BANGKOK
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2008
1
71
319
Trip End
Sep 02, 2009
Bangkok,
Thailand
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Up early and out to the street to look for a place for breakfast. We walk to the main drag and it is filled with street vendors. We stop and get some fresh squeezed orange juice, which is good, but not as good as the juice we loved in Mui Ne Beach. Right on the corner I watched a woman making toast on a grill over charcoal, she lathered the toasted side with margarine and while the other side toasted she drizzled sweetened condensed milk on the hot side. I knew right away what I was having for breakfast. As a little girl my Mom would make us toast and a small bowl of sweetened condensed milk for breakfast. Len wasn't too sure about this, but after a couple of bits of mine he agreed it was good. We walked up and down a couple of the streets to see what shops were in the area and what vendors were offering. This street was closed to traffic and vendors lined both sides of the street. We found a grocery store and looked through it. Found some L'Oreal products, but they all have a whitening ingredient in them, something for the darker skinned clientele here. If I can't find my product will try what is here.
Back to the corner to buy some more toast and sweet milk. It was sooo very good. Back to our room to get the tour book and then off to find the river and take a boat to tour the Royal Palace. On our way we come across a tuk-tuk driver who tells us he will take us around the city to visit the big Buddha for only 20 bhat (35 bhats = $1) as long as we visit a shop for him to get a coupon. We agree and off we go to see the impressive big Buddha who is about 20 feet high. It is a special day and we don't have to pay to get in and the dress code is relaxed for today. The Buddha and the area around it and the temple beside it are very impressive, decorative and ornate. We are then taken to a jewelry factory. It also is very impressive and the rings are gorgeous, came that close to buying a ruby with diamonds, but a cooler head prevailed. We left all our jewelry at home so we wouldn't have anything to worry about losing or getting robbed over.
Next onto another temple to see the reclining Buddha. We walked around the ground first trying to figure out what we were suppose to see and where was it, on the way back to the tuk-tuk we noticed a small ornate building and there was the reclining Buddha. We learned afterwards we should have looked at the bottom of his feet as they were inlaid with mother of pearl.
Our next stop for the tuk-tuk driver was at the Government Tourist Office. We went in and he got his coupon. We sat and spoke with a travel consultant, asked about going to Chang Mai by train or bus and the cost. He said the train was 12 hours and the bus 10 hours. I thought this strange as I figured the bus would have been longer than the train and said so. He made a snide reply to me. He was very rude and told Len to not talk like a child as he is a man. We left then and there, ticked off. The tuk-tuk really didn't understand when we said he was rude, but he was happy to have gotten his 2nd coupon.
Next to the marble temple, but it really wasn't marble, it had marble ornaments on the corners. We did enjoy the gardens and flowers.
Next coupon was at a tailor shop. We went in and were greeted by a salesman. He showed us catalogues of dresses and suits. We were chatting while looking and he told him where we have been. He said his parents came from Kathmandu, and he was very interested in Kathmandu, what it was like, how much it cost to stay there. We said we were retired and not in need of tailored suits or dressed and said good-by.
Off to another temple where we looked around and again really didn't know what we were suppose to be looking at. Then off to another jewelry store where we walked in, look and walked out. We also hit another tailor shop and temple. Our driver would have loved for us to have visited another Government Tourist Office, but we said no, we realized the guy was rude because all he did the past week was have tourists come through who weren't really interested in going anywhere.
We did get to travel all around Bangkok for the day, went past the King's home; the City is decorated with flags, large flower displays, banners on major corners, and lots of pictures of the King over the years, at various functions, with his family, all for his 81st birthday celebration that we missed on December 5th. Can't be everywhere at the same time. It is a clean city, quite different from some other cities. We were taken to a local restaurant along the way and had a great Thai meal and we were the only white people around.
The driver was quite the character, he revved his motor all the time while stopped to keep it running, dragged with another tuk-tuk from a red light! Did a couple of pop-a-wheelies on take off. Quite the ride at times. We asked if he would take us to see the Royal Palace which he did. He was going for lunch and said would meet us in half an hour. In the park Len was given some bird seed to feed the pigeons, which he did and gave her a donation.
Off we went to the Palace, once inside we had to borrow pants and a skirt as we both had shorts on and they aren't acceptable. We went to get our tickets and then realized we would only have about 45 minutes to tour the museum, temple and grounds before they closed, so decided to return the clothes and come back tomorrow when we would have more time.
We walked down the street and looked at the stores and vendors wears then headed back to the park to meet the tuk-tuk. He didn't show up so we decided to walk home. We thought we knew where we were going, but I asked a couple of vendors and they pointed down the road, so off we went, and then were told where we were going was closed. We were going the wrong way, oops, my fault. So turned around and headed back the way we came. Stopped and watched a vendor make popcorn over coals. We got a bag of fresh hot popcorn. They put both sugar and salt on it, we just asked for salt. Then we checked out the boats on the river. Lot of salesmen wanting us to take a tour boat, we had read in the Lonely Plant book there are local boats also for a lesser price. We found the right place to wait for the boat to come in. While waiting Len spotted a Dunkin Donut Shop and checked it out. Not bad, tasted what we are used to. The boat came in, it was a big long one with lots of seats and standing room. A chap, blowing a whistle, jumps off at the rear and ties it up while everyone gets on, then undoes the rope, more whistle blowing, and we are off. A woman comes along shaking a metal tube of coins and goes to all who just got on. She has an excellent memory and remembers who just got on. We made two stops before ours. The river is quite wide and these boats are used like the busses and rapid transit to get people around the city and it's really cheap.
We found our way back to our hotel and were glad to sit and take our shoes off for awhile. Quite the day!
We are on a short circle street, quite narrow and not much traffic. There are a lot of guest houses, restaurants, shops, tailors, real massage parlors, internet cafes and two 7-11 stores. There is probably a 7-11 store on each street or just around the corner.
After dinner we walked to Khoa San Street. It is the famous street in this area for having everything one could want on it. There are plenty of guest houses, loud music, tattoo parlors on the street, dreadlocks can be had every 20 feet, lots of bars and cafes, food and clothes vendors. As the night goes on it is said to get seedier. The police station is at the end of the street and there is a paddy wagon and a lot of officers visible.
We saw fireworks while half way down so went off to watch them, then headed home.
