Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, October 17, 2008
DAY 2 - Bangkok - Did I say it was hot yesterday? Because that was a lie. Now it's hot. If yesterday was Statesboro in August, then today is Statesboro during the apocalypse. And not my self-serving metaphorical liberal theological apocalypse, but some serious, don't even read well enough to know what a metaphor is, Mama go get your shotgun 'cause there's molten hot judgement pouring down upon us from the mouth of an angry angry God intent on repaying us for even building a town as crappy as Statesboro, oh... and all of the other evil crap we've done, kind of apocalypse. Man is it hot. But man is it great here. One of the most encouraging things about this place is the efficiency with which people operate. I mean, they work so quickly over here that products that cost hundreds of dollars to produce in the U.S. of l-A-zy can be had here for practically nothing. I'm sure Ray-Ban and Ralph Lauren would do aything to see their products available to the masses back home for a mere $2, but the welfare state we've created encourages, no, forces the American worker to slow down to the point that such items cost an embarrassingly high amount. And it's not just clothing and purses and physical things. Even intellectual property is cheaper over here. These people don't just make things faster than we can, they think faster than we ever could. I mean, the entire Adobe CS3 creative suite is only $5 here (that's like $2000 off). Apparently what took American software programming fat cats some 20 years to develop in their golden computer lab/spa was just jotted down in 2 minutes on the back of some Thai kid's hand while he took a leak in the gutter in front of our hotel. Add another minute to enter it into the computer and 26 seconds to xerox, I mean design and print, the cover, and they can churn out world-class software at rock bottom prices. And music, DVD's, video games - practically nothing. And I can't say from experience, but it seams that they've completely revolutionized the entire reproductive process too, 'cause what would cost $20 in front of the 7-11 at the corner of 13th and Pearl in Denver can be had for only $2 in front of the 7-11 at the corner of Buranasat and Boonsiri in Bangkok. Man, this place is amazing. Oh, and the food's good too.
Today we visited the Grand Palace and the reclining buddha at Wat Pho, a 50 ft high, 150 ft long golden buddha on the grounds of the oldest temple in Thailand. I could never describe such amazing places, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. That is, as soon as I can find a computer that doesn't crash every time I try to upload a photo.
Comments
pirated software
Lane, don't let the cheap software fool you. It's pirated and let's say poorly pirated. Like Pirates of Caribbean 3 poor. I remember my dad and I buying some dvds back when we were living in hong kong. They were like $1 dollar back then. When we went home to watch it, we were surpised to the level of how poorly it could be. The dvd was actually a copy of the guy sitting in a movie theater with his personal mini-cam tapping the movie as it played on the big screen. You could see people getting up to go to the bathroom, popcorn, etc. You could here people yelling at the screen. It was bad. So when you buy that copy of Adobe 3, be careful, you probably will get a dvd with someone videotaping each page of the adobe user manual as some one flips each page. Or you might just get a picture of some using an etch a sketch (thai Adobe version). keep them coming. rich