Baiyoke Sky Hotel

Today is Elisabeth’s birthday, and I decided to get us a room in Baiyoke Sky Tower 2, the highest building in all of Thailand. At 85 floors, it is the tallest hotel in all of Southeast Asia, and the third tallest all-hotel structure in the world. It is a nice change from the scummy area we had been staying in for the past week or so. In fact, from our hotel room on the 59th floor, we could clearly see our previous hotel down in the slums right next to the railroad tracks.




I tried to enjoy our day and night at Baiyoke, since it was our last in Thailand. Unfortunately I have decided that we are going back to the States mainly because of my health, among other reasons.

The Baiyoke Sky Tower is very nice, and we had a blast staying there. Our room was beautiful, with an entire wall of windows, which provided a great view of the city. We explored the 77th floor observatory, and shot video and photos from the 84th floor, which houses a revolving deck that screeches along to give you excellent views of all of Bangkok.



I felt too sick to eat much dinner, but Elisabeth had some food. A magician came over to our table while we were eating and did some magic tricks for us. Then I went over and got one of the magicians to make Elisabeth a bouquet of balloon flowers.




After dinner that night, we pulled up the couch in our room to the window and looked out on the city for hours.

Hospital Visit (Graphic......sort of)

The past four days have been horrible. I have been stuck in my hotel with GI ailments. Every 15 minutes I have to get up and go to the bathroom, where I experience yellow and occasional bloody diarrhea. I haven’t had an appetite in the past three days; the only thing I have had is Gatorade and some peanuts. We try to go out to the mall and eat but I feel too rough to stay out long, much less eat anything.

I have been worried, since I have had mild diarrhea pretty much on and off since our second week in Thailand. And these past three days it has gotten pretty bad. I think it might just be a flare up from my Ulcerative Colitis, a chronic disease I was diagnosed with in 2005 that occasionally wreaks havoc on my large intestine. I also think that it might be a nasty mix of a Colitis flare up and food poisoning, which would explain the yellow diarrhea (Giardiasis?) All I know is that it isn’t going away, no matter how much rest and meds I take.

This morning was enough. I awoke to an upset stomach. I sat up in bed for a while, with Elisabeth half asleep next to me. I woke her up because I felt so horrible and I just wanted to talk to her. Then I started throwing up. I yelled at her to go get a taxi to take me to the hospital.

She ran down stairs to the lobby of our hotel, and then returned with two or three Thai men saying that they had a taxi waiting down stairs for me. Feeling a bit better after my up-chuck session, I made my way down to the taxi and to the nearest hospital, Phayathai Hospital.

While in the States researching Thailand, I remember reading about how good the medical situation was supposed to be over here in Thailand. But this experience at Phayathai Hospital was about to make me think otherwise.

When we pulled up to the hospital we waited about 10 minutes until a woman came out who spoke relatively good English. She was the hospital administrator, and she escorted Elisabeth and I into what seemed like a small emergency room area. The room was pretty much empty of patients except for a man in a smaller adjacent room who seemed to be having chest pains. They were wheeling in a large machine into the room to do who-knows-what to him.

Sitting on a rickety old orange hospital chair, I answered numerous medical questions asked by the hospital administrator. I told her about my Ulcerative Colitis, which she had never heard of, and when I told her that I had diarrhea for over 2 weeks, she seemed shocked. After I answered her questions she walked over and started talking to two nurses. Elisabeth turned on her laptop and played Pirates of the Caribbean for both of us to watch.

A few minutes later the two nurses came up and started explaining to me (in very broken English) that they were going to need a fecal sample. I said no problem, nervously eyeing the long q-tips in one of the nurse’s hands. They declined the old, stiff hospital chair so I could lie down on my side. “Interesting way to get a fecal sample” I thought to myself, as the nurse made several failed attempts to get a proper sample.

Next thing I know the nurse was telling me (through hand gestures and broken English) that she was going to get a sample with her fingernail. She got aggravated when I pulled my pants up and was asking her again what she was doing. She kept saying “roll over! I need sample!” while pointing at her (non-gloved) finger. Feeling like I was negotiating with a robber and trying not to get shot, I kept telling the two nurses that they could send me into the bathroom with the proper equipment and I could get them the sample they needed. They finally gave me a cup and I headed quickly to the bathroom.

After this terrifying encounter, the hospital administrator escorted Elisabeth and I into a waiting room, and said that the GI specialist would soon examine my sample and be able to talk with me.

