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Published: February 6th 2008
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Ahh Bangkok. Home to 30 cent Pad Thai, 4$ hour massages, Golden Temples, and much much more! Our flight from NZ to Thailand was nice, thanks to Thai Airways....much nicer than my flight TO Australia! We got off the airplane, flew through customs, and hopped in a taxi to our hotel, New Siam II. Our hotel is really nice, a lot of families seem to frequent it, but it has a pool and our own bathroom, so we were pretty happy. We got in really late, but spent an hour or so walking around the neighborhood. Our hotel is on a small side street a few blocks from Khao San Rd (more on that later), which is a huge backpacker mecca, so its perfect because we are near the action, but not
IN the action, so we can actually sleep at night. 😊 It feels so crazy to actually be here! All the signs, noises, smells....are so different from any place I've ever been, but I love the fast pace of it all.
The next morning we got up bright and early to go explore the neighborhood. Khao San is basically known as the backpacker epicenter of Thailand. It's an
absolutely insane street, with vendors selling fake purses, fake clothes, fake watches, thai silk sarongs, street food, fake ipods, fake dvds, cheap beer-even fake IDs! Anything you need in life you could buy on this street, and, as all of the vendors say, you can get it for "Cheap Cheap". Khao San is also incredible for people watching. This street just teems with every color, gender, fashion sense...the dirty smelly hippies in this area put the ones in Ann Arbor to shame. It's kindof a place that you hate, but you also can't stay away from. It's probably the worst representation of Thailand ever, but everyone who comes through Bangkok stops here at least once for a shopping trip or a drink-Khao San has a famously insane nightlife.
Later in the day, Ashley's family friend picked us up and took us out for a traditional Thai lunch. She ordered about a million dishes, none of which were pad thai, or satay chicken skewers, so it was entirely new to me, and delicious! That afternoon we went to the Jim Thompson house. Jim Thompson was an American entreprenuer who moved to Thailand in the 50's, and totally re-invented the silk
Lumphini Park
Aerobics going full speed! trade. He had begun to build a huge empire on silk and silk-screening when he disappeared while on a trip to Malaysia...never to be heard from again! He built a complex of 6 amazing houses and gardens upon moving to Thailand, and these are open to the public today for tours.
After touring Jim Thompson's house, we wandered over to Lumphini park, which is Bangkok's equivalent of Central Park, just a huge gorgeous park with a large pond, right in the middle of this bustling city. To Ash + my delight, when we wandered into the park, we stumbled upon a group of about 300 Thai people busting their butts to 80's aerobics music. Apparently this is an everyday occurance, but we were amazed at the amount of people participating, all ages and.....fitness abilities, to be polite. 😉 Just truly surreal. After watching them Jump for their Love for awhile, we wandered around the park, and then went to the Suam Lum Night Bazaar, which was a huge night market. I'm talking huge. Like 3-4 square blocks of stall upon stall of things to buy. While the sellers tend to be pushy, as expected, they always have a smile
on their face and expect to haggle, so we're trying to get better at that!!
The next day we got up early to do a tour of the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The grand palace is a huge grounds that has a few holy temples, as well as the actual palace. The king + queen don't live here anymore, it's used just for receptions and such. Wat Pho is one of the oldest holy sites in Bangkok, and it's most famous feature is the huge reclining buddha-its nearly 50 meters long and all in gold. It was absurdly hot, and to enter the palace and temples you have to be wearing appropriate clothing, i.e, no shoulders or knees showing, so Ashley and I were sweating to death. The buildings here are just amazing, everything is so intricate and sparkly!! After walking for 3-4 hours in the sweltering heat, we threw off our sandals and dropped in for a 1/2 hour foot massage, for the outrageous price of $3.50!!
Later that night, we decided to go see a Ladyboy Cabaret show. A ladyboy is pretty much what it sounds....a beautiful looking woman who is actually a man. I
Giant Reclining Buddha
This is just his head, his body filled the whole hall don't think drag queen is the appropriate word to use, because most of these ladyboys don't look like men AT ALL. So we spent a hilarious evening watching about 60 ladyboys sing and dance their tiny little bottoms off to Bootylicious and "It's raining men". Definitely an experience to remember.
Our last day in Bangkok was spent just hanging out, we wandered over to MBK, which is a mammoth shopping mall in downtown Bangkok. Afterwards we dropped in to a massage parlor for a full body Thai massage-an hour for 4$!! Traditional Thai massage is a nice way of saying "I'm going to pull on your muscles like they are pizza dough." I winced a couple of times when my back cracked louder than I've ever heard, but I left feeling limber and loose as a goose!
Navigating the city has also been interesting. I had read about the traffic here being nuts, and it really is. The cool thing is that Bangkok traffic is a finely oiled machine. Sure, my taxi driver drove in the wrong lane when he got ansty, and sure, the motorbike next to me had 3 children under 5 without helmets on it,
and sure, cars come within 2 inches of crashing all the time, but it never actually seems to happen! It all comes together in a perfectly maintained chaos.
As far as the street food, I have been trying to dip my feet in slowly. Watching someone make Pad Thai right in front of you for 40cents is too hard to deny, but I've only attempted a few of the more adventurous items-I'm trying to go easy on my stomach! The food here is delicious, and although traditional Thai is very spicy, most street vendors cater to tourists and make it with no, or little spice.
That pretty much sums up our first 3 days here. We are heading down to the islands next, for some sun + relaxation. Happy Birthday Mom + Dad- I'm sorry I'm not there to celebrate with you guys, but I'm thinking of you!!
Xoxo
~Alissa
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Alan Levy
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Wish we were THERE!
Alissa: Thanks a lot for the birthday wishes. Reading about your first days in Thailand, it's mom and me who wish we were celebrating over there with you, rather than the other way around! The pictures are really great. Give Ashley a big hug for us. We love you. Dad