Bangkok

"The Good Woman of Bangkok," which the Baltimore Film Festival is screening tonight at 7 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Art, is certainly one of the stranger enterprises ever committed to film, a "documentary" that turns into a bizarre account of personal obsession.Dennis O'Rourke, an Australian filmmaker (most famous for "Cannibal Tours") found himself in a post-divorce depression and headed out to Bangkok, Thailand, the sin capital of the world, to lose himself in the pleasures of the flesh.

BANGKOK -- Most of us can read about sex trafficking with a sense of detachment. It is only when we see its results up close that we are forced to confront the full extent of its horror. Nana Plaza is one of several "red light" districts in Bangkok. It is less than two blocks from my upscale hotel, but worlds away from it, a distance, you could say, separating Heaven from Hell. Girls -- and that's what many of them are -- wear almost nothing. They are there to please. My guide points out a three-story structure.

BANGKOK, Thailand --At least six small bombs exploded around Bangkok yesterday, killing two people and wounding more than 20 in a city that remains under martial law after a coup three months ago. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Two more bombs went off moments later near a downtown mall, wounding eight people, including six foreigners, police said. New Year's celebrations were officially canceled in Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai. But when midnight struck, cheers went up in Bangkok and the sky was filled with fireworks.

When you hear the slogan "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," your imagination starts working overtime, and the raunchy Vegas bachelor party in "The Hangover" shrewdly tapped into those fantasies. It resulted in millions of movie-goers turning up at the box office a couple of years ago. That hit made "The Hangover Part II" as inevitable as, well, the aftermath from a night of hedonistic excess. Although there is nothing particularly novel about the new sequel, it successfully takes the comic formula that paid off in Vegas and geographically transfers it to another celebrated "sin city," Bangkok.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Like many other middle class Thais these days, Nam Ruangvuthi looked lost, puzzled, worried - and angry. On a recent morning, he knelt at a shrine of one of Thailand's past royalty and prayed for fortune in finding a new job.From there, he walked over to a street in front of Government House and joined several thousand people who were shouting and thrusting fists in the air to demand that Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh resign.Nam...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- It's clean, it's fast, it's punctual, and it offers a breathtaking view of some of the world's most spectacular traffic jams.It is the long-delayed Skytrain, a 16-mile, $1.7 billion elevated rail system that opened for business yesterday, snaking above a city that -- like so many others in Asia -- is strangling on its own traffic.Called "the train that floats in the air" in Thai, it is a small start to the city's 180-mile mass transit master plan.The privately financed rail system is Bangkok's most ambitious attempt to deal with the near gridlock that is sometimes described as its defining landmark.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The search for American country-western music in the Orient begins on Cowboy Alley, a neon strip of girlie bars saturated with Old West cliches. The names say it all. Lucky Star, Apache, Long Gun, Country Roads I and II. Inside, longhorn skulls, branding irons, saddles, lassos and stirrups adorn the walls.The petite Thai "waitresses" are like Dolly Parton without the bust or rhinestones or Southern accent. They sweat stoically in the tropical heat, parading around in knee-length boots, frilly skirts, embroidered shirts and bolo ties.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- On the wrong street at the wrong time of day, the air here is an intoxicating elixir of exhaust and soot suspended in tropical torpor. And then there are the really bad blocks. Like Ploenchit Road, near the intersection where Mater Dei School sits cater-corner to the Central department store. During rush hour, Thais who scurry through this stretch press white cloths to their mouths in a gasping effort to filter the caustic swirl. Tourists eye the block as if entering an alley where surely something foul lurks.

"I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet. . . . Her death was an accident." John Mark Carr Carr told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was arrested last week, that he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she died in December 1996. But the district attorney in Boulder, Colo., where the 6-year-old girl was killed, warned the public not to "jump to conclusions" in the case.

"The Good Woman of Bangkok," which the Baltimore Film Festival is screening tonight at 7 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, is certainly one of the stranger enterprises ever committed to film, a "documentary" that turns into a bizarre account of personal obsession.Dennis O'Rourke, an Australian filmmaker (most famous for "Cannibal Tours") found himself in a post-divorce depression and headed out to Bangkok, Thailand, the sin capital of the world, to lose himself in the pleasures of the flesh.

