Who's Got Varnish and is not Afraid to Use It?

Bangkok, Thailand - Holy shitake! This is where tacky goes to die. I now must issue my first retraction (even masters have a blemish). A few entries ago, I lamented over the varnished path to hell all historic Chinese buildings are doomed to traverse. I eat my own words. The refurbished Forbidden City is positively Gehry-esque compared to the Emerald Palace in Bangkok.  Hell, Walt Disney World is an icon of minimalist-chic compared to the aesthetic eye of Thailand.  To each is your confection-coated own I guess. But what do I know, Asian women have three colors in their wardrobe, black, grey and charcoal so I really have no right to comment on the technicolor of others.  

Every tour to Ayunthaya (poor man's Cambodia) involves a tour of the Summer Palace and it is apparently seen as rude to not want to see it. You have bigger problems than disrespecting your king's summer crib if you have to "trick" people into going. Effectively, you're putting the Summer Palace on par with all those stupid ceramic factories you make us go to. At least there were cute topiaries of elephants smelling each others asses.