Bangkok Week 164 — Mika's Photos

Needed to take photos around the office for my visa renewal. Here, my mailbox is proof of my employment.

A local mosque just outside the Shangri-La Bangkok, where we spent a night.

Approaching by foot gives a daunting impression!

The most basic room -- but what can you expect for free?

Thinking if we can move in permanently.

The view from our window -- of an old part of town with which we're not familiar. That's a famous church, apparently.

We did have a partial view of the river. Did you know it was so chocolately?

I could've sat there for hours watching the boats go by.

In the room, "exotic" Thai fruit... more nicely presented than those that we eat on a daily basis.

Happy. Can you tell we're using the DSLR?

Orchids in the lobby.

Believe it or not, this is a temple!

Tuk tuk? A hot spot to pick up tourists with big pockets.

The entrance to that temple a bit further on looks a little more traditional.

Some old city buildings, and the balconies of the hulking State Tower looming the background.

Local street dog hamming up the sad puppydog eyes.

Old orange building, slightly newer orange bus.

Assumption Cathedral is an old catholic church built by a French missionary in 1809.

There were some interesting wall sculptures framing the church's property.

The church was reconstructed in 1909, and repaired again after being damaged in WWII.

Pope John Paul II visited this church in May 1984.

I was using the macro lens, so only the iPhone could fit the whole church in the frame!

I'm running out of facts about this church now.

Looked nice inside, but we didn't go in. The 5:15 mass had already begun.

Another shot of the hulking state tower. It's apparently the biggest building in Southeast Asia (by useable floor space).

More buildings on the church property. Looks vaguely European.

A church cat. The Christian equivalent of all of Thailand's temple dogs?

The decorations on this temple look like place settings to me. I swear those are plates or bowls...

More traditional vs. European architecture in this interesting 'hood.

And two different versions of grandeur.

I wonder where they got their logo...

We tracked down a slightly odd vegan cafe, which had published a book of vegetarian eateries throughout Bangkok.

A bacon burger!

Fries-and-tofu scramble?

Vans at a department store -- perfect pairing for students at Sittha's high school! (http://bit.ly/rih7Hn)

At that same department store, you could also buy some more basic earthly essentials.

Moon-lit nighttime stroll by the poolside.

A nicely-lit hotel shuttle-boat whizzes by (probably more slowly than the camera makes it seem).

That hotel on the left is also part of Shangri-La! It's their more exclusive wing.

At 11:30pm, after our bathroom sprung a leak, we were moved to a posher room with a balcony!

The 4-car BTS train speeds by in the night.

The next morning, breakfast diners enjoy their coffees overlooking the chocolate river.

Would you like a longtail boat with your hot chocolate, sir?

We had a river view for our breakfast, too!

A hip new condo, aptly called The River, is one of the hotter properties in town.

The river is a barge expressway all day. I still wonder what kind of engine they have in these cute little tug boats!

They forgot to load this barge?

A quick dip in the pool before checking out.

They make up beach chairs and put up umbrellas for you.

To swim with the hair up, or the hair down. That is the question.

Hair down wins!

You almost forget that you're right in the middle of Bangkok.

Classy lunch on our way back to the BTS.

The next day -- riding the Sukhumvit line extension! 5 new stations beyond On Nut (the former terminal) are now in service.

Excited? Just a little.

The line now goes so far that you pass areas of Bangkok that have not yet seen the development boom.

Four new stations on the way to the end: Bang Chak, Punnawithi, Udom Suk and Bang Na. All have TVs and fully-enclosed roofs.

You pass through the middle of a convoluted set of flyovers and highways.

And finally get to Bearing. Bear-what?

This is pretty much all that's out there. But you can imagine how different it will look in 10 years!

Lots of people wait at the base of the station, to continue their journey by more traditional means of transportation.

Umm.... where are we exactly?

Hey, we found the edge of Bangkok! And that's about all we found...

And the end of the now 46.5 km route.

On my way to work one morning, I passed a tuk tuk full of jackfruit, who were also apparently on their way to work.

And on a rainy Tuesday night, we passed the king of all snails in our driveway!

You don't see snails like this in New Jersey!

Back in my fave city of Jakarta on Independence Day. I thought the traffic would've been better than usual on the big holiday -- but boy was I wrong!