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Published: December 14th 2005
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Hello Again! It has been sometime since we've been able to Blog, so we're just trying to catch up now. With any luck we'll have all of SoEast Asia online in the next week.
So, first off - Bangkok. We left Hong Kong on 11/17 and headed to Thailand. Just off the plane and already there were locals trying to strike a deal:"800 baht for shuttle ride to the city." We were told it would be a Volvo sedan, but turned out to be a Toyota. Oh well, it was cheap anyways.
We were headed to the hotel we had reserved online - The Menam Riverside. The exterior of the hotel was dismal, but the interior proved to nice and clean. The entire hotel was being continually remodeled while we were guests. So it goes. We have to mention the overwhelming presence of German people at the hotel, not to mention the rest of Thailand!
After a night of unwinding on their new wooden patio and the next day spent by the pool and making plans for Southern Thailand, we left the hotel to explore Bangkok.
It must be said that from the very first impression Bangkok
was a very polluted and smelly city. A sprawling metropolis, not unlike Los Angeles - including the smog and dirt. But, LA doesn't have a large river flowing through it nor an abundance of Buddhist temples and monks.
So, we took the riverboat taxi (.50 cents for two) up the Chao Praya River to do some sight seeing. Although crowded, the boat was quick. We passed by many nicer resorts on the river like the Penninsula and the Oriental.
The river itself is dirty brown and wildly polluted. There were still many styrofoam floats in the water following the Full moon Celebration we had missed the night before we arrived. Its amazing that so many fish do live and thrive in it.
We deboarded the boat at a crowded landing and found ourselves twenty paces from the gates of the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (pronounced 'Po'). We decided to enter Wat Pho and check out the massive Reclining Buddha. A quick procession around the gilded statue and another quick walk around the grounds and it was time for some refreshments.
The Grand Palace would be closed for a couple of hours anyways so we decided
to try a coffee shop suggested by a helpful guide book our HK friends had given us. We enjoyed some Thai iced-coffees in a nice air-conditioned shop.
Afterwards, we walked back to visit the Grand Palace, but were informed that we could not enter because the monks inside were observing a certain Buddhist holiday(?). A seemingly nice man suggested we take a Tuk-Tuk to see the giant standing Buddha, which was only open for viewing 'once a year'.
Against warnings not to take the Tuk-Tuk scooters by people who knew, we decided to chance it. No sooner had we visited the standing Buddha than we found ourselves being taken on an involuntary shopping tour by our driver. These tours must be common practises by the drivers to earn gas money by shuttling tourists into different shops. Two gem shops and a tailor later, we were sick of the polluted air in our face and decided to call it a day - choosing simply to drive by the Golden Mountain and the Democracy Monument.
On a different note, we spent our evenings enjoying some good meals at nice restaurants in the city. For all of the unseemly aspects
of the city, it is a large metropolitan area with a huge dining and nightlife scene. We really enjoyed the continental cuisine at 'Eat Me' and had a good Thai meal at 'Celadon' at the Sukhothai Hotel.
The only problem with dining out was the amount of traffic we had to battle, albeit the cabs were dirt cheap. To travel less than four miles it took us a ridiculous 45 mins!!
After dinner at Eat Me we had to go see the night market for ourselves. It was hot and humid that night - much more so than that day. Not that impressive. Just a bunch of cheap-merchandise vendors and take away food joints with outdoor seating. We decided to skip the bars and clubs in favor of a quiter night enjoying drinks and listening to the lounge act in our hotel lobby.
The next day we took a cab to the Chuttachuk area for their famous 'Sunday Market'. It is a massive swap meet with anything and everything for sale: bootleg fashion and sportswear; Thai textiles; housewears; and food. Julia bought a sarong for the beach and Holden bought a Thai beer shirt - the compulsory
piece of male clothing that all tourists don. It was a hot day and the stench emminating from the gutter was overwhelming, so we called it quits.
It was back to the Menam to enjoy the pool and pack for our upcoming trip.
A little about the language. Most Thais speak at least a little English, although we found the staff at the Menam to be a bit short on practice at times. No big deal. In Thai, there are two basic sayings that are useful anytime: Hello - 'Sawadee' and thank you - 'Ka-Poon-Kap'.
Bangkok was hard to get used to for both of us, but very interesting. Over the next month we would become better acclimated with BKK though- revisiting the city twice in transit to other destinations. At this point it was time to go South to the islands. Paradise awaits: Koh Nang Yuan.
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