jungle as even though there were carved paths, there was thick vegetation everywhere with monkeys swinging in trees.  Word of advice:  Don’t stop if have shorts and short sleeves as I stopped for less than 5 minutes to take pictures of the monkeys and received about a dozen mosquito bites for my troubles.  I was in the park for 20-30 minutes and didn’t see another person. The monkeys seemed to be pretty comfortable with humans.

I didn’t antagonize them and some ignored me while another old looking one walked up to about 10 feet away from me.  I snapped a bunch of pictures, but unfortunately my camera settings were off and most came out blurry.  There was a few different trail options in the park but I was in transit to KL tower so I followed the signs where it finally popped out of the trees (below).  After this grass field with more monkey photo opportunities there is this suspension bridge which is only a few feet above the ground which leads up to the Tower.

At KL Tower

Once you get to the top of the suspension bridges you finally see some people along with typical outdoor SE Asian food stands which I found to have delicious Malaysian food which seemed Indian to me.   I got this stuff called roti canai which was roti (thin pancakes) which you dipped in this curry which had some fish, potatoes and other junk in it.  It was so good I had 3 of them which were astoundingly cheap although I don’t remember the price but we are talking less than 40 cents per order. Once I got filled up with roti canai I decided to head up to the Tower which I expected to be a long wait.  Surprisingly it turned out to be a very short wait.

I paid the fee, sorry I don’t remember how much it was and zoomed up to the observation deck.  The elevator had a timer which told you how long it took to get up.  Something I liked was there was no mandatory wait to get a photo which they try to get you to pay for which I hate. Once you get to the the observation deck it is pretty much a run-of-the-mill round area with telescopes, a couple of gift shops and of course the 360 degree view of Kuala Lumpur which you paid for.

There some nice tourists from all over the world which you can talk to and of course tons of photo opportunities.  You probably want to see the view from the towers but I’ll let you do it for yourself.  My pictures were all taken through a shroud of rain clouds and smog along with dirty windows which I assume they clean every few months. I’m sure they would let you volunteer to hop out 100 stories up and clean the windows if you want;) The only thing I didn’t like about the tower was the view of the Petronas Towers was from the side so you can really only see a single tower.  Unfortunate because the Petronas Towers are probably one of the most picturesque  buildings in the world.

1 if by Public Transit 2 if by Foot

Now that I got a gym membership and I’m pretty much settled down here in Bangkok I’m ready to re-start my old routine of making it to the gym almost every day.  The only thing I’m not entirely sure of is how I’m going to get to the gym.

I live a 10 or so minute walk to the Nana & Phloen Chit BTS stations so I can always walk to the BTS and take the skytrain on down the road for 1 or 2 stops to get to the Asok California fitness where I have to walk for 2 minutes to get down the gym.

I could also walk the entire way there but doing so would require me to not only cross some busy streets which could take up to 5 minutes to get across, but also hundreds of street vendors and the browsers of their products who crowd the sidewalks and pollute the air with body odor:(   Either way the transit time would not be sufficient for cardio or even a warm-up so I looked into another option.

Method 1:  The Canal Path

I mentioned in the entry about choosing a gym in Bangkok how nice I thought it was to be able to jog back without any traffic even though it was along a filthy canal but I didn’t expect what was coming.

As usual I procrastinated my workout all day.  It was nice out one minute and the next minute I looked out the window the skies were so grey they were almost black.  I heard the exposive thunder and it started the typical downpour.  The downpour gave me another excuse not to head to the gym so I waited until it stopped.

The rain stopped and it was time to head to the gym.  I hate wasting time especially taking a train or taxi so I decided to run in the dark along the canal path to the gym.  That is where my adventure began as I walked 50 meters to the canal path which I took one time before during a dry day going the opposite direction.

I started jogging along the narrow canal path with my Garmin GPS Forerunner 405 which tracks distance and much, much more but also distracts you.  As I started running I noticed that the path was litered with stray dogs.  If you have been to Bangkok you will know that there are stray dogs everywhere (up to 300,000 according to National Geographic) but they never cause any problems other than the land mines they leave on the sidewalks.

