Thailand - Tuesday April 17, 2007

I woke up with headache and thus did not go out…..There are lots and lots of places to see….and this gave a disappointment.

Which is the tallest building in Bangkok? It is Bayoke Sky Hotel with 88 storeys. It is a four star hotel. Even if we are not staying here we can take an admission ticket and go inside. They have an observation floor on 77th and one revolving open air deck at 84th floor. It will cost abt Bt200 or more, I am not sure and I did not go inside, though I passed it.

Buddhist monks and supporters marched to parliament building demanding Buddhism be declared as the national religion. I had the impression that this is a Buddhist country, if not, I too support the Buddhist demand. It is far better than being a pseudo-secular nation like India, which even don’t have a common civil code.

A civic group rallied in front of the parliament against the interim constitution ….they were all wearing red T shirt…Lots of discussion is happening over this issue these days….I hope the people of Thailand will get a good constitution.….

Another arguments going on here is against the censorship of films. Should I comment on it? May be later coz, it’s culture related topic and I read some strange views in the news paper.

Women in Thailand are hard working, or it seemed in that way to me…in every street, you can see women selling food items….in almost all shopping complex, it was women dominated….that too young…….in the street also, it was mostly young people….women in Bangkok travel alone even at night…..this place is much much safer compared to Bangalore, my city, or may be India. I used to take a seat facing the bus stop/road when I dine…..I never saw a man teasing a woman waiting there…..this is not the case in India…

There is a car washing garage next to our hotel, it works 24 hours and even women work here. There is one used cars showroom too. I saw even BMW there

Between April 11 – 16, total death 361….. injured 4805, in road accidents….here, 7 days, starting from the day of holidays, are considered as ‘dangerous’ and are accident prone. Alcohol is the culprit (and not the one who consumes it?)

Since I don’t want to conclude the day as ‘waste’, I started packing and finished almost 80% of it. And booked a ‘City and Temples’ trip for the next day.