Friday Flashback - Room With A View

I used to keep an MSN webpage filled with pics from my day's in Bangkok just after the turn of the century. Today, I received an email from this site saying that it would be shutdown, but I could move all my pictures to another photo website called Multiply.

Instead of reading the directions on how to start up this new site, I decided to simply download the good pictures and start a weekly blog called Friday Flashback - as much to keep a record of what went one before I came to Korat, as to fill up some blog pages with something other than what I had for lunch.

So, without further ado, here's the first one - My Bangkok apartment with the million dollar view.

The interior of the apartment was a bit dated with parquet floors, low ceiling, and corduroy wallpaper, but it had the balcony of all balconies. It stretched the length of the master bedroom and living room and was 6 ft deep - enough to hold a grill and the dining room table. My friends and I spent many a night on this balcony, usually having a few drinks before going out for the evening, and more often than not, never making it out at all.

The balcony overlooked the Queen Sirikit Convention Center and the adjoining park with the largest body of water in Bangkok next to the Chao Phraya River. The convention center is at the end with the orange roof. My office was the tall building in the center of the picture. It took me 5 minutes to get there by motorcycle - almost unheard of in Bangkok.

It was a huge apartment - nearly 2,000 sq ft, and at the time, I remember thinking to myself that it may be the nicest apartment I will ever live in. So far, so true, which is hard to believe considering, I make almost 3 times as much as I did back then. Then again, it was my first time living in a big city, I never thought twice about saving money, and instant gratification was life's only worthy objective.

All in all, those days are probably better off gone, and that's the main reason I decided to move Korat, but I have to admit, I do miss the view.