I was jogging down the path weaving my way around sleeping dogs when suddenly I heard barking and I could feel dogs running after me.  I knew that running would encourage the dogs to chase me so I turned around and saw three of these dogs growling and coming at me!

I tried my best to growl at them which seemed to stop them in their tracks, but they still started creeping towards me!  I was prepared to throw down with these mangy muts but I opened my bottle of water and splashed them with water and they ran back around 10 feet which allowed me to walk away without any further agression.

It wasn’t a big deal at the time because I like dogs but as I started thinking if I got bit by one of these dogs, I could possibly get a host of disease including rabies!  Once I cleared all the stray dogs I started joggin on my way to the gym again.

The jog was one of the most death defying jogs ever.  Not that I’m not used to dodging drunk drivers, making sure not to step on syringes or human waste in San Francisco but this canal path had it all.

First of all I can’t swim or tread water and the safety railing is only 2.5 feet high.  There is no lights on the path other than the lights of nearby houses and the moon and the ground is wet.  As I’m running through spider webs and notice bats fluttering about I come across planks replacing the cement path in some places.

You’d expect the planks to be sturdy but I’m guessing they weren’t designed for joggers close to 200 pounds.  I thought they were going to break and deposit me into the filthy canal.  I kept jogging thinking I would find the exit which would take me to Suhkumvit 23 which goes to my gym but no.

I kept running trying not to slice my arm along the rusted tin roofs of the shanties along the canal on the path waterlogged with puddles in the pitch black.  I even walked by the most dangerous animal on the planet, the terrorist looking homeless guy under a bridge who gave me a death stare as I jogged by.  I picked up speed a bit to avoid any stabbing attempt from behind as I finally found an exit from the canal path which I thought was the right exit.

Getting Lost in Bangkok

I found myself on a narrow road which obviously was not the main road (Sukhumvit 23?) I was looking for.   It was narrow with slippery muddy patches which wasn’t very safe coupled with the electrical wires dangling in my face above the sidewalk and the steady flow of traffic in the street.  I wasn’t very “lost” but just misplaced really.  I could see the tall buildings which I knew are located along Sukhumvit 1 where I had to go and I knew the direction of the canal but I still was on a road which wasn’t heading towards the gym.

I kept jogging and came to an intersection where I had to choose which road to take as there were tall buildings in each direction so the choice wasn’t obvious.   I stopped for a minute and went in a 7/11 to get a Gatorade.  I didn’t bother asking for directions as the clerks didn’t speak a lick of English.  I walked outside and stood on the corner drinking some Gatorade thinking how to get to the gym and I saw a tall, slim girl in a pink skirt and black tanktop walking out small shack looking house.  This could be considered a Bangkok compass in my situation because my gym happens to be near Soi Cowboy (below) so I jogged in the direction she was walking which lead me to the gym which I got to 30 minutes before closing time.  Just another day in Bangkok.

More Expensive than the USA ?

One of the benefits of living in Bangkok is the cost of living is much lower than most of the United States.   While living in Manhattan or San Francisco is much more expensive than Bangkok you have to realize that Bangkok is like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York all rolled into one for the Thais as it is the center of everything.

This being said, Bangkok which is actually the short version of, “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit,” is more expensive than much of small town USA, at least if you want to live with the things you have grown accustomed to living in the USA.

I have been thinking about this the entire 2+ months I’ve been here so far and it has never been more apparent than in the last 2 days where I have been searching and looking for a gym.

California WOW

I previously had a membership at California Fitness WOW which is the large gym chain which people love to hate a-la 24 Hour Fitness, Planet Fitness, etc. back in the states.  The positives are multiple locations (w/ certain memberships) lots of equipment and space and of course the cheapest membership prices.

California fitness is okay with me.  It has loud music and cheesy marketing everywhere along with big crowds sometimes but that’s what an iPod is for.  There are 3 or 4 located withing comfortable distance from me so they were on the table but I wanted to see what was out there as well as see if I could get a better deal than 17,000 baht ($500) for the first year and then 3000 baht  ($87) each year thereafter, more on this later.

