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live the dream!!!

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Emporium and EM Quarter and 2 malls that are quite luxurious. Across from each other on Sukhumvit and the BTS Phrom Phong station. We thought we’d see if there are any appearing movies to see…
Its the latter part of November/Early part of December so For Sure the Christmas decorations make sense and area nice festive site.
Interestingly enough, one of the reasons I started traveling AWAY from the US during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season is the annoying attention put upon shopping. Shopping, specifically Christmas shopping seems to have become more about being Forced to buy gifts so those in your life that you care about. I prefer to give and receive “gifts” throughout the year. The ones that come randomly. Gifts that are not seasonal and (almost Most important) gifts of things that I can actually USE!
I’ve said that “The best Things in life are NOT Things!”. Gratefully, Gracie feels the same way so we both like to get out and about and have less “stuff” and more *Experience*.
So, traveling in South East Asia this holiday season is on the calendar once again. Its going to be a bit shorter of a trip than last year as far as the time we will spend in S.E.A. but with her new US Tourist Visa be get to spend a ton of time together – thats a big blessing.

Thanks for watching – Hope you enjoy.
…stay tuned for more

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Benchasiri Park in Bangkok Thailand. Sukhumvit at BTS Skytrain Phrom Phong. Just to the west of EM Quarter and Emporium malls.

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Took a break from my meetings and took the BTS Skytrain just One stop: from Thong Lo to Phrom Phong. Many people associate Phrom Phong with the two malls: EM Quarter (north side of Sukhumvit) and Emporium (south side of Sukhumvit). Our initial motivation was to check out something Super touristy — Dinasour Planet. BUT, we opted for the infinitely less expensive (i.e. FREE) Benchasiri Park. After reading the Google reviews of Dinasour Planet it seemed like a pretty easy choice actually. So, this is Part 1 of our afternoon walk and discovery around Benchasiri Park. Thanks for watching. …stay tuned for more.

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We decided to take the BTS over to the Ekamai station and have some food at the Food Street food court. Its funny, when I first came to Thailand and people mentioned, “We are going to get some lunch at the ‘food court’ in the mall”, i thought, “Oh… you poor people… You must just be in a hurry and can’t take the time to head out and find some decent food, eh?”
** I STAND CORRECTED**
In fact, my experience with Food Courts (as we refer to them in the US, at least) in most of South East Asia has been quite favorable. In some of the Central malls (e.g. Central Festival…) the food courts have some excellent offerings. And they are hardly the cheapest solution (from a Thai perspective) BUT when spending my “California money”, its still a great deal. The quality has always been Good to Very Good.
On this day, I wasn’t really hungry so actually just had some “street food” on the way into the mall. Just off the walkway from the BTS into Gateway, there were clothing and food tents/stalls. I had some sausage balls for 20 Baht ($0.61) and a spiced rice ball for 10 Baht ($0.30)
Gracie, being the big spender (and always hungrier than I) got a meal at Food Street of omelet and rice with a big bowl of mushroom soup for 55 THB for the meal = $1.67
We also shared 2 EST-Lights (…basically 2 diet Pepsi’s) for 19 Baht each ($1.16 total)
— the whole “lunch” cost $3.74 for both of us —
Now, are *all* our meals that ridiculously expensive? NO. I would say, most of our “street food” outings are actually more expensive… by about 2 to 3 times. For example, the Pork w/ Basil over rice with a fried egg that I like at a local evening ‘food court stall’ we go to just down the street from our Noble Remix condo, is 70 THB ($2.13) Gracie has gotten the same with shrimp for 90 THB ($2.74)
So, “dinner” for us end up being $4.87
We have a word for the cost of this in California… FREE!

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I pronounced the name of this park Wrong probably 14 times during this video. At first I was bummed that no one was watching live… THEN I realized what time it was back in California… ah hah! – middle of the night?.. Yep!
BUT, upon exiting the park I realized that I completely pronounced the name wrong – each and every time. BUT, if you can get past that, hopefully the video highlights some of the not-so-common beauty of Bangkok.
Here’s some info on the park:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjakitti_Park

I highly recommend you have a look!
Thanks for watching.
..stay tuned.

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This video is about Benjakitti Park (Part 2 of 3):

We take the BTS Skytrain to Asok station. Then an easy walk to Benjakitti Park (and YES, I am sadly, fully aware that I pronounce the park incorrectly… its NOT, “Benjakki”… its BENJAKITTI – hopefully you can ignore my ignorance and enjoy the scenery and discussion abut the part and the beauty of this place.

**some more info on Benjakitti Park:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjakitti_Park

Its truly one of the gems of Bangkok. I think the more I discover about Bangkok, the more I like it.
I still believe I am in tourist mode with a slight transition into part-time resident… VERY part time. But, I still feel like Gracie and I live a little bit closer to ‘locals’ on the “tourism continuum” :–)

Hope you enjoy.
Thanks for watching.
…stay tuned for more!

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We use AirBnB almost exclusively when we travel. Its truly my top recommendation ( http://www.airbnb.com/c/mikes107 )

Here is the link to our condo complex at NOBLE REMIX:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5688556

As mentioned in this and other videos it is Super Convenient as it has a covered walkway directly from the BTS Thong Lo station. If you know anything about Bangkok, or southeast Asia in general, it rains. And, when its rains… Yep, you guessed it – it POURS! It had to walk (run?) about 50 feet.. in a suit.. and got drenched. Then, I was in a hotel conference room with air conditioning. As you might guess, this is certainly imperfect. For the most part the clothes dry out fairly quickly but its still annoying if you are going somewhere, other than back home and don’t have the option of taking Off your wet clothes and having dry towels near by. Ha!

Here is some Noble Remix condo info: http://www.noblehome.com/condominium/remix2/en/home

NEXT: We take the BTS Skytrain to Asok station. Then an easy walk to Benjakitti Park (and YES, I am sadly, fully aware that I pronounce the park incorrectly… its NOT, “Benjakki”… its BENJAKITTI – hopefully you can ignore my ignorance and enjoy the scenery and discussion abut the part and the beauty of this place.

**some more info on Benjakitti Park:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjakitti_Park

Its truly one of the gems of Bangkok. I think the more I discover about Bangkok, the more I like it.
I still believe I am in tourist mode with a slight transition into part-time resident… VERY part time. But, I still feel like Gracie and I live a little bit closer to ‘locals’ on the “tourism continuum” :–)

Hope you enjoy.
Thanks for watching.
…stay tuned for more!

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Just down the street (Sukhumvit) from our condo is a great little spot with little metal tables and plastic chairs and about 10 food stalls. I stopped and got some Som Tam a.k.a. Papaya Salad or “Pok Pok”. “Pok Pok” because that is the sound that big stick/mallet makes when it is pounded into the clay bowl. This Som Tam was 40 Baht or about $1.25, we also got some Basil Pork with rice and a fried egg ($2.13) as well as some Mango & sticky rice ($1.22) and some BBQ chicken on a stick ($0.61 x 2). … Just a quick check-in and then a 10 minute walk back to the condo and life is good!

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Just a quick check-in as Gracie and I are walking back from our $15.23 (including tip) hour long massage. I just had to stop and shoot some quick video of this Cable Clean-Up happening along Sukhumvit in Bangkok. If you have never been here, there is no way a photo of me saying, “Yeh, there are a LOT of wires strung aerially along the poles in Thailand… You just cannot picture it if you have not seen it.
BUT, it looks like this is a major step toward some beautification of the infrastructure here in the land of smiles.

Very Cool Thailand! Chop mak mak!!

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LIVE THE DREAM,
~mikes