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Reclining Buddha
Here's a shot of the whole reclining Buddha... the largest in all Asia... or the world. Alrighty, so before I go into details of the Bangkok experience, I would like to expand a bit on the concept of the "hell bus", as I skimped down the description quite considerably in my last post.
This fabled "hell bus" is known to all who travel by bus from the city of Battambang to the Cambodia-Thai border (known as the Poipet/Aranyaprathet border, if we're getting into the details). One of the most glaring reasons this bus recieved the name is not actually because of the bus at all... its really the roads that make it a horrendous journey. The Thai government (most involved being a Thai airline company) actually pays the Cambodian government 3 million dollars every year so that they won't do road work on the stretch that connects the Battambang area in Cambodia to the Thai border. I think their contract is running out in a few years, but at any rate, Erin and I found this utterly appalling. Back to the bus though...
So this road has no painted lines and that's the first thing you need to know; there is no need to obey any formal rules about passing other vehicles or riding in
View from the top
View from the Grande Ville Hotel in Bangkok the oncoming lane for uncomfortable (and unnecessary) periods of time. One things for sure: the driving/drivers in Cambodia is bad enough to begin with, but a road with no formal markings (I didn't even see a speed limit sign)... that's a whole different beast. There were many near-collisions (head-on, no less), and I actually saw a woman lying face down on the road next to a sideways motorbike, with all her groceries spilled haphazardly along the road... and she wasn't moving. 8-( . There were parts of the ride when you were physically lifted from your seat by the sheer magnitude of the potholes (these things were the grandfathers of the potholes back in Canada) and the force of the bus 'hopping' into, and over them. The rest of the journey (7 hours' worth) was a recurring theme of jumping from your seat, near-collisions and generally bad driving (or some combination of the three).
After the border, we hopped aboard several pimped-out "VIP" buses (which included leather seats, ridiculous decor, air-con, and what looked like a huge stereo system) and journeyed through the remaining other 7 hours (or so) of completely paved, pristine highway. It's pretty obvious the Thai
The Tiger dragon thing
Me impersonating my most favorite statues in Bangkok (and probably anywhere). don't want people to arrive by means of their own vehicle (unless you own your own commercial liner!).
So finally we arrived in Bangkok, after this long-winded and exhausting bus ride. First thing was definitely first: get to the hotel, shower up, and have a nap (or some kind of mental/physical rest).
Then we said goodbye to our Cambodian tour group by means of a big ol' dinner just off of the infamous Khao San Road (the backpackers' ghetto, some call it), basically just one long strip of road that vehicles aren't allowed down (yet they drive there anyways), and it's filled with street vendors vending a wide variety (or so it seems) or mostly one-off fashions and little souvenir-type things. Once one has taken a few passes of the road it becomes painfully obvious that almost everyone who sells t-shirts is selling almost the same variety of shirts, and the same goes for all things sold on this Backpacker tourist trap. Everything is priced well over where it ought to be, and, once out of this road, the same goods go for a considerable amount less. After saying our goodbyes to the crew that night with a
The towers with Erin and Ben
A shot of Erin and I in one of the wats near the temple of the reclining buddha. time at a local billiard-type bar, we were finally almost out on our own, except for Jamie (England) and Brad (Australia), as they were staying at the same hotel we were for a few more days.
So we decided that our stay in Bangkok would be practical, and restful. We spent our second day visiting the Wat (meaning temple) which housed the largest reclining Buddha in the world, which was quite a spectacular sight. It was pretty funny though, as we were stopped by 4 people on our way to the front gates of the temple, all who told us that "the temple closed, but a special guided tour of the rest of the city on tuk-tuk for only 30 Baht!" (30 Baht = about $1 CAD). Yeah right! We had read about these con artists who do just that and then try to sell you gems or take all your money at the end of the 'tour'. We had a good laugh. On a sidenote and for clarification: a 'tuk-tuk' is a three-wheeled motorbike thing with bench seats and reckless, super polluting drivers... but definitely a fun way to get around the city (with some
A Great Buddha
One of the better Buddha Statues around the temple of the reclining Buddha. bartering).
After the reclining Buddha, we took a sea bus, followed by a sky train to the main shopping emporium of Bangkok, the Siam Center (a large, upscale shopping mall) and MBK (a sprawling, 6 floor indoor market- complete with fake ipods and all the rest). We spent the majority of our day with gaping jaws at the immensity of these interconnected shopping plazas, only to finally retire back at the hotel at a later hour, our feet throbbing. The next day, our only goal was to find a camera, and find a camera we did. I thought it would be ideal to find the same camera it was that I had lost, but it seems that the model I had isn't actually sold in Asia, they only had different models. I ideally wanted to spend as much, or less than I spent for my original camera, but things of equal par were almost always way more expensive. Erin and I spent a whole day searching the internet for the ideal camera, and then all the ones I found weren't stocked anywhere in Asia. At the end of the day, we found a little Samsung camera (the L100) that
Khao San Road
A shot of Erin on Khao San. takes a pretty good picture and has 8 megapixels for a good price... whew. We spent the rest of our time in Bangkok exploring the many shopping plazas, eating at small and local places, and taking in the atmosphere via tuk-tuk. Many of our nights were centered around Khao San road both for shopping (Erin got a really beautiful necklace), and eating.
After the 4 or 5 days we spent exploring the city, it was time to say goodbye to both the city, and our other traveling companions. It was actually a sad time, to have to say goodbye to Brad first (what a great guy!) and then Jamie the following day (we miss him to pieces); we hope to see them sooner than later.
So that's pretty much the meat and potatoes of the Bangkok excursion. We missed some sights (the floating market, the weekend market) but I think both of us are pretty much 'marketed out' for the time being, so though they are well known markets, we didn't miss much.
The final day of our time in Bangkok was spent busing to the airport, and then catching a flight to Phuket, an island situated along the Andaman coastline, for some more R n' R.
Thanks again for reading,
Ben
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non-member comment
the hell bus......you'll never forget that ride!. The intrepid description talked about 'travel by private bus'. I thought that meant classy comfort, but obviously it means that the public transport companies don't want to wreck their busses. Sounds like you definitely need some RnR to rest your bones and your feet and eyes from all those shopping impressions in Bangkok.