070521 Thaikarl - bangkok visa run and shopping

friends,

tok and i bussed down to bangkok.  hoped to hook up with a friend of mine i met in cambodia two years ago, but he escaped back to cambodia again... but we had some shopping to do - looking for  an ordinary wet/dry vacuum cleaner.  you know the kind you can buy anywhere in the usa for as low as $25.00.  not so here.  they don't seem to exist... the ones that do, like the ones we say them using in the hotel they tell us cost 10,000 baht!  that's $298 USD!  can't believe.... jeez, maybe i should be importing wet/dry vacs to thailand.  and i noticed some brass 1/2 water valves in the hardware store, selling for 60 baht - only 2.00 USD.  the same things in brass are like 15.00 in the states.  i should be exporting brass valves to the united states...  hmmm.  reason we're looking ofr a vac is the huge amount of dust the construction is leaving in the house.  cement and sand dust everywhere, and we have to clean it off the floors .  Tok is a bit sensitive to dust, she'll break out in hives if there is too much of it, so i'm looking for a vacuum so she can filter it out and not just sweep it back into the air all the time.

whilst we are here, i went to the immigration office and got a 30 day extension for my visa.  giving me a total of 90 days, without having to make a visa run out of the country.  only 1900 baht for the visa - cheaper than making a visa run to cambodia or laos.  not too much hassle either, fill out the forms, attach a photo, go to the right line, wait. done. 

we stayed at the white lodge last night.  but the room was just ordinary and big, so we moved to a new hotel we found last time.  a few baht more, but nice room with satellite TV! which means TV in english.  woo hoo! making the rounds of bookshops also, but the pickings are slim.  seems the best used book market is at chatujeck, which is on the weekends only - so we missed that.

been nice and sunny last couple of days.  warmer in bangkok.  might go see spiderman 3 at the cinema tonight.

onward
Nu and Tok

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I am in southeast asia April 19 - July 20 2007 ::: http://thaikarl.blogspot.com/