Advertisement
Published: August 30th 2008
Edit Blog Post
We have spent bits and pieces of the last few weeks in Bangkok. Its full name proclaims it as - among other things- the City of Angels, but for us it has served us mostly as a transit hub for the rest of Southeast Asia.
Our first night in Bangkok was a few weeks ago, when we checked into the same hotel as Sarah and Bob in the neighborhood of Banglumphu, an older part of town convenient to many of the sights. Although it was a brief initial visit, we walked around a bit, had delicious food, and walked up Khao San Road, our personal definition of a traveler's hell - a street packed to bursting with newly arrived backpackers, "3 for 1" cocktail offers, card games, too-good-to-be-true (i.e. scams!) transportation options from travel agencies, casual drug dealers, dodgy-looking massage parlors, a wide variety of prostitutes, and generally intoxicated Westerners making fools of themselves all around us. Although not a place that we needed to spend more time in, it was interesting to see Khao San Road, given that is a legendary Bangkok institution that draws travelers from far and wide.
When we returned to Bangkok a few weeks
later (and again on our most recent stopover) we booked a hotel strategically located on Skytrain station. Friends and the New York Times told us repeatedly about the nightmare that is Bangkok traffic, so using either the Skytrain, the subway, or the river is essential for efficient travel around the city. Our hotel location proved to be a phenomenal choice, as not only was it easy to get to Bangkok's historical locations, but it is located next to MBK - a huge shopping mall much-loved by Thais, with an interesting mix of modern shops and stores and more traditional Thai markets. Moreover, the modern conveniences of the neighborhood (coffee in an air-conditioned shop, posh bookstores) were particularly appealing at this stage in the trip.
Our first full day in Bangkok, we took the Skytrain and then the scenic river taxi over and up to the old part of town to visit Wat Pho, site of the famous reclining Buddha and a collection of gorgeous temples. After traveling to so many places not overrun by tourists, it was interesting to be in a place that was absolutely jam packed with sightseers. The Buddha is indeed reclining, and is also enormous,
measuring 46 meters long from head to feet. He is also plated in gold, which is very impressive. We then crossed the river to Wat Arun, whose intricately carved towers brilliantly picked up the light of the late afternoon. We climbed to the top of the wat, where we had gorgeous views across the river.
The next day, we rounded out our exploration of the Old City with a trip to the National Palace, home to Wat Phra Kaeo and the Emerald Buddha - thought to be made of emerald and of supreme nationalistic imporance to the Thais. In the 15th and 16th centuries the Buddha went on a tour of Thailand until it was stolen by Laos. Two hundred years later, it was recovered by the King of Thailand and now resides in a place of honor at the National Palace compound. After our visit, we lunched on the Chao Phraya river and walked through a fascinating amulet market, where we realized that we know absolutely nothing about the importance or significance of amulets in Buddhism. The market was packed full of small shops of amulet sellers and dotted by monks inspecting various amulets. Apparently, the blessing of
a monk increases the value and power of an amulet, but it was difficult to know whether the monks were actually blessing or buying.
On our way back, we made a late afternoon stop in Patpong, Bangkok's red light district. Late afternoon is either the perfect or non-ideal time to visit Patpong, depending on what you're looking for. For us, it was just fine, because after seeing our eleven millionth Western male with a Thai prostitute there was not much more to see, although we were amused to find Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts interspersed throughout buildings offering exotic dancers and sex shows. Apparently, Patpong has become quite family-friendly in recent years, mainly because of its impressive night market, thus diluting its reputation as Bangkok's seedy underbelly.
That evening, we indulged in the highlight of our Bangkok experience - a VIP movie. We watched Batman in huge, motorized, completely reclining seats that were kept private from other seats in a semi-enclosure, complete with a table and waiter service. They also come with individual thick silk blankets and pillows, meaning that even if you don't enjoy the movie you have the option of a luxurious nap, and before the movie
the cinema invites you to enjoy a "welcome drink" in the private VIP bar (which is furnished with massage chairs). The "welcome drink" did not make us feel particularly welcome, as it was a non-alcoholic juice beverage that was sickly sweet and absolutely appalling. But with the exception of the welcome drink, our movie-going experience was phenomenal, and we felt a bit like we were not being great city explorers until we noted later with amusement that seeing a VIP movie in Bangkok was in our guidebook's list of recommended things to do. Feeling entirely justified, we proceeded to see two other movies in Bangkok during our various visits.
Incidentally, our latest visit to Bangkok managed to coincide with an incredibly complicated and unrestful political situation. Thailand's most recent prime minister and his wife were temporarily released from jail (where they were awaiting trial on a number of different white collar charges) in order to attend the Olympics - naturally - where they took the opportunity to flee to London rather than return to Thailand. A great deal of the population believes that the substitute prime minister is simply a puