Bangkok ( June 08 )

Trip Start Mar 01, 2008
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16
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Trip End Sep 2008


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Saturday, August 2, 2008

We finally made it to Thailand- late May/ early June after 3 weeks in Bali, and a day in Brunei.  I had been really looking forward to Thailand- as I love Thai food, had heard about the amazing temples and beaches, seemed like Bangkok would be like an asian New York City- crowded city, skyscrapers, shops, restaurants, etc.....Well, yes and no.  First off I was surprised how hot it felt to me in Bangkok, as we had just come from Indonesia and NY summers are always into the 100's, and I usually love the heat over cold anyday.  However, it was a different thick, suffocating heat, combined with extreme air pollution from overcrowded roads filled with cars and 'tuk-tuks'- a sort of scooter equipped with a small cart with benches for transport, but sounds like a lawnmower and thick black smoke pours out the exhaust....these combined with diesel buses packed into every road make for a hot, unbreathable existence I had never experienced.  As much as I wanted to explore my new surroundings, after our first day there, every time I would venture outside out of air conditioning I felt dizzy and like I was going to throw up or pass out, and I woke up our second day there feeling like I was going to die and getting sick nonstop ( food poisoning?  heat exhaustion? ), not sure what happened but spent two days in bed, though I did get to venture out and see the Grand Palace, where the king used to live- it was an amazing sight- so beautiful and ornate, giant statues and figures everywhere in gold and bright jewel tones glistening in the sun.
  On the weekend we took the bus to the 'Chatachuk Market'- the biggest outdoor market I've ever been to welcome to bangkok
welcome to bangkok
 .  A flea market of sorts, has around 200,000 stalls, and sells everything from new and vintage clothing, housewares, food, to even pets and furniture.  We spent a good amount of time shopping for vintage shoes and unique clothing from local designers, and scored some great finds for most under $20 US.  We also visited some shopping malls, one was very high end of likes of "Gucci" etc, one is filled with local designers, and another is filled with 'designer fakes', and a whole floor dedicated to cell phones- any shape, size, color, brand, feature, charger, holder, anything cell phone related this mall had 1000's of, and could fix most phones on the spot super cheap. 
I loved walking the streets of Bangkok, as there are so many new sights and smells different from other countries- food stands making fresh stir fry of your choice, fruit stands of exotic looking fruits, handmade goods being sold, it was all very exciting but also leaves one with a sense of wanting to relax, or get away from all the chaos (and heat), so we decided to buy a cheap flight and head north to the country of Laos, more on that in my next entry!
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