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Like No Other
Entry 32 of 44 | show all | print this entry |
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Bangkok is my favorite big city in Asia. The food is fantastic, lots of public transportation options (from river boats to a new subway), great nightlife, good shopping and lots of things to do. By many measures Bangkok is a thriving, modern city with loads of sky scrapers and high-rise condos creating an impressive skyline. The streets of the city are packed with cars, scooters, and tuk-tuks while the sidewalks are teeming with sidewalk vendors and carts offering tasty hot food. The hot, humid city always seems to have something going on.
I took a 3 hour flight from Kathmandu on Thai Airways to reach the gleaming new Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. The airport has had its opening hiccups (like cracked runways), but it's the nicest airport I've passed through on the trip so far. From the airport I took a taxi to the Royal Orchid Sheraton, which is located right on the Chao Phraya River. They upgraded me to a huge 2 room suite with fantastic views of the busy river and the Bangkok skyline. Eating breakfast outside each morning on their large patio overlooking the river was also pretty nice. For only 4,000 Starwood points a night, the place is a steal.
I arrived in Bangkok right at the start of Songkran, which is the Thai New Year. Songkran is a wild holiday that is basically 3 days straight of water fights. One of the craziest places in Bangkok for the festivities is called Khao San Road, an area known for its budget hotels and travelers cafes. When I went to the Khao San area it was jam packed with Thais and farangs (foreigners) armed with super soaker water guns, buckets and even hoses all spraying each other. Enterprising Thais were selling water guns as well as water to refill them (25 cents US for a reload). Everyone and everything was soaking wet....a water gun in one hand and a cold beer in the other! Another tradition is to smear flour on the face of other people, so most everyone had white streaks across their cheeks. It was utter pandemonium in a good natured way and a fun way to spend a day. The other days of Songkran I managed to stay reasonably dry by avoiding the major water fight zones.
Bangkok is known for its food and it didn't disappoint on my visit. I generally ate at hole in the wall, home-cooking style places, although plenty of slick and trendy eateries are available too. My best meals were at Polo Chicken (thanks for the tip Ben!) which served delicious fried chicken with garlic dipping sauce, Khrua Rommai where I had spicy Isaan sausage as well as mouth watering red curry chicken, and Roti Mataba which had authentically flaky Malaysian rotis (flat bread) with a great curry sauce. A solid meal at one of these places usually goes for around $4 USD. I also had a quick fix of Western food from the likes of Burger King and some ice cream at Swenson's.
I took in several tourist sites while in Bangkok. Since my hotel was on the river I was able to avoid the infamous Bangkok traffic by using river ferries to get to many of the tourist sites. Occasionally I would take a tuk-tuk (3 wheeled motorized cart) to get around, but I virtually always found meter taxis to be cheaper plus they are air-conditioned. I went to the magnificent Grand Palace, which I've been to before, but the palace and nearby wat are beautiful and worth more than one visit. I also visited Wat Arun to admire the unique temple that sits right on the river. The Jim Thompson House was an interesting stop. Jim Thompson was an American (ex-CIA actually) who made a fortune selling Thai silk to the world in the 60s. He's revered in Thailand for bringing Thai silk to the attention of Western consumers. His house in Bangkok, which is now a museum, is composed of 6 traditional Thai homes that were creatively combined into one large house. Even by today's standards the interior of the 60s era house looks cutting edge with its carefully designed Asian motif.
The shopping in Bangkok is world-class. I went out to the massive outdoor Weekend Market, which features thousands of stalls selling everything from pet lizards, to country music CDs, to clothes, to spices. Fancy modern malls are available too. The best is probably the new Siam Paragon which is a 5 story luxury behemoth which has stores ranging from Gucci to Billabong. The Paragon also has a great movie theater where I caught Spiderman 3 (thumbs up). They have a few luxury screens which offer La-Z-Boy recliners to sit in and waiter service during the flicks! In the area surrounding the Paragon are numerous other up-market shopping malls like the Siam Center and the MBK...I think Bangkok rivals Singapore and HK for shopping.
The famous nightlife in Bangkok didn't disappoint either. The options are limitless in this city for drinking and debauchery. It's a trip just grabbing a beer and people watching in areas like Soi Cowboy or Nana Plaza. Those are both places famous for go-go bars where Thai girls and lady boys (Thai guys who think they are Thai girls) are performing. What's really funny is some drunk tourist doesn't seem to realize that he is chatting up lady boy instead of a real female. More "legitimate" drinking spots are plentiful too ranging from Irish pubs to bumping night clubs. Most of the joints are shut down by the police at 2 AM on the dot, but a few manage to stay open later. The beer in Thailand is pretty good...my favorite is Chang, but Leo, Tiger, and Singha are popular too. A beer in a bar usually runs about $2 USD unless you're in a swank place.
The weak US dollar was a bit of a bummer in Thailand...a 15% decline in the dollar since the last time I visited made everything a bit more expensive. Prices in general seemed to be up now that tourism has fully recovered since the tsunami over 2 years ago; however, Thailand is still quite reasonable cost-wise by Western standards. Bangkok is packed with tourists and a few parts of the town almost feel like a modern Western city (Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, etc), especially with all the foreigners. Despite all that, Bangkok is still one of the most vibrant and enjoyable big cities in the world. It's time for the beach...Ko Pha Ngan in the Gulf of Thailand is up next.
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