From the balcony of a very posh Japanese-themed hotel bar whose name I don't remember because we had just run in there to escape a sudden bout of rain (which happened every day we were there):
The patch of vegetation in the middle is the residence of the US Ambassador and the US embassy. Acres and acres of very valuable real estate! The British and Swiss and Netherlands' and many other embassies are on the same street. Embassy row, I guess.
From one of the restaurants in the Lebua State Towers hotel. This is where some of Hangover 2 was filmed. It's a swank western-style hotel with awesome views. We stayed here our last two nights.
The view from one of our balconies. One of our balconies.
It wasn't cheap, but I can't imagine what a suite with two balconies on the 56th floor of some NY hotel would cost.
Free booze and (awesome) snacks from 2 to 6!
Still, we couldn't afford to eat at that place, so we went down to reality for dinner. Here's the street view, one block from the hotel.
Note the power lines. Regulation in Thailand is apparently very weak.
Like Tokyo, Bangkok is full of little alleyways, and there are many good things to be found down them. We were lucky enough to go with a friend who had been there all summer and knew where to find good stuff.
Those power lines look like the ones in Old Delhi.
The second to last picture looks like a vertically stacked trailer park. Sad!