BANGKOK - Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat declared a state of emergency yesterday around two Bangkok airports occupied by protesters but insisted he wanted a peaceful resolution. "I do not have any intention to hurt any members of the public," he said in announcing the targeted restrictions on civil liberties aimed at reopening the country's main international airport. Under a state of emergency, the government can suspend civil liberties, ban public gatherings and take other measures to restore order without imposing broader restrictions that many Thais have feared.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Thai authorities shut down Bangkok's second airport today after it was overrun by anti-government protesters, completely cutting off the capital from air traffic as the prime minister rejected their demands to resign, deepening the country's crisis. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat says his government will keep functioning despite demands by the army chief and demonstrators that he call new elections to resolve the political crisis. "I reassure the people that this government, which is legitimate and came from elections, will keep functioning until the end," Somchai said in a nationally televised speech yesterday.

HOLLYWOOD - Nicolas Cage didn't wind up in Bangkok, Thailand, by accident. As the Oscar-winning actor explains it, there were reasons both personal and professional that compelled him to change gears after the mega-dollar success of the family-friendly action-adventure National Treasure: Book of Secrets and travel across the globe in pursuit of a new career iteration. Not least was the impulse to shake up his image by appearing in a foreign-made film. "On my path of film acting, I've been trying to think more and more internationally, trying to have a global mind," Cage said.

BANGKOK, Thailand --At least six small bombs exploded around Bangkok yesterday, killing two people and wounding more than 20 in a city that remains under martial law after a coup three months ago. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Two more bombs went off moments later near a downtown mall, wounding eight people, including six foreigners, police said. New Year's celebrations were officially canceled in Bangkok and the northern city of Chiang Mai. But when midnight struck, cheers went up in Bangkok and the sky was filled with fireworks.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- In the end, the military coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was fitting for this largely Buddhist nation. Not a shot was fired. As government overthrows go, this one was about as nonviolent as a country can get. Yesterday, women offered roses to many of the hundreds of young soldiers who patrolled the streets in their green khaki uniforms. Outside Government House, the official residence of the deposed Thaksin, curious onlookers gathered at the gates to take pictures with cell phones and digital cameras.

"I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet. . . . Her death was an accident." John Mark Carr Carr told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand, where he was arrested last week, that he was with JonBenet Ramsey when she died in December 1996. But the district attorney in Boulder, Colo., where the 6-year-old girl was killed, warned the public not to "jump to conclusions" in the case.

When you hear the slogan "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," your imagination starts working overtime, and the raunchy Vegas bachelor party in "The Hangover" shrewdly tapped into those fantasies. It resulted in millions of movie-goers turning up at the box office a couple of years ago. That hit made "The Hangover Part II" as inevitable as, well, the aftermath from a night of hedonistic excess. Although there is nothing particularly novel about the new sequel, it successfully takes the comic formula that paid off in Vegas and geographically transfers it to another celebrated "sin city," Bangkok.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand -- At the five main gates of Chiang Mai's old city, people gathered recently for an ancient ceremony called Inthakin. Buddhist monks in saffron robes chanted as people offered flowers, incense and candles to ask for rain and bountiful crops.But the raucous traffic jams around the gates muffled the chants, and the fumes from cars and motorbikes overpowered the sweet smell of incense.Chiang Mai, former capital of the Lanna Thai Kingdom, celebrated its 702nd birthday this year.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- The mystery of John Mark Karr grows as he awaits his extradition to the United States in connection with the killing of JonBenet Ramsey. Some details have emerged, however, of the life he had cobbled together in this frenetic city. Like hundreds of other foreigners who reside in or pass through Bangkok every year, Karr, 41, taught students eager to learn English. This spring, one of Thailand's most prestigious private schools, the Bangkok Christian College, posted online and in the city's English-language newspaper an ad for a teaching position in its English immersion program.

Recently, I asked friends from Silver Spring who know Thai food and culture very well to recommend a good Thai restaurant in Howard County. They immediately suggested Bangkok Garden. My husband and I invited them to accompany us because my friends, Adele and David Schwartz, are experts who also pronounce the names of Thai dishes correctly. To expand the number of new dishes we could try, Adele brought along her sister and brother-in-law, Sheila and Reuven Lev-Tov. Reuven said that whenever he goes to a Thai restaurant, he compares it with Bangkok Garden - his gold standard.