Bangkok, Thailand Pt. 2

Wednesday July 13th

After another awesome breakfast at the Peninsula we were planning on heading out to the floating market thats located a couple hours outside of Bangkok, but there was a crazy thunderstorm and we couldn't make it. Instead of try to fight the weather we decided to chill in the hotel and enjoy the room a bit.

A little after noon the weather cleared up so we contacted the concierge to charter a long-tail exclusivekly for us. The boats are weird looking, but a lot of fun to ride in. They are powered by turbo diesel engines that stick up out of the water and a huge rudder that the driver controls. The boats are real long and skinny and riding around the river and the different canals was awesome. We made some quick stops at Wat Arun (another famous temple) and the Royal Barge Museum. But the best part was cruising in all the different canals throughout the city. Parts are real ghetto, and parts are pretty baller. The disparity between the rich and the poor is quite glaring, but the two hour private boat ride for $25 was awesome.

We got dropped of by the main pier in Bangkok, and we headed over to this area of town that is supposedly known for its great street vendor food. After having yet another awesome meal with a couple of big bottle Singha beers we went to go get a swedish aromatherapy massage. Man it was awesome. It was a more western style, oil-you-up and rub your back and muscles type massage than the traditional thai massage which really works out all the kinks. Still it was only like $15 for an hour. After the awesome massage we hit up the Patpong night market one last time before grabbing some more pad thai at a street vendor. To finish the day off we got an hour-long foot massage, and the headed back to the hotel where we drank Singha beers in the room. I also finished off the bottle of green label, and then we headed down the The Bar at the Peninsula. Jade had some local thai drink that was pretty good, and I sipped on some Laphroag scotch. I've heard about Laphroag before but I've haven't had it, and I liked it a lot. It resembles Lagavulin somewhat with its smoky flavor, ut isn't quite as strong. After having another cuban stogie with my scotch we called it a night.

Thursday July 14th

Our flight was at 4:55 pm so we had a limited amount of time on our last day because we had to take off for the airport at like 2:30pm. After breakfast we headed over to Jim Thompson's silk store.

Jim Thompson was one of those awesome american international businessmen. He's dead now but his legacy lives on, and the finest thai silk is sold by his stores. His silk is expensive by thailand standards but is still quite cheap by western standards. He was the famous thai silk trader that is credited with bringing the western world thai silk. He did all of this in the 1920s, after he got done serving in the CIA. What a guy. I love hearing about those american adventurers/businessmen that kicked ass in old school asia.

His store was awesome and we had a real good time buying silk souvenirs/gifts. After Jim Thompson's we went back to the Peninsula to have lunch there before we took off. Lunch was awesome as usual (all the food in thailand is), and we bounced out to the airport. Before we got on the place I picked up a bottle of 18yr Talisker for like $65 duty free. I've heard a lot about Talisker, and read about it in my scotch book. In the US its extremely hard to find the 10yr talisker, and I have never seen the 18 yr before. So considering that in the US the 10 yr is about $50, I jumped on the 18yr for $65.

Waiting for the plane in the airport I saw the really hoochie looking white girl with a stripper's body wearing some ridiculous clothes, and I'm thinking to myself, who the hell is that. Well the question was answered a minute later when ICE T strolls into the terminal. Hahaha, it was some funny shit. He looked pretty thugged out, black dickie style pants, balck t-shirt, black hat with his trademark pny tail. He was flying economy and was on his way to Taipei to perform at MOS (I remember seeing a sign there advertising it).

On the flight over I was reading my new investing book by Jeremy Siegel and this guy sitting behind me struck up a conversation with me. As it turns out he's a hedge-fund trader in LA and trades NYSE issues for some firm called JG Capital thats owned by SunGard. Funny shit...we chatted about the markets, trading, and traveling in Asia. We exchanged contact info and his firm has an office in LA that he works out of so I might cruise by after the close someday to check out their operation and have lunch. Interesting guy...another jewish champ traveling in Asia.

At customs in Taipei ICE T was like a couple people behind us in line so I told him I was a fan and asked if it would be cool if we snapped a picture with him, and he was like yeah sure. The picture is awesome, y'all gotta check it out. Of all the people going from Bangkok to Taipei, I meet ICE T in customs.

Got back to Taiwan that night and after quick stop in Taoyuan to drop some things off, we dropped Jade off in Da Zhi and then went back to Tien Mu with my mom and sister to stay at my Aunt Jenny's place.