Thompson with a "p."

I just got back to Nepal from Thailand, where, among other things, I saw the Jim Thompson House (the silk magnate, not the author,) the Bridge Over the River Kwai (the bridge, not the movie,) elephants, emus, monkeys, Kichwa Tembo, the waterfall at Erawan, a giant reclining Buddha, a much smaller but better dressed Buddha, and a lot of pictures of the king. Pictures are here.

Thailand, especially Bangkok, is much, much more modern than Nepal. While there's a certain charm to the decrepit streets of Kathmandu, there are a few things that they have in Thailand that I think would be nice in Nepal:

• Decent Coffee: I still don't understand why we don't have it in the valley.
  
• Beef that hasn't been brought into the country by a slow truck from India: Really. I can only eat so much yak in one month.
  
• Air conditioning: the lack of it may be the reason everyone keeps going crazy here.
  
• Public Transportation: The subway and sky-tram in Bangkok is as nice as any system I've ever seen.
  
• Edible street food: I really hate not being able to eat things in the street that look delicious here, but the threat of immediate death is sufficient deterrent.
  
• Non-violent coups: It would probably be better if this were the norm here.
  
• Theravada Buddhism: This Mahayana/Newari synthesis nonsense is for suckers.*
  
• Bright pink cabs: I would probably argue with the drivers less if the cabs here came in festive colors. Also if they had air-conditioning (see supra.)
  

A few other observations:

• Bangkok really seems like a good example of a city that has modernized without homogenizing. Despite the endless 7-11's (they're everywhere) there still seems to be a strong cultural tradition that has not been obliterated by globalization.
  
• Thailand has a lot of prostitutes. Seriously, it's pretty flagrant there, and Westerners aren't helping much.
  
• Thai Airlines is really a great airline.
  
• Bangkok is still a funny word.
  

*Just to be clear, this is a joke. I have no preference whatsoever amongst the various schools of Buddhist theology.