Other Bangkok Gyms

By no means is this going to be a complete review of all the gyms in this giant sprawled out city.  I was specifically looking for something convenient to my apartment which is close to the canal and the Phloen Chit & Nana BTS stations.  I would guess most people wouldn’t want to travel an hour across the city just to work out.  The primary criteria for a gym were a low price and convenient location.  Instead of immediately getting a California Fitness membership I decided to check out some gyms in my area.

Olympic Club (Patumwan Princess Hotel)

I first checked out the Olympic Club in the Patumwan Princess hotel which is attached to MBK shopping center because I lived right next door.  I heard the gym had a basketball court so I had to check it out.  The Thai owned Olympic Club was very nice, open and not too crowded.

The gym had a rooftop swimming pool with an incredible view of neon lit skyscrapers and the Siam shopping centers.  There were also tennis courts and a 1/2 international basketball court with the trapezoidal key.

The front desk staff were s very nice and spoke English well.  The prices were high but not too high.  A year paid in full membership was something like 26,500-29,000 baht but they also had discounts for using Citibank credit cards.

My plans to join the Olympic Club were dashed a bit when I decided to move away from the National Stadium BTS stop.  It is still only 3 stops plus a walk through MBK away but I wanted something cheaper to be honest.  I don’t use any amenities other than free weights and cardio machines so the tennis court and swimming pool is a little excessive.  I also could justify paying the extra money for a basketball court so I can embarrass my by shooting airballs all day.

Overall the Olympic club is very nice and would be a cool place to join if money isn’t an option, you want to impress friends from out of town or you really make good use out of all their amenities.

Vita Life Gym (Bumrungrad Hospital)

I had to check out Vita Life Gym in international hospital Bumrungrad next simply because it was within 3 minutes from my front door step.  It was pretty small and I could see outdated cardio machines and old free weights from outside but this really doesn’t matter to me.

I went in and they ended my interest by wanting a 5,500 baht ($160USD)  joining fee then 2,000 baht ($58) a month.  They mentioned the joining fee included a meeting with a doctor but I was not interested in joining a gym which looked like a glorified cheap hotel’s fitness center for far more than what I pay in San Francisco.

Fitness First (Landmark Hotel)

My last attempt at finding a true walking distance gym was Fitness First in the Landmark Hotel which was about a 15 minute walk through traffic.  I was desperate for a workout and had just drank a couple cups of coffee.  When I got there I immediately noticed the nice Landmark Hotel and I figured Fitness First would be expensive.  First I asked how much was a month membership which I don’t remember the actual price but it was expensive.  I then asked for a day membership and it was something over 1,000 baht!

I should have saw it coming but when I asked for a year membership the next thing I was asked to sit down with a sales person which I just had it so I left.  I new California WOW was going to be my gym.

Getting to and Fro My Gym

I have the choice of going to any of the 9 (I think) locations of various sized California WOW gyms to head to.  They are usually right next to a BTS stop so getting to them means walking to a BTS station first if I don’t feel like walking 30 minutes to get there.  I decided to visit the closest gym so I first got to the (Sukhumvit 23) California WOW by taking the BTS to the nearby Asok and walking a couple minutes to the entrance.  On the way back I thought I’d be adventurous and take a canal taxi back!

I started walking in the general direction of the canal which I thought would be 5 minutes and turned out to be more like 15 picking up an iced pearl tea and friend bananas on the way.  I got to the canal and went down to catch the taxi and it was 100% full to the brim.  I didn’t feel like waiting for another so I decided to jog along the path.

Jogging along the path only took around 15 minutes but running along the not surprisingly filthy canal and its surroundings had me feeling like I should either wear a mask or go get a shot after.  The interesting thing is there are people living in shanties with mud caused by the canal, raising their own chickens right next to nice condos with Mercedes parked outside them.  I got back from the jog sweating like a swine but I enjoyed the fact that I could jog back from the Asok California Wow without getting delayed 50 times due to traffic.  Welcome to Thailand, again I guess!

Malaysian Hamburgers

Okay, I may be 100% off by saying Malaysian hamburgers on this one but I was in Malaysia and I ate what were hamburgers to me.  If you didn’t know, like most major Asian cities,  Kuala Lumpur is a multi-national, multi-cultural city with a wide variety of ethnic foods.   These hamburgers were absolutely amazing.