After waiting around a bit, the administrator escorted us into a room where the GI specialist was waiting. The specialist was an early 40’s Thai woman, and I soon found out that she lacked a sense of humor all together. She informed me that all of my tests came up fine, and that she couldn’t find anything wrong. This is exactly what I was worried about. I had been hoping the entire time that they would find something that would have a simple fix, but this has led me to believe that my Ulcerative Colitis is flaring up big time.

The GI specialist then recommended a colonoscopy. This is a procedure where they stick about 3 feet of tubing with a camera at the end up your backside. This is fine by me, since I have already had this done in America once and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, since they put you under for it.

Unfortunately the Hospital administrator said, “Colonoscopies are a bit different in Thailand.” What she meant was that they don’t put you under for it. Yes, you are wide AWAKE through the whole procedure. This is the moment when I knew that my idea of living and teaching English in Thailand for a year was about to fizzle out and die. After refusing the colonoscopy, the specialist did give me loads of medication, which I was determined to get better with.

Being an American, I was fearful of the medical bill I was about to receive upon leaving the hospital. The total bill was only $75 (2500 Baht). In the United States, any emergency room visit is $200-$300 easily. Aghhh what a day……..

Motorbike Wreck

Months before ever coming to Thailand, I engulfed myself in all Thailand-related material. Travel guides, websites, and documentary films. If it had anything to do with Thailand, I probably glanced over it.

When friends and family heard that I was going to Thailand to live, all I heard was how I was going to be arrested and executed, since (according to all my friends and family) Thailand was very strict with foreigners. But everyone was forgetting that I don’t sell and traffic heroine.

While researching, one thing that did catch my attention was the repeated mentioning in travel books concerning the high number of tourists on Phuket island who wreck rental motorbikes. The fatality rate was very alarming. I didn’t really worry about this, since I consider myself an excellent driver. Elisabeth, on the other hand, is another story. But then again, aren’t all women horrible drivers?

Our hotel on Phuket island was called Little Buddha Phuket, and they had several motorbikes for rent, all at 200 baht ($6) a day. The majority of the motorbikes were brand new, jet-black bad ass little bikes. I was quite excited to be zipping around an island with my old lady on the back (she is actually 23 and very pretty, but I just like to say “my old lady”), stopping occasionally to takes pictures or fill up the entire tank with petrol for only 2 or 3 dollars.
Our first day in Thailand was spent exploring the southern end of Phuket island. We saw several areas that were heavily damaged by the 2004 Tsunami, which were now littered with Tsunami evacuation route signs that led to higher ground. We traveled up and down hills through woods, along beautiful beaches, and through groups of other exploring motor-bikers.

We passed by signs written in Thai and English, not knowing exactly what part of the island we were at. Occasionally we would pass through some rain, so I would have to pull over so Elisabeth could put on a poncho to protect our camera gear which was strapped to her back.

On one of our poncho breaks, I heard a ruckus behind me. I turned to find two western girls at the end of the road, sprawled on the street, not far from a motorbike lying on its side. Apparently they had just lost control of the bike, and took a little fall off the side. Sheesh, these travel books don’t lie. My first day on the island and I see a motorbike accident. Elisabeth takes her poncho off and jumps back on the bike, while my nerves start to tense up in fear that I might lose control of this bike in the future. Little did I know that my fears were about to come true, and I was about to become a statistic of the travel guide books……….

About 4 days after my witness of this spill, Elisabeth and I were making a motorbike trip across Phuket island, up north to Phang Nga Bay. I had refused to let Elisabeth rent a motorbike or drive the one that I had rented, since I did not trust her driving skills. I kept picturing her flying off a cliff, or careening off of a curved road straight into some rocks or oncoming traffic. Since back in the States I had a flawless driving record, I decided that I could be trusted as the motorbike driver that would not kill the both of us.

Our motorbike trip took over an hour, and just before arriving in Phang Nga Bay I pulled off the highway into a gas station. When I walked in the gas station to get a drink, I noticed a 40-something western man standing in line. Happy at any opportunity to have a nice conversation in English, I approached the man and introduced myself. The man was more then happy to small talk with me. Turns out he was an American just passing through, previously living and teaching English in Indonesia.

Half way through our conversation, I glanced down and noticed that this guy’s leg was seriously damaged. He had a brace and a boot on with no sock, and I could clearly see his foot. His foot was a shade of purple, and it had a large scar running down the middle, starting at his ankle and ending between his toes. His lower leg looked like a big fresh scab. Surprised by this, I rudely interrupted him when I noticed his leg. “Dude! What happened to your leg?!”

