Bangkok - Same Same But Different

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Day 27-April 1st: I arrived in Bangkok at 6 AM and took a taxi to the Bangkok International Youth Hostel. It was hard to find and is quieter than some hostels, but it's not too far from the tourist sites. I checked in and went to sleep until 11 AM. I freshened up and left the hostel to wander around the city. I saw lots of interesting things. I got a tip from a Thai guy about some of the places to see in the area. There was a Buddhist holiday so the temples weren't charging admission, so it was a good day to see the wats. I changed direction and walked a different way to see what I could see. Good stuff!

- Wat Intharawihan: giant outdoor Buddha statue - cool!
- Ratchadamnoen Road: passed a UN building; lots of photos of the King of Thailand all along the way - they love the King!!
- Golden Mount: a temple at the top of a man-made hill; I climbed to the top for a panorama of the city.
- Phrakan Fortress: old fort that used to go around the city I think.
- Wat Ratchanaddaram: across friom the Fortress; interesting architecture
- Democracy Monument: 4 pillars in the middle of a roundabout
- Giant Swing and Wat Suthat: used to use the Giant Swing in some religious ceremony, but not anymore; the main temple in the wat houses a giant Buddha; surrounding buildings have many Buddhas, some gold and some black.
- the outer wall of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew: saving those places for another day.
- National Defense Building: colonial architecture
- at the roundabout, there was a statue of 3 elephants, in honor of the king's last birthday. They love elephants here and did I mention that they love the King?
- Sanam Luang: large open park/plaza, lots of people out flying kites
- Phra Pin Klao Bridge: wanted to see the sunset by the river; watched the river taxis
- talked to the people at the Tourist Info Center by the bridge and got the info on how to get to the Laos and Cambodia embassies on my own.
- Khaosan Road: the road where all the backpackers stay and hang out; lots of travel agencies, restaurants, bars, market stalls, food vendors, etc. Busy at night!
- May Kaidee's Vegetarian Restarant: at the end of Khaosan and around the corner; recommended by friends and by my guide book; yummy veg dinner!

I was walking back up Khaosan Road and was in line at the currency exchange and ran into Jessie and Mike whom I was traveling with in the islands! what are the odds?!? We went upstairs to Roof Bar for a drink and to listen to live music. We left and walked and talked and ate and made a plan to meet the next night for more hanging out time.

Day 28-April 2nd: I got up to go to the 2 embassies across town. I will be heading to Laos and Cambodia soon and needed to get my tourist visas. I should have gotten up earlier than I did, but oh well, I needed to sleep! I followed the instructions from the Tourist Info Center and took bus #60 from the Democracy Monument to a university across town. It took over an hour due to traffic. From there, I hopped on a motorcycle taxi to the embassies. I was on motorcycles in the islands so I felt relatively safe, it's the driver's job to routinely get people safely from one location to another, so I felt okay taking them.

I arrived at the embassy at 12 noon and had to wait til they opened at 1 pm - they close for lunch. I called my friend Erin and got ahold of her on her lunch break. She agreed to let me stay at her apartment for a few days and we made a plan to meet that night. Hooray! I had some food from the street vendor/hawker center and waited until 1 pm.

The Laos Embassy opened, I filled out my paperwork and paid my money and my visa was ready in less than an hour. Done! Then I went to the Cambodian embassy and did the same thing. That one only took about 15 minutes! Done! I went back to the Democracy Monument the way I came, motorcycle taxi to city bus #60 to the Monument. There was LOTS of traffic in the city, so I got off at the Democracy Monument and walked to the hostel from there.

I packed up my stuff, checked out, used the internet, and made my way to Erin's apartment. I had to send an email to Jessie and Mike to let them know that I wouldn't be meeting up with them tonight. I had wanted to take a river taxi down to Erin's neighborhood, but when I got to the pier near my hostel, the people said that the service was done for the night. They are supposed to go until 8 pm and it was only 7:45 pm but they said that they were finished. So I took a local bus to Khaosan Road and asked a travel agency how I could get across town via bus. I ended up taking bus #79 from the Democracy Monument to Siam Square. From there, I took the Skytrain monorail to Dala Saeng. From that stop it's a short walk to Erin's but with my big backpack I decided to "splurge" on a taxi the rest of the way.

I got to Erin's later than we originally planned but it was fine. She and her boyfriend Tim had finished eating but had some salad left so I had that and chatted with them for a while. Her condo is very nice, very swanky, it was so great to be somewhere homey for a few days. A/C, satellite TV, washing machine. This is luxury!