I was actually quite shocked about how good they were and also amazed by the price which was only 1.5 ringgits (40 cents USD).  There were either chicken or been and you had the choice of adding cheese and a friend egg as well.   These burgers were marinated in some sort of sweet sauce which went incredibly well with the cucumber, onions and sauce which they put on.  I’m sorry for not providing a Wolfgang Puck/Betty Crocker recipe description but take my word for it, these “burgers” are worth the trip to KL.

Yes that was an exaggeration but people actually do come from all over Asia to KL’s Chinatown for cheap knockoffs so if you feel like something other than Chinese food, all you have to do is walk about 20 meters and you’ll be in hamburger heaven.

Where to Find these Delicious & Cheap Hamburgers

If you haven’t been to Asia lately you may be surprised that often the best way to describe the location of a place is by using American fast food restaurants and 7/11 as reference points.   You can actually triangulate the location of most places with the location of a 7/11, KFC and McDonalds!  This works especially well because (as with Thailand)  most of the best food is not in restaurants but on the street!

This time was no exception.  It was directly in between a McDonalds and KFC but is actually easier to find because it’s located by one of Kuala Lumpur’s major tourist attractions.  All you have to do is go to the entrance of Petaling Street which is the main street in the center of KLs Chinatown and walk to the right, until of course you see a KFC to the right and a McDonalds to the left on the other side of the street.

You will see a stand w/ a grill in front of a taxi line and most likely a line of people waiting for their “burgers.”  The stand is yellow and says Halal Berish Bermutu on one side and Pakistan Baru Beli on one side.  The guys working the stand were very nice and let you sit on their plastic chairs and put your drink on their stereo speakers.

Places to Stay: Kuala Lumpur: Lanson Place

First off, if you’re used to sharing your accommodations with chirping geckos and scurrying roaches Lanson Place is not going to be on your list.  You don’t have to be Richie Rich or “The Donald” to afford Lancing Place either. If you don’t mind spending 3 star prices for 5 star accommodations then Lancing Place should be at the top of your list.

I accidentally came to Lanson Place after a taxi driver took me to 3 booked hotels. I spent the previous night at a hotel called the Flamingo which was priced very high 325 Malaysian for what was basically Motel 6 on a lake.

I was looking to spend less myself but the location was within 5 minute walk to the Royal Thai embassy and a 15-20 minute walk along Jalang Ampang to the world famous Petronas twin towers. The price was less than the previous dump and you could tell this 20 or so story serviced apartment was nice from the outside.

After paying for a night I was given my cards and directions to the 17th floor where I entered the room and within 1 second felt like I was at home. The nicely furnished room had nice living room with a comfortable chair and a loveseat in front of a brand new Samsung 32” LCD television with a full entertainment system!

The separate full walk-in kitchen was fully equipped with appliances, silverware and complimentary coffee, tea, etc. There was a separate bedroom with queen sized bed with nice, soft pearl white bedding, large computer desk, closet and another 20’ television.

The only thing which wasn’t superb was the bathroom which in my room was outdated although fully functional. There were 2 balconies which enabled you to see across the whole city. Unfortunately the side which I rented my room was opposite from the magnificent skyline of Kuala Lumpur but I would guess the other side was populated with mostly owners.

Perhaps the best part was each room had a giant 6’ vent, powerful air conditioner, one which kept both rooms icy chilled to avoid the equatorial Malaysian heat. The building had a small fitness center, swimming pool, racquetball, ping pong tables and more which I didn’t explore too much although the complimentary breakfast was great.

The location is convenient to the downtown business and shopping area via taxi (5-10 minutes depending on traffic) or walk if you feel like sweating a little bit with the heat and heavy flow of passing traffic for 15-20 minutes. I paid 310 Malaysian ($88USD) for the night and it was definitely worth it. The only thing left desired was an air conditioned lobby but the ceiling was 20 stories high so the heat wasn’t too bad. Lanson Place provided a home-like atmosphere with excellent service and a great location for 1-3 people to have a great stay in Kuala Lumpur.