Landing in Bangkok brings a sigh of relief to our traveling duo. The prospect of the friendly Thais, the good food, and the fabulous shopping... plus finally John might be able to buy a cheap beer (30 ringgit for a beer... come on...).
HE SAID:
Oh... mah... Gohd... This place is unbelievable. Now, maybe we are a little biased after the difficult traveling in India... but the warm breezes... the clean streets (no human excrement or urine anywhere)... and Tuk-Tuk drives that ask you if you want to go somewhere once, then leave you alone... I think I am in heaven. In a way, we actually didn't do too much with our time here, but it was worth it relaxing in the tropical warmth, with the friendly Thai hospitality.
We ended up getting a room in a decent guest house in the Banglamphu district (near the infamous Khao San road... but not on it), a backpacker ghetto with lots of touristy restaurants, and knock offs for sale. This may not be the refuge of the hard core traveler, but for me it was heaven... I finally felt I could relax.
Went and saw the sights... some highlights: the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew - spectacular architecture and detailing... plus tonnes of cute little demon characters on all the buildings; Wat Pho - where there is a giant 46m long reclining Buddha; Siam Square - MBK is a large mall, and became one of our favorite places to visit... Anita for the shopping, and me for the A/C; and many others. We took the Khlong Saen Saeb water taxis up into the city (if you don't mind the sewage in the Khlong or canal, you can't beat this method of public transport); The Skytrain around and about the downtown (talk about clean, plus again... lots of A/C); and the Chao Phraya Express boats up and down the Chao Phraya river. All of this... plus a lot of walking. We had kind of soured by the rickshaws in India, plus the warning in the travel guides for unscrupulous Thai Tuk-Tuk drivers who literally take you for a ride... to places you don't want to go, but pay them a commission for bringing you there... so we walked everywhere. Great exercise, but even in the winter, Bangkok is plenty hot.
Not too many "adventures"... but we were fortunate that we had a number of friends we could visit. Julian, who is one of Anita's old coworkers, took us out for dinners and drinks with his Thai friend Ning. It was really excellent to get a Westerner who has been living there a while, and a locals perspective on the city. Anita also got to catch up on some of the industry gossip. I also got to visit my old saxophone teacher Sabrina, and her family who are currently living in Bangkok. It was amazing to catch up after 15 years or so... and to meet her husband and kids.
We also decided that a trip to Bangkok was not complete without visiting the Red Light district. While we never found ourselves in the Patpong area (the most infamous area), we did end up one nigh near Soi Cowboy... where a number of "bars" are. As we walked down the street, only about a block long... we both became really uncomfortable really quickly. There is something really sad and gross about a whole area dedicated to unattractive older Western men who are looking for a "good time". Maybe it was going there with you wife... maybe I am old and over the hill... but I didn't really find anything attractive or alluring about the area. I'll have to go back with my old Coworkers from Schaeffler... they always enjoy a good peeler joint. We however didn't stay long.
Other than that, we didn't get into any crazy adventures while we were out and about. Were mainly mellow, as we rested and recuperated from the craziness that was India. At least the beer was cheep, but since Anita doesn't really drink... I didn't want to get the "buckets" that were advertised everywhere (a bucket filled with Thai whiskey, Coke, and Red Bull)... maybe later in the trip. All in all, it was an awesome time.
SHE SAID:
De-compression from India. Nice. After India, as we've shared with other travelers on our trip, you are ready and prepared for anything. I don't think John and I realized how wide our smiles were on the plane out of India. India overall was such a great experience, but onto the next adventure...
PEOPLE:
Smiley faces is what we see here, aside from a few rickshaw drivers (tuk tuk's they call them here) who don't like being rejected. I felt almost scammed by our taxi driver once, who also got a speeding ticket and made us wait while the meter was going (which we didn't pay him for thank goodness) but we had heard the roads are odd in Bangkok and their roundabout routes might actually make sense.
ACTIVITIES/SIGHTS:
Place-wise, even just the roughest looking neighbourhood has something pretty and cute going on. Temples and other beautiful structures decorate this city...lot's of wats/temples. The Royal Palace is a park filled with beauty...just gorgeous. I got a half hour Thai massage, and learned what painful massage is all about! More on that later. Street meat/meat satay sticks are tasty and there are tons of vendors all over the place. They have a fully A/C Skytrain, pretty but actually not as cheap as other transportation here (relatively speaking). Lots of shopping opportunities, but I realized I missed out on getting some great (tourist-focused I think) women's clothes in India, as they don't seem as beautiful here. Again we don't have room for it I have to remind myself!
Many guesthouses in the area show movies at night, so we've been watching some.
Thailand is extra cool if you are younger and want to meet people...or want to hire a female friend, if that's what you really want I guess unfortunately for the poor young girls. We are in another category, and felt we were somewhat shy here and didn't meet anyone in general.
OTHER THINGS I FOUND FUNNY AT THE PARK:
In a really beautiful public park we visited near our friend Sabrina's place, we saw aerobics classes/sessions going on in the park. Also, there were a ton of joggers even in this hot temperature...one particular runner tied a chain to his waist and dragged a tire for resistance. Suddenly we noticed that the end of the work day had come, and they were lowering the flag in the park near us. It sounded like the National Anthem was being played on the loudspeaker, and all the runners suddenly stopped in their tracks! It was like a movie where time stood still and everyone was frozen. As soon as the anthem was over, there was a whistle, after which everyone resumed with their activities and running like nothing had ever stopped.
BUGS/ANIMALS:
like India, lots of stray dogs running around and fighting/barking at night. We luckily did not see any pests in our dwellings in Bangkok, maybe one or two little creatures outside where it's okay. A story from Julian and his friend above bugs stopped me from sleeping well for the next few nights, but I got over it! Since then, I'm seeing that even discussing the creatures I fear the most is not in my best interest when we are travelling!
PS. never saw any crazier insects in India. 'Thank you India' quoted by Alanis :)
More to come...and enjoying Thailand.
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