Enduring Bangkok

---

12,000,000 souls live in and around Bangkok. Put that many people into a big sauna, crank it up to about 105 humid degrees (thank goodness it's winter), put in a tray of fish and let it sit for 3 or 4 days, add a garbage can that's been sitting in the heat for about a month, drive a blue-smoke-belching two-stroke engine or 2 or 2,000,000 into it for good measure, put in a sewer system running 2" under the sauna sidewalk with ventholes every 18", and then for the hell of it pour in about 100,000 chain-smoking Europeans and Australians that really like their beer...and...that's Bangkok. Well that's the small piece of Bangkok I've seen and undoubtably an unfair, myopic portrayal but I'll leave the cool, peaceful, calm parts of Bangkok to those that have found them to describe.

What's even better is venturing out in the hottest part of the afternoon to go visit the Royal Palace, finding out it's $12 each (for foreigners only of course - Todd REALLY loves that rule) and that you have to dress respectably (which basically means dressing up like little Randy from A Christmas Story). Awesome.

I'll give them some credit; they're putting all those $12 foreigner donations to good use at the Royal Palace. It is basically a living Angkor Wat. It's really a crazy thing to consider that this is what Angkor once was, resplendent in bejeweled pillars and golden domes. There is even a perfect model of Angkor there on the temple grounds to drive home a point, not sure what point (so much history on this peninsula with more than its share of conflict...not hard to imagine tempers flaring over the past few milennia in this horrid HEAT!), but having been there it gave the imagination something to play with.

We stopped by Wat Pho after the Palace (because really, what else are you going to do in the midday heat?) and the famous reclining Buddha, another popular point that everyone in the city seemed to have been visiting at that exact moment. What a spectacle! The Buddha is about 50' high and 150' long, the largest Buddha image in the world and really is impressive.

Todd made me pose for about 300 pictures till I pulled the plug and we tried to find a way to look across the river over at Wat Phra. Ended up down an alley that seemed like it would open up to a nice view, and instead got a glimpse into the dark underbelly of Bangkok, people living in tiny dark spaces down by the pier...

Where do you file these images? In the file labeled 'gratitude for the lives we have'.

We made our way on foot (for some reason) down to Khao San Rd, a rite of passage I suppose. Got a nice walking tour of more colorful sections of the city thanks to a crap map but finally found ourselves there at the mouth of the chaos, hungry, hot and finished. The 7-11s in Thailand are like AED machines jump-starting the ability of all the sweaty foreigners to press on, with hard-core AC and walls of cold drinks and recognizable snacks. We hit one of those for the necessary life support and pressed on till we could find a place that looked reasonable for dinner.

The chaos, drunk people, thumping music, and endless racks of stuff for sale was just too overwhelming at that point and we ducked down a side alley till we found a quieter spot for much needed food. Dinner was actually pretty good till Todd went to use the restroom and had to wait in line WITH A RAT. Yummy.

We escaped as quickly as possible back to our 8'x8' room (but it has A/C and in this universe, that is all that matters) and here we are, watching random things in a mixture of Thai and English on TV and looking forward to starting our journey home tomorrow!

---

Photos

waiting for our water taxi on the Chao Praya
a nice boat ride with 500 of our closest friends

really I don't care where I am on this map or where anything else is
because it's 200 degrees and I'm dressed for a snowstorm

some other building in the Royal Palace grounds
zero interpretive info and when it's so hot really, 'a building' is plenty of information

ginormous reclining Buddha
why is he laying down? BECAUSE HE'S HOT.

Todd showing off his new ink on Khao San Road
whole arm, only $2

Comments

[jeff]

lost
Safe travels home. Don't get "Lost."

[Gabi]

Can't wait
I hope you're thinking up more ways to tell us how hot it was in Bankok. The smell description was perfect to go with my lunch :)

[Elise Stephens]

You forgot the dogs...
You described Bangkok so perfectly....I mean I was cracking up. But, did you see all the dogs? Maybe you don't have to save money like me, and stay in 100 baht hostels w/bed bugs...but there are dogs EVERYWHERE!!! I live in a town 2 hours north of Bangkok, and the heat goes up 10 notches, and I too, dress for snowstorms daily. Shame on me if I wear tank tops... that's just too revealing!

[elJardineros]

I was struck by how MELLOW the dogs were in Thailand and Cambodia probably a combination of heat and hunger (esp in Cambodia of course) - everywhere they were just lying around, usually in the middle of the paths, stoops, sidewalks, roads. Trusting creatures. Where are you living? Yes, shoulders are shameful things, aren't they? :)

[elJardineros]

Hey Elise! Sorry, it doesn't let me see who is commenting. How are you! Enjoying Lopburi? I can't wait to hear all about it when you come home. Tell your dad to cough up some cash so you can go big and get a *gasp* 200 baht room with fewer cooties in it. This is my third attempt to respond to myself so if there ends up being 3 redundant messages on this thing at some point, you'll know why. email me if i can send you any comfort foods (or anything) [e-mail]