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Published: July 12th 2009
When last we posted, we were heading out to board the train to Bangkok for the beginning of the Thai portion of our trip. Turns out, Thai trains are WAY better than Chinese trains. Two comfy chairs facing each other and when bedtime comes, they create two relatively comfortable beds for you complete with privacy curtains. Of course, we had been warned that sometimes the train workers are out to make a few extra Baht. One joined us in our card game, while another sold hot water to our friend and never brought change. Luckily it was only $1.
After our week in Laos, it was a bit jolting to arrive in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. We checked in to our new digs and headed out to explore the city. Our guide promptly delivered us to the tourist ghetto (Khao San Road) and we wandered around in the blazing hot sun. Later in the afternoon we headed out for a khlong (canal) tour on a longtail boat. We could immediately understand why Bangkok had been called the Venice of the East. Many of the locals live in houses on stilts over the water. We stopped at a temple
to feed the humongous catfish before meeting one of the more interesting local inhabitants, the water monitor lizard. Related to the komodo dragon, these lizards are supposedly good luck (we must be pretty lucky because we saw them everywhere.....once, far from water which was a little unnerving).
The boat trip then pulled up to Wat Pho or the temple of the reclining buddha. It houses a gigantic reclining Buddha (though only the 4th largest in Thailand!) which is supposed to represent the exact moment of enlightenment. The entire statue is covered in gold leaf, while the feet are inlaid with mother of pearl. Pretty darn impressive.
Next we visited some of the very ornate wats near by. The highly floral wats represent some of the original Thai kings. Made for some great pictures. Finally we headed home to prepare for the last group dinner. As per usual, we were delivered to a tourist trap, but enjoyed a last meal with some new friends non-the-less. While the group was great for certain things, we were looking forward to forging out on our own.
----First Day on Our Own------
After our last included breakfast, we hit the road with
our packs in search of cheap accommodation. We found a mega-cheap place to crash ($7) since we would only be there one night before heading to the beach. After dropping our bags, we headed out for what would become the longest walk of our trip (and possibly our lives).
First we headed to the Teak Mansion, the world's largest golden teak mansion (but really, how many could there be?). It was home to the royal family and is now full of royal furnishings and gifts from other countries. Unfortunately, no one told us it is still considered a 'sacred' place and we ended up with some pretty ridiculous loaner clothing (pants for Pat and a sweet, sweet man shirt for me). Another bummer, no pictures inside, but you can enjoy the two pictures we were allowed to take outside.
Afterwards, we decided to walk to Siam Square, a ridiculously huge mall on the other side of Bangkok. After a freaky brush with a water monitor on the sidewalk, we gobbled down some random curry at a street stand to avoid passing out and becoming monitor lunch. On our way to Siam Square, we passed a beautiful Wat and
some statues of the current king (whose photo is absolutely everywhere). Siam Square had some great sculptures outside and lots of people watching. Once we had our fill of the 9 story multiple building mall (didn't take long) we hopped on the skytrain and headed to Little Arabia.
Before heading to dinner we stopped at Cheap Charlie's for, what else, cheap drinks. A completely random bar that is basically a tree with a bunch of stuff tied to it. A nice break for our blistered feet. After our drinks we headed to Al Hussain's for dinner.....a delighful array of Persian food that was much, much needed after our nearly 16 mile walk!!!!
---------Heading to the Beach------------
"Sometimes you zig when you should have zagged"
The next morning we boarded a bus to Koh Samet island and rejoiced that we wouldn't be walking for awhile. It was about a 4 hour bus ride to the pier and then a 45 minute boat ride to the island. While July is supposed to be low season, we managed to arrive at the island with no reservations for Buddhist Lent. Arghh. Our tour guides had promised "no problem" getting a room...which
was completely untrue. We tried to compare a few prices but in the five minutes it took to walk back to places, suddenly rooms were gone or 10 times as much. Panicked, exhausted, and drenched in sweat, we found the last "room" on the island for 500 Baht (about $17). From the outside, it looks like a really cute bungalow built in to the hillside. From the inside, it was something out of a prison nightmare. We dropped our bags and headed to the beach immediately. Good dinner, beautiful beach, and then some drinks to pretend our room wasn't so bad.
After a fitful night of wondering what might be crawling on us, we woke up early to set out in search of better digs. When we got off the boat, we had gone to the left with everyone else. This way leads to the Ocean side beach and far more resorts. Turns out, we should have gone RIGHT! We found a beautiful German guesthouse built over the water with a private beach for LESS than our prison cell on the other side. Suddenly, things were looking much, much better.
With spirits high again, we rented a motorbike
($9 day) and set out to explore the island's various beaches. Lots of bodysurfing, novel reading, and general lounging ensued for the next two days.
On our last night, we visited Papa Roger's "bar", the first bar on the island. It is owned by a Finnish man who is only in Thailand during the winter (smart) so he wasn't there. While it apparently used to be much more bar like, it's now more of a family's living room. Our arrival caused the mother to kick the children out on the street. Feeling bad, we figured we just have one and let the kids back inside. The hostess assumed we were Finnish and gave us an article about the bar in said language. Not so informative. As if on cue, a real Finnish man (along with a Canadian man and two Thai women) appears in the doorway and joins our tiny circle. Turns out the Finnish man is a CEO of some unnamed company and we went on to have a fabulous night of chatting and Finlandia.
The next morning we set out for our brief return to Bangkok before braving the epic border crossing journey to Cambodia.
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