Andrew Currie on Posterous

I didn't hire a guide for any of these attractions as I was on high alert for scams and touts -- sure enough, someone had the balls to try the old "Grand Palace is closed for a Thai holiday but let me take you somewhere even better" routine, right in front of the clearly open main gate and two armed guards there! When in doubt, ask the guys with bayonets...

Just south of the Grand Palace lies (literally) the Reclining Buddha:

And just across the river is Wat Arun.

The top level of this structure was apparently closed to the public in 1998 after a tourist slipped and fell to their death -- now it's open again. The second level was plenty high enough for me.

Despite the crowds throughout the day my mind was still fairly blown by the physical manifestations of this exotic culture. It seems to me that in many ways Thailand is the realm of ghosts and demons who decided the fate of this world a long time ago...

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For those who have been, Bangkok is probably about as famous for its congestion as anything else. Here are three quick videos showing the predominant modes of local transportation:

First up, the BTS SkyTrain -- coincidentally covered in advertising for Nokia's new N97 Mini.

Next, the Chao Phraya Express Boat -- the best way to get to touristy sites along the river.

And finally, what I just know you've been waiting for, a virtual tuk-tuk ride!

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Sorry that I don't have more to report, but shortly after I took this video I was sound asleep.

I meant to stay up a little longer, I really did. Al Pavangkanan, a fellow North American who's also in town, even offered to come downtown and show me around a bit. But after being homeless (ok, bed-less) for two days the allure of soft fluffy pillows proved too hard to resist.

But I'll make for it today. Just you wait...

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#ACRTW - Sunday brunch in London with friends. Hey, isn't that Tom Hall, the dude who tirelessly collates all the goings-on in the Nokia-verse for WOMWorld.com? Indeed it is -- he's seen here (photo #1) posing at the front door of 1000heads swanky new London HQ.

Tom graciously offered to babysit me during my day-long layover in and out of Heathrow, and he brought friends (photo #2). Even better, I got the okay to take one of them with me on my 'round the world tour!

But which one?

Well, the white N97 actually belongs to Tom so that's out. And truth be told only the N86 was earmarked for me, mostly because of its high-res camera but also because the other two technically haven't been released to the public yet. But you know what? I'm totally okay with that.

I know, you think I'm an idiot for not begging to take the N900 with me, especially being a Linux-loving freedom beard and all. But hear me out: Though Nokia's open-source behemoth has more raw horsepower than the other two, I've got some issues with it -- at least in regards to this particular trip:

1. I'm going to be running around Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei & Tokyo documenting anything & everything I can, and I simply don't have the time to get fluent in Maemo right now.
2. The QWERTY keypad on the N900 is good, but the one on the N97 is significantly better, IMHO. The keys are farther apart and have more travel, which makes thumb-typing more accurate -- at least for me.
3. I can't put my finger on it (no pun intended) but even after a few minutes with it the N900 feels less like a phone and more like a really small computer. My netbook is already a fairly small computer, so what I need is a phone.

The N97 Mini might have gotten the nod (were it possible), but every single app I've currently got on my N79 is replicable on the N86. Give me an hour or two to set up the shortcut keys and I'm good to go.

And now, thanks to Tom and my other pals at WOM World, I'll have a high-functioning handest in Tokyo that's worthy of a Japanse keitai... Arigato! m(_ _)m

     

Click here to download:

ACRTW_-_Sunday_brunch_in_Londo.zip (2333 KB)

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The problem with Business Class -- at least on Air Canada -- is that there's nobody really interesting to chat with.

That first photo below above is my lie-flat seat, number 2A on AC856 to LHR. The dude in 1A looked like he was gonna go all Sean Penn on me when I snapped it. Whatever. I'm here for the seat.

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So last night I dropped the boy off with very capable cat-sitters Sandy Chen and Ryan Lynch. To show my appreciation I took them for dinner at Square One -- where, lo and be-ho-ho-hold, TELUS Mobility had a cheesy photo stand set up to drive traffic to their store down the hall.

I'm pretty sure this photo was taken with some kind of BlackBerry, which explains the over-saturated colour and lack of focus. ; )

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Considering that text messages cost my carrier absolutely nothing to provide, I find it a bit ridiculous that when abroad I have to pay an additional ¢75 per sent message, or purchase a temporary SMS travel package in advance.

Fortunately, there's another, better way. Check out the video above to see FishText in action. It's a Java app so it'll work on pretty much every handset out there, even your stupid iPhone -- and if you don't want to pay for data roaming it'll even work over WiFi.

How brilliant is that?

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