He told me that about 5 months prior, he was traveling around Thailand looking to buy his mom some silk for her birthday. He was on a MOTORBIKE, and apparently he was t-boned by a truck. His foot was nearly cut in half, and he feared that he would lose his foot if he went to a hospital in Thailand. He was flown to Australia and had emergency surgery to save his foot. After this run in with the mangled American, Elisabeth and I very nervously got back onto our motorbike and the highway heading towards Phang Nga Bay.

5 minutes later, we came upon a sign leading us off the highway into the back-roads of a rural Thai neighborhood. Not many tourists’ head back this way, and any time we passed local Thais, they stopped what they were doing to stare at us. The road we were on was winding around through houses and dense forest, very easy on the eyes.
I was having fun accelerating at every turn, while I was forgetting about the mangled American I had just met, and the high rate of motorbike wrecks on the island at the hands of tourists.

I zoomed around a corner and accelerated, and while approaching the next turn, my eyes came into focus on the large amount of gravel covering the entire lane on my side. (In Thailand, you ride on the left side of the road.) We were rapidly approaching a right curve, and gravel was covering the entire left lane. Trees and a fence were not far ahead off the road, so I couldn’t ride straight off the road into the grass like I wanted to. I knew that I was going a bit too fast to take the turn safely, and I feared that if I braked at all while taking the turn, the bike would drop. Not having any motorbike/motorcycle experience, I did what my first instinct was; I squeezed the handbrake, which happened to be the front brake.

Immediately regretting my decision, I heard Elisabeth yell “Jason! What are you doing?!?!” as we were flying off the front of the motorbike. It all happened kind of in slow motion. The whole time falling, I was thinking, “are you kidding me? I am about to be a statistic. I am in a motorbike crash. I thought I could avoid this but I haven’t.” The bike basically dropped underneath me. I immediately fell to the graveled asphalt, while Elisabeth fell on top of me and rolled off.

It took me a while to realize what had happened, and when I turned to look, the motorbike was lying on top of my legs. I pushed the bike off of me and waited for a few seconds, hoping not to feel a wave a pain rush from one of my limbs. I was worried about breaking a bone, and ending up in a Thai hospital. But the only pain I felt was the road rash inflicted on my arms, legs and chest. I had tiny bits of gravel lodged in my hand, and a few layers of skin came off of my right palm.
My shirt had tons of small holes ripped into it, and my right knee was a bit scratched up. Elisabeth had raspberries on her knees, and her left arm and wrist had some road rash on them. Also, she seriously tweaked her back, pushing her already damaged L5 disk down onto a nerve running in her leg, leaving her with a continuing shooting pain down her leg to this day.



Witnessing our wreck, a Thai man and woman ran from their house to our aid. The man jumped on his own motorbike, to go out and buy us first aid supplies. The Thai woman walked us over to her house, and instructed us to go wash up in her bathroom. When we got into her bathroom, we found a bathtub full of tepid water, with several small bugs floating in it. Who only knows how long the water had been there. I pretended to wash up, and then went back outside to rinse off with the bottled water we had brought with us.

The Thai man came back with bandages and antiseptic. I sat down while the Thai man and woman washed my wounds and bandaged me up. The front of the house had no wall, and we sat at the front of their living room, not far from the road. The Thai man and woman seemed thrilled to have these two wounded unexpected guests in their house.

As the Thai man cleaned my wounds, I moaned out of pain. Each time he poured the alcohol on a wound, I would yelp, and then we would all laugh. The Thai man especially loved it. He would pour it on me, and then look up to see me react. And then we would both laugh. The family spoke absolutely no English, so there was a total language barrier, which made it all the more interesting.

After I was bandaged up, I gave the family a little money for the first aid supplies and their hospitality. As we were leaving the Thai woman came out of her house with a book, which turned out to be a Thai-English phrasebook. She walked over to Elisabeth, opened the book and pointed to the page. We both looked and saw a line that said in Thai and English, “thank you for visiting, come back any time.” Elisabeth looked through the book and pointed out “nice to meet you” and thank you very much.” After climbing on the bike and saying our goodbyes, I had a moment where I felt glad that we wrecked, and had the opportunity to meet this wonderful family.

On the way back home that afternoon from Phang Nga Bay, we passed by the family and waved goodbye. If I ever come back to this area, I am going to find this family and give them the picture Elisabeth took of me with the couple.