Day 29-April 3rd: I luxuriated (sp?) in Erin's condo in the morning. Her cleaner was there when I woke up. I added my laundry to Erin's and watched some CNN and relaxed in the A/C. I left in the afternoon and walked around her neighborhood which is more "downtown Bangkok." She lives near Silom Road and Sathorn Road, not far from the infamous "Patpong" district. I walked through Lumphin Park, a nice green space in the middle of the big city. Some of the park was under construction, but then I hit a part that was nicer/greener, closer to the King Rama VI statue.

From that corner of the park I walked down the street under the Skytrain. I wanted to get the lay of the land around Erin's 'hood and bought her some flowers for letting my stay there. I returned to Erin's apartment to drop off the flowers and then walked back to the Skytrain stop near her condo. I hopped on the Skytrain to the Victory Monument, another tourist sight/photo op. Then I took the Skytrain to Siam Square/Central, the shopping district of Bangkok. This is the area with shopping malls and high-end designer shops. I headed to Paragon Cinema to catch a movie. It's a rare treat to see a movie at the cinema, since the movies they show in China are all dubbed in Chinese! I randomly chose a movie that I didn't know much about called "Vantage Point" with Dennis Quaid and Sigourney Weaver and Forest Whitaker and many others. It was so great to see a movie on the big screen! That makes twice in one week, since I saw a movie when I was in Phuket. Lucky me!

Guess who I ran into on the street outside the theater after the movie? Jessie and Mike! Again, what are the odds?! They had seen the same movie. We walked around Siam/Central together. We took the Skytrain back to Sala Daeng and headed to Molly Malone's Irish Pub near Erin's condo. After a couple of drinks, Jessie called it a night so I said goodbye to her for good since she and Mike had a flight to Phnom Penh the next day. Then Mike and I walked around the Patpong district. Basically it's where all the girlie bars/go-go bars are but it's also a large night market and tourist area. Mike wanted to see a "ping pong show" and I wanted to just take in the atmosphere and see what the area was all about. I headed home and Mike decided to see a show, so we said our goodbyes.

Back at Erin's condo I watched satellite TV for a while: Entertainment Tonight, Martha, BBC News, CNN. It was surreal to see these US/English shows that I haven't seen or thought about in a long, long time. It was like, Where am I? I finally went to bed for a good night's sleep!

Day 30-April 4th: I got up and did one more small load of laundry before heading out for the day. I took the Skytrain to the Chao Phraya River, then a taxi boat up the river to the Grand Palace. I toured the Grand Palace, which is a huge complex and very ornate. Inside the complex is Wat Phra Kaew, home to the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred Buddha image in Thailand. Inside another building, Amarinda Winichai Hall, is the royal throne. There is a European-looking building which is the royal residence and is off-limits to tourists. I saw the changing of the guard at 1 PM. I rounded out my visit with a walk through the Decorations and Coins Museum, home to royal jewelry and coronation accessories and, of course, coins.

Down the street from the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew is Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Amazing! It's a giant reclining Buddha, the temple was built around it, I don't know how they make these giant statues! It was really cool, one of my favorite sites in Bangkok. The statue is gold and the giant feet have mother-of-pearl inlay. Along the back side of the temple there were buckets and nearby were small bowls of coins. People take the coins and drop them one by one into the buckets along the wall. I followed suit. I found out after that it is symbolic of praying for good luck. People can strategically place more coins in certain buckets based on when their birthday is or what they are wishing for (I think that's correct?). Anyway, I joined in the coin-dropping. From the reclining Buddha temple I walked around the other temples in this wat, lots of cool architecture and interesting stuff, it's a large wat.

After touring Wat Pho, I walked to Khaosan Road for street pad thai, a combo lunch/dinner, and I wanted to ask the travel agencies about tours and buses/trains to Ayutthaya, etc. I then used the internet for a while. After that, I was back on the street on the hunt for a banana/chocolate pancake/roti. Yummy stuff! I got some good tour info from a place across the street from the Roof Bar and I'm contemplating paying for a day trip to Kanchanaburi. I could go on my own, but it might be good to go with this company and meet some more travelers. The man at the agency was friendly and helpful, so I will likely go with his company tomorrow.

Finally I wrapped up my Khaosan Road excursion with some street spring rolls for dinner and headed back to Erin's to pack up my stuff and take a bath and relax. I won't be able to stay there over the weekend, she has other guests coming, so I have to clear out. I'll check back into the International Youth Hostel for the weekend.

At Erin's, she was out with friends so I had the place to myself for the night. I watched some TV, took a bath, packed up my big backpack, and finally headed to bed, later than I should have. I decided to take the day trip to Kanchanaburi: it's a one-day trip going to the floating market outside of Bangkok, then the Bridge on the River Kwai, then the Tiger Temple just outside of Kanchanaburi. I have to be to Khaosan Road at 7 AM for the trip, so that means getting to the youth hostel around 6 AM or so - yikes! One of these days I'll catch up on my sleep!

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