An insider's guide to Bangkok at its best
Thailand’s capital seems to polarise people - you either love it or hate it.
Admittedly it can be frustrating coping with massive traffic jams, heat and humidity, and crowded shopping malls. Not everyone’s cup of chai.
But then there are people like me. I welcome the occasional escape into chaos, humanity, odiferous durian-laced markets, tuk tuks buzzing like flies and most of all, cheap and cheerful Thai street food.
And I love the activity on the Chao Phraya River as it snakes its way through the city. It’s the Bangkok I know best.
Early memories
I first arrived here in the 1960s. I was young, inexperienced and it was my first time in Asia. What a culture shock.
Staying at the YMCA, I met some British seamen enjoying R&R and inevitably, got into all sorts of trouble. Thus, my first recollections of Bangkok are pretty hazy but I do remember being invited to “tea” by a couple of Ansett hosties (as they were known then) at the Oriental Hotel. They must have been paying “airline staff rate” as it was way too expensive for me!
Anyhow, the place left an indelible impression and later in my career I was part of the team that launched the modern new River Wing of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the 1970s.
The river of kings
The Chao Phraya is the heart and soul of this teeming metropolis, and has played a major role in Thailand’s history. Up till 1767, Thailand’s capital was further up river at Ayudhya but for strategic and trade reasons, King Taksin moved it downstream to Thonburi. Then in 1782, King Rama 1 moved the seat of government across the river and established today’s Bangkok.
Since then the city has flourished as a trading port and business centre, as well as becoming the main tourist drawcard. Until the 1990s, that is, when development moved further away from the riverside to areas like Sukhumvit Road with glitzy new office buildings and of course, brand new hotels.
More recent times
I’m more than familiar with the Bangkok of the 1980s and 1990s. During that time I probably visited the city and other parts of Thailand at least 30 times on business mixed with a little pleasure, simply because it’s that kind of place.
It was always nice to escape the sanity of Hong Kong and Singapore for the madness of the “City of Angels” and the many friends I made there.
Classy hotels like the Shangri-La and the Royal Orchid Sheraton sprang up along the river banks, and gave tourists a reason to move back to this historic part of the city.
Today’s bangkok
The Chao Phraya is just as much an integral part of the capital’s identity as it was in the 18th century. In fact, much more so. For the river offers the traveller a true glimpse of Bangkok life, with long tail ferries, hotel shuttle boats, and huge barges being pulled along by tiny tugs.
Schoolchildren, monks, businessmen and housewives commute to and from Thonburi and at night, there’s a steady progression of dinner cruises with live entertainment blaring forth. It’s a colourful, fun scene which the business-like centre of Bangkok can’t match.
Where to stay along the river
There are now more than a dozen riverside hotels including the Peninsula and the Mandarin Oriental, but my favourites remain the Shangri-La and the Royal Orchid Sheraton for their resort facilities [tennis, gym and pools], excellent buffet breakfasts, impeccable service and fabulous 270 degree views of river life.
Another interesting choice would be Chakrabongse Villas, previously a 19th century Royal Residence with just 12 rooms and the finest Thai cuisine.
Riverside attractions
A visit to Asiatique is a must. This recent development is a flourishing night market with dozens of restaurants, bars and boutiques selling local designer threads, different to the usual cheap T-shirt stalls (although there are those as well). There’s something here to enjoy for everyone whether you’re a shopper or not. Access is by taxi, or the free shuttle boat service from Taksin Bridge.
The Jam Factory across on Thonburi side is a converted industrial building with two excellent restaurants, bookshop, art gallery and more.
Learn the secrets of Thai cuisine at several cooking schools. Shop for arts and crafts at River City, next to the Sheraton. Explore the riverside precincts with bike tours and gallery visits, and try the street food (Pad Thai is my favourite).
And if you’re in luck with timing, the annual “River on a Plate” dine-around in November is a great excuse for overeating. There are many other events along the river, year-round.
Written by Phil Hawkes. Republished with permission of Wyza.com.au.
Understanding the financial pages
Understanding the financial pages: Here are a few tips that may help to get you started to understand the financial pages of the daily newspaper. Read more:
Read more here.
Looking at the financial pages of the daily newspaper may seem like a bewildering onslaught of information with reams of market statistics and measurements. This can make the investment world seem quite complex and intimidating, but when you break it down and try to grasp each of the component parts, it is well within the capacity of most lay people to understand.
Here are a few tips that may help to get you started:
Firstly, a word of warning
Beware of the temptation to start reading the financial pages in the same way you would read the form guide for horse racing!
It is easy to get caught up in habit of tracking daily movements of particular share values, but this can distract you from the taking the broad, long term view that is so essential to successful investing. In short, don’t be tempted to try and ‘pick winners’.
Understanding the ASX table
The financial section of the newspaper will normally show the full list of companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Next to each company will be a range of figures, usually beginning with the price of the share for that company at the end of the previous day’s trading. Some publications will also show a three letter ‘ASX code’ used to identify the company.
Other measurements shown on this table include:
- Weekly volume – The total number of shares of a company that were bought and sold within the last week.
- Price movements – This may be shown as the price change since the previous day’s closing price, or it may be shown as a change over the previous week and some financial tables will even show the change over the last 12 months.
- Dividend yield percentage – This figure is sometimes also shown and is the amount a company pays out in dividends each year as a percentage of the current share price. For example, if a particular share has a value of $100 and has paid a dividend of $5 then its dividend yield is 5% ($5 divided by $100).
Market indices
While the ASX table breaks down the performance of each company separately, you can also look at the collective performance of the market as a whole via the ‘All Ordinaries Index’. This tracks the movement of the total value of all shares on the exchange and the change over the last week and month may also be shown.
Apart from the All Ordinaries Index, there are also a range of other sub-indices which indicate the performance of different segments of the market. The ASX 200, for example, is an index that tracks the change in collective value of the largest 200 public companies.
Some indices focus on specific industrial segments. The S&P ASX200 Energy Index, for example, measures the largest 200 energy companies. There are indices for and range of other sectors, such as health care, industry, finance, and metals and mining.
International markets
Financial pages will also usually show various indices for major stock markets in other countries, such as the Dow Jones index in the USA, the FTSE in the UK and the Hang Seng in China.
Commodity prices
The prices and price changes of key commodities are also a feature of many financial pages. Oil and gold are two such commodities that will usually be shown because of their importance as indicators of the general direction of the world economy and of market sentiment.
Exchange rates
These are another important indicator of economic conditions and the state of the economies of different countries relative to each other. The financial pages will usually show the daily movement of the Australian Dollar against major world currencies, such as the US Dollar, the Euro and the Yen.
There can be many factors within each country’s domestic economy which influence the movements in exchange rates. These can include interest rates, inflation, political stability, government debt and terms of trade.
Making sense of it all
It would obviously take quite some time if you were to review and analyse all the items being reported and measured on the daily financial pages. Even if you do have the time to do that, it takes a considerable amount of skill and experience to interpret what different movements mean.
Often the day to day movements in things like share prices and exchange rates are the result of transient factors and it is only a consistent analysis over a long period of time that can start to make a coherent interpretation.
While it can be interesting to follow the fluctuating fortunes of particular shares, or the daily machinations of indices, commodities and exchange rates, it helps to have a financial adviser on your side to look at the bigger, long term picture.
They will have access to expert research resources that constantly analyse markets at home and abroad and can position you to grow wealth without the need to personally keep track of day to day changes.
Republished with permission of Wyza.com.au.