Bed Supperclub

After my interview with Dennis, the manager of Q Bar, we had hung out for a while, just small talking. He had been telling me that I needed to shoot a short video about Bed Supperclub, a one of a kind nightclub located just down the street from Q Bar, so tonight that was my mission. I was excited about my visit, since this club is well known for its incomparable architecture. Elisabeth had decided to come with me to help shoot interviews, and lucky for both of us she did.
Little did we know that Bed Supperclub is rated number 2 on several “100 Best Clubs of the World” lists. Yes you read that right. I just said WORLD. The only club that usually ranks higher is some club in Singapore. So we kind of lucked out to get a chance to shoot at this club.

Bed Supperclub is both a restaurant and a club, which is divided into two rooms. Both rooms look nearly identical, with the restaurant turning into a mellow club scene after 10pm. The main room has a bar and blasts whatever music fits the theme of that night. Each night of the week is different, (ex. Wednesdays are models night, and the club invites several models in just to hang around and look pretty.) As the name of the club implies, you have supper in bed while enjoying a club atmosphere.
The building itself reminded me of a large cigarette stuck into the side of a building. This may sound quite unappealing, but in fact it has an aesthetic quality to it. One of the DJ’s we interviewed put it nicely when he said it was a “crushed cylindrical space shape that can’t take off because there are too many people inside of it.”

When I called the club several days before, hoping to get permission to film, the public relations woman immediately set up an interview for me with one of the entertainers. The PR woman told me that this “entertainer” was an American lady-boy. Basically an American man who had a sex change operation, changed his name to Candi, and now performs all over the world. So I was quite excited about Candi and interviewing her/him.

Elisabeth and I were treated like royalty our whole time here. We got right into the club, and were escorted into the restaurant to one of the “Beds.” We kicked off our shoes and climbed on what is basically a huge bed, which runs down both sides of the restaurant, with no table in the middle of the room. It has two stories, with the exact same set up upstairs. We were given menus and told that our dinner was on Candi, and to get whatever we want.

We both had 3 course meals, and I had 3 or 4 Purple Rain cocktails. Overall it was probably a $150 dinner bill, not including our free cover charge. While we were eating one or two managers approached us just to shake hands and say hello, and ask us if we needed anything.
Just after our meal, I spotted Candi just outside of the door, getting ready for her song and dance routine. Even though I had never seen her before in my life, it wasn’t hard to spot a man with a ponytail and a microphone. Soon enough music started and she danced out into the middle of the room, obviously lip-sinking to some awful song that I can’t remember. After her song and lip-sink, she walked around the restaurant and heckled the customers one by one, which everyone seemed to enjoy thoroughly. It was quite humorous. She left Elisabeth and I alone, because she saw the camera gear and knew that we would be interviewing her directly after her performance. It was nice because I was afraid she was going to point out my mismatched socks or something. Not that I really cared anyways…….

Afterwards we had a nice interview with Candi, with Elisabeth asking her a list of questions I had, while I ran the camera. It was nice to have Elisabeth here asking questions, because I usually have to do everything myself. Holding a camera, controlling the exposure, maintaining nice composition, riding audio levels, and asking questions while trying to keep eye contact with your subject can be very difficult to do all at the same time.

After talking with Candi, we also interviewed one of the resident DJ’s, and then a very interesting gay couple from the California. Then I got shots of people dancing in the club section, shots of the bartender throwing bottles around, and the DJ spinning. Then shots of the exterior of the club, and we were done! This is probably one of the most fun nights here for us in Bangkok.

Hotel Under Construction

Today we switched hotels, and as I presumed, trouble was on the horizon. Elisabeth had been paying extra so that we could stay at a normal hotel, and now I had picked a new hotel through the Tourism of Thailand office.

The hotel was ironically called “The Best Bangkok House.” That kind of gave me a chuckle after arriving. It was located in a very sketchy neighborhood, far from any tourist area, and had little access to the sky train or the metro. The quickest way to the sky train was by walking about a mile down train tracks through a very poor neighborhood and several muddy construction sites. If we tried walking down the paved roads to the sky train, we had to deal with TONS of locals staring at us angrily, tuk tuk drivers harassing us to no end, taxis and trucks nearly running us over (one night Elisabeth’s arm was hit by a side mirror of a taxi flying by!!), and the suffocating exhaust.
In this area, the local’s gaze gives me the vibe that they hate our guts. We usually get one of two reactions; Either they see us and immediately break out into laughter, saying stuff about us in Thai, or they stare with a frown and don’t say hello back.

