19 May 2012

Misc pictures and stories

Fun with tuk-tuks
Tuk-tuking in Bangkok traffic.

Our tuk-tuk went between these buses.

One tuk-tuk was towing another

Grand Palace fashion police
No bare shoulders, knees or midriffs; nothing see-through, nothing ripped or skin-tight.

If you fail inspection, you have to either leave or rent a sarong (women) or pants (men).


Street food
Pick your ingredients and they cook it for you.

This was mostly dried fish and seafood.

 
Fruit vendor cutting up guava for me

Peanuts and corn

Orchid farming
Orchids are cross-pollinated to create the mix desired. (right to left) The resulting seeds are placed inside a glass bottle with agar and sealed. After a year the bottle is broken open and the seedlings are transplanted into charcoal where they grow for a couple years until they bloom the first time.

Red Bull
Red Bull originated in Thailand and was an import to the US. According to some of the kids in the group, the Thai version packs a much bigger punch than the US version.

Gas prices
Wherever I go, I get a picture of gas prices to compare with prices at home. When I left, I was paying about $3.60/gal for ethanol blend. This sign is in baht/liter. I think the top one is diesel because the bottom 3 have what look like octane numbers. Figure 30 baht/dollar and 3.785 liter/gal. That makes the diesel $4.05/gal and the rest $4.86, $5.08, and $5.51 per gal, respectively.