TravelStream™ news feed for member kumar50 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/kumar50 en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:43:46 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kumar50/seasia-2007/1182825120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kumar50/seasia-2007/1182825120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/kumar50/seasia-2007/1182825120/tpod.html Sun, 24 Jun 2007 22:43:46 -0400 7 weeks in SE Asia...

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Chiang Mai, Thailand

My $6 bus ride to Chiang Mai was coordinated with a few new German friends staying at the same place. Not too much pain on this ride given the A/C and limited stops. A few hours after reaching the city, I ventured out to the popular and jam-packed night bazaar with a British girl I met in the guesthouse lounging area who already knew her way around the city. There were at least 300 stalls, selling all types of ridiculously cheap items...90% of the fun for me was negotiating with the Thai salesmen who would initially charge 5x the final price because of his product being "different than the others", "special quality", or "original"...after getting a few t-shirts, Pele soccer jersey, lamp, and "North Face" backpack for ~$30 combined--and enduring/dishing out a few insults along the way--I was quite proud of my accomplishments...
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Sukhothai, Thailand

Having had enough of Bangkok for the time being, and realizing I'd be back there again a few more times on the way to other SE Asia destinations, I headed for Central Thailand via 2nd class train. After befriending some Australian backpackers in the train station, I was convinced to tag along to Sukhothai, the old capital of Thailand filled with over 219 wats, or Buddhist temples. The company on the train was great, and made some friends from various countries along the way. However, the trek to Sukhothai involved a changeover to an "ordinary" bus, i.e. no air-conditioning and numerous random stops on the way to pick up hailing pedestrians. After 2 hours of pain, we finally got to the city.

I found a great $15 guesthouse in the countryside (Mountain View Guesthouse), surrounded by greenery and hills, not mention a luxurious swimming pool and deck right outside my room. Deciding to make the most of my quick visit right away, I rented a bicycle and explored the core historic "Old Sukothai" as the sun set. It was peaceful and idyllic--a welcome break from chaotic Bangkok. There were several meditating monks and rice paddy farmers going about their business calmly, and I even had a 30-minute conversation with a 17yr old training monk who came over from Burma to escape the political instability.

3 hours and a drenched t-shirt later, I called it quits, happy to kick back at the guesthouse with a couple cold beers in front of the pool chatting with some fellow British guests. After an electrical storm that shut off power and forced me to recall my 1st grade Cub scout camping techniques, it was about time to end the day...off to Chiang Mai tomorrow on a 5 1/2 hour journey.
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Bangkok, Thailand

Finally reached steamy Bangkok at 11:30pm after 24 hours of traveling with 5-inch legroom seats, soundly snoring seatmates, and a 5-hour layover in Tokyo walking through every duty-free store 14 times. Not surprisingly, after getting my belongings and strolling to the taxi stand, the chaotic Bangkok experience officially began, with a 5-minute taxi driver bargaining session to avoid getting driven to a brothel and charged $30. After eventually communicating my disinterest in his grand visions for me, I arrived at the hotel and got a few hours of time zone-compromised sleep.

My day all around Bangkok was a whirlwind blur--only writing it down now I realize how much I did, in 100-degree humid heat and jeans (no entrance to Buddhist temples in shorts.) I took skytrains and river boats to get everywhere, avoiding taxis after my airport headache (public transport is quite efficient here, and clean and cheap).

First on my list was the Grand Palace, where the King used to live, and also where many important Buddhist shrines are located. It was quite an impressive property to say the least. This site is arguably the most important site in Thailand, and its biggest tourist attraction. To that effect, there were tour guides for at least 15 languages, and what felt like 3,000 pushy old ladies hovering, selling cheap umbrellas and/or bird-feeding rice. Next up was Khao San Rd, a small old hippie/Western Backpacker road made famous in the '70s. It has one after another cheap bar, restaurant, hostel, and knock-off goods kiosk, usually in that repeating order. Along the way, I saw a lot of hungover backpackers loitering around at 11am, figuring out what bar to hit up to restart their day. Had my first amazing Tom Yum Goong soup and Pad Thai at a small hole-in-the-wall shop off a side street. After a combination of the 100-degree heat and food coma hit me, I attempted to grab a leisurely drink atop Sirocco, a really expensive (but air-conditioned) 5-star restaurant atop the highest building in Bangkok. Unfortunately, given my raggedy, sweaty appearance, they wouldn't let me up, which fondly reminded me of my usual going-out attempts in NYC.

I had to settle for walking around outside more (I think I dropped 5 pounds in my first day.) Realizing that shopping malls couldn't deny me entry, I skytrained it over to Siam Square's 4 massive and ultra-modern shopping malls, which put the US's best malls to shame. On one end, they had thousands of cheap knock off stalls with everything imaginable, from live chickens to laptops. On the other extreme, the Paragon mall was like NYC's 5th Avenue on steroids, with every high-end store there, and at NYC prices. Exhausted from walking around, I eventually headed over to Sukhumvit Rd around dinner time. The area is known for a few things: great food, foreign embassies, and a slimy "red light" district featuring "lady boys" and "ping pong" shows. Keeping my distance from the latter two activities, I circled in on round 2 of Tom Yum soup and Green curry ($2), and settled in on one place with some other Westerners around. I chatted for a bit, but after a couple beers realized I needed to save up some energy for the remaining 49 days, so headed off to catch up on much-needed sleep...great start to the trip.
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