First Day in Bangkok

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Weary from my travels I managed to find my way down to the free hotel breakfast which was quite good and as in most Asian countries included items generally viewed as lunch/dinner items in the United States.

After breakfast I set out to explore the area and navigate the public transit system. I wondered down to “Sri Maha Mariaman Temple” which was only a few kilometers walk and was a great representative of Indian influence within Bangkok’s temples. This is a temple of the goddess Uma, consort of Shiva, built around 1879 and also included other Hindu gods and goddesses. While not occurring while I was there, the ancient festival of Dushera or Navaratri is held at the temple annually and consists of worship for 10 days / nights with conclusion involving the carrying the image of Uma along the road.

Later that day I explored the public rail transit system which consists of a series inexpensive modern elevated trains that cross the city. While not providing full city coverage, they do allow for easier travel around the city (the buses I found less user friendly). The staff is helpful and everyone I met seemed friendly. The one odd there is the metal detectors and security present at most stations that is ignored. I would walk through the detectors, have it beep away, only to be waved on. I can only assume that there is some sort of “profiling” involved and that western tourists don’t raise any red flags to the security on duty. Note that while police in the US as easy to identify, I found it significantly more difficult to differentiate between the police and private security here.

The one thing that I should point out is that the average Thai person that you meet on the street will not know English or be able read the English directions or location names you have written down. If possible, have the hotel desk write the address in Thai so that taxi drivers can read it. And when it comes to taxies ALWAYS negotiate the price in advance (never just jump in). Even for my Thai coworkers I found that taxi drivers wanted to charge a flat fee rather than use the meter and they generally flagged two or three taxis before finding one to go with (all of their discussions were in Thai so I don’t know the details of the negotiations). Violent crime in Bangkok is extremely rare, but pickpocketing and scams are somewhat prevalent I was told (none of these impacted me personally).

I ended up going to bed early as I knew that I would have a long day at work when I awoke.

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