Back in Bangkok

Bangkok, June 30, 9:40 p.m. Only two days left in this excellent country. I met a couple from Croatia -- not one of the usual tourist homelands! -- and they are here for a whole month. I envy them. Best thing I have done (most fun): visited the national elephant training camp out in the countryside on Friday. Hung out with a bunch of elephants without cages or fences of any kind. The Croatian couple was there, and then later I ran into them in another town, Ko Kha, where we had all gone to see the same ancient wat. I flew back to Bangkok this afternoon. I would like to post some photos, but my diskette drive is in a piece of luggage in the U.S. Embassy (as a courtesy; not confiscated!) -- so probably no photos online for a while yet.

No technology news today, but one observation I hope I will remember: The newspapers here really run a lot of news about public affairs. Every article in the front section of the two English language dailies (Bangkok Post and The Nation) is about a dam project, a protest, a political decision, a government plan to give loans to the rural poor, a corrupt official -- there is no fluff at all in the front section. There are some amusing briefs, such as a story about a man who was surprised to find his wife working in a brothel when he went in as a customer (not in Thailand; it was a foreign brief), but mostly it's hard news and very much just the facts -- there is a refreshing absence of speculation and opinion in the news stories. Quite different from the U.S. dailies.

I shot some great video at a daily newspaper in Chiang Mai where they were kind enough to give me a tour. I will need to edit it, but it's a somewhat different operation from most of the U.S. newspapers of their size (40,000 daily circ.).

The Lonely Planet Bangkok guide online provides a quick introduction to this city, but it's not as thorough as the LP Thailand guide book (which I can thank for pointing me to the elephant camp).