Nighttime is the worst in this area. I told Elisabeth it would be better if she didn’t leave the hotel at night at all. I have walked the half mile to the local 7 eleven several times at night, and each time I was equally terrified. I never see any tourists (or westerners at all) when I make this dangerous walk to 7 eleven. Only street vendors, local Thais hanging around, and many prostitutes populate the street. And every time I go alone, the prostitutes and tuk tuk drivers swarm me, trying to get at my wallet. Do you remember that scene from Star Wars Episode 4 when Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi are on Tatooine, and they go into that crazy scary bar looking for Han Solo? That is what walking around the 7 eleven at night is like. Exactly like that. Only I don’t have a light saber and Obi Wan to protect me like Luke did. All I have is a passport and an international calling card.

Another big downer about our hotel is that it is under construction. Not only is our hotel under construction, but the 2 adjacent building are under construction as well. Also, major construction is going on near the train tracks, which is extremely loud. So basically every day around 8 or 9 in the morning, it sounds like 5 men with jackhammers are on the floor directly above us. And I am not joking, that is literally what it sounds like. I know I like to exaggerate a lot, but this is true. The whole room shakes violently. So at night we get a break from the construction noise, but a train rolls by our window every 20-30 minutes, honking loudly as it barrels by. It is by far the worst hotel Elisabeth and I have ever been to.

What surprises me is how close these people live to the train tracks. Some of these small aluminum shacks are merely feet from the train tracks. If they step out of their door without being careful, a passing train could easily hit them. Our walks through this area during the day where just as nerve racking as walking to the local 7 eleven at night. This area seemed more as private property, and we were just strolling through these people’s front yards. These very, very poor people’s yards. I was fascinated at their living arrangements, and wondered what most of them did for a living. I wondered if any of them worked, how much they made in a day, how big each family was, if the neighbors were friendly with one another, etc.

I am ashamed to admit that I was far too intimidated to approach any of these people and ask if I could shoot video. I couldn’t figure out a good way to go about doing that. I thought of paying someone to translate for me, and to have my translator explain how I was making short documentaries, but I never got around to it.

King of the Malls

The King is a big deal over here in Thailand. Maybe you have read in the news that the Thai government has banned You Tube from all of Thailand. That is because some stupid-head back in the United States made a video that disrespected the king, and posted it on the popular video-sharing site. When You Tube refused to remove the video at the Thai government’s request, Thailand banned You Tube from being accessed in all of Thailand. When you try to visit You Tube, you are rerouted to a government site. And I have read that anyone trying to access You Tube in Thailand through a proxy server could face jail time. Scary.

It is clear that disrespect of the King is a big no-no over here. I have heard other stories of foreigners being arrested for stepping on money (the bills have the King’s picture on them, and the feet are considered to be the lowest and dirtiest part of your body.) So if you ever come to Thailand, don’t point your feet at anyone, and do not touch the Thai’s on the head, since the head is the most sacred part of the body. Also, make SURE you don’t touch their left hand, whether it’s a high-five or a hand shake, since that is the hand that a lot of Thai’s use to wipe their backside with. (This is probably only in the more rural areas.)
I have also noticed that the Thai’s like to wear yellow shirts on Mondays and sometimes on Fridays. This is out of respect for the king, and most shirts have the King’s emblem on it. You will also find yellow flags with this emblem on it all throughout Thailand. Also, before every movie you watch at the movie theaters, they play a music video dedicated to the King, and everyone in the audience must stand while it is playing.
Speaking of movies, Elisabeth and I have seen Spiderman 3 three times now, and once in IMAX. We have a lot of spare time, and sometimes our only escape from the exhaust and insane crowds are the movies. Elisabeth says going to the movies for her is like visiting a little piece of home, since the movies are in English. The theater we go to is located in the Siam Paragon Mall, an upscale shopping mall that has become our favorite mall of all time.
The Siam Paragon is one of the largest shopping centers in all of Asia, and is located in the center of Bangkok’s Skytrain system. Elisabeth and I have spent several days here in Bangkok wandering around this gigantic mall, our eyes wide and mouths drooling. We make sure to visit at least once a day for either lunch or dinner, or both.

One area of the mall that was in our budget was on the very bottom floor. It is Siam Ocean World, and it is well worth the money if you are ever in the area. They have the most interesting exhibits, like a car and refrigerator aquarium. The staff is very friendly and the place is clean. Elisabeth and I had a blast.


These sharks tried to snag my ice cream.


So my advice to you is, on your next trip to Bangkok, visit Siam Paragon!