First Night in Bangkok

Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok, Thailand
Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok, Thailand
Yesterday was an extremely long day for me. I woke up at 2am in Sydney to record This Week in Travel, stayed up to follow the Apple iPad announcement (I think the iPad looks to be a great travel gadget), then flew to Melbourne, was forced by the airline to buy a ticket out of Thailand before they’d let me board the flight, then sat in the air for 10 hours. In hindsight, I probably should have flown from Fiji to Hong Kong rather than Sydney, but there is no point complaining about that now.

In the taxi drive into Bangkok, I got the same feeling I did when I was here last year. There are certain cities which just have a buzz about them. New York has it, Chicago doesn’t. Hong Kong has it, Singapore doesn’t. Bangkok has it, Kuala Lumpur doesn’t. Thailand has become a magnet for so many westerners who are looking for a place overseas to work. There must be at least half a dozen different bloggers here right now.

My primary purpose in coming to Bangkok is to work. I’ve found moving around constantly to be an impediment to getting some things done, so I’m going to camp here for about two months and work on my website and other projects.

In addition to the business, I will be doing regular side trips on the weekends. There are two national parks I want to visit and I might make a short trip to southern Laos to visit a World Heritage Site. I will also be doing a longer trip to Burma at some point.

My first order of business is getting processing all the photos sitting on my laptop. I still have thousands of photos from my trip out west I still have to sift through. I tossed about 1,000 from Fiji on top of that too.

I’ll also be writing more. I have about six unfinished articles which are almost ready to go and I hope to launch some of the things I discussed earlier this month.

I’m also going to be looking for some people to help me on a few small projects. I’m looking for:

  • A programmer with skills in PHP and MySQL who can help do minor changes to my WordPress theme.
  • A graphic designer who can help do small design projects and do some icons.
  • An intern or an assistant who can do some small online tasks for me, preferably someone in North America because I need some things to be done while I’m sleeping in Thailand. If you want to learn the ropes of running a travel blog, this would be a great opportunity for someone to get some first-hand experience.

These aren’t full-time jobs or even part-time jobs. I’m looking for people I can develop a relationship with to work on small projects as they arise. If you are interested, send an email to gary@everything-everywhere.com.

15 thoughts on “First Night in Bangkok”

  1. I’m excited to read your upcoming posts from Thailand, Laos and Burma. I still have 7mths before I arrive in Asia and I’m getting serious cabin fever. I’ll just have to survive through your posts for now! haha

  2. I haven’t been to Bangkok since 2000. I remember getting decent massage for about $2.50US an hour. What are they running now?

      • In general… for a low-budget traveler… is Bali more or less expensive than Thailand? I know the prices vary from region to region. I’ve been to the full moon party on Koh P. and Phuket, various other small towns, Bangkok, C. Mai, Pai, etc. Been twice actually. One trip ventured to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos as well and wish I’d spent a bit more time in Vietnam and made it to Burma.

        But, I haven’t been to Bali yet. Just seems like a popular tourist destination and I’m concerned it’s pricey. It’s definitely more expensive to get there. But, once there… is it very doable on a shoe-string?

  3. I love going to places that have that buzz — I know the exact feeling you’re talking about. That photo is beautiful….it looks like some of the art/architecture there is incredibly intricate. Haven’t been to Asia, but Bangkok is definitely on the list. Enjoy your travels there — sounds like it will be nice to have it as a home base for a little while!

  4. Good to see you’re on the move again! I sort of stopped following your travels in America, but now that you’re out on the road again, I’ve started checking every day.

    I also may be able to help with #3 in particular, depending on what it is you need done. I have over 2 years experience with wordpress Drop me an email if you’re interested.

  5. Those were some of the guys I was thinking of. I’m sure Khao San road is filled with backpackers who have blogs for their friends and families.

  6. BBKtweetup was a killer event, a super impressive crowd. I totally agree on the BKK buzz and can’t wait to get back. Definitely meet up with Sean and Cody, really great guys.

  7. Cool, I’ll be back in Bangkok in a few weeks. Would be nice to run into you! Check out the BKKtweetup organised by Cody, I met some really awesome people there.
    “at least half a dozen different bloggers” :P I imagine you mean bloggers with 1000+ subscribers, since you could easily find thousands of travellers with blogs in Bangkok. Even serious bloggers would definitely go waaay beyond just six. If you don’t know him Sean Ogle is an awesome guy moving to Bangkok for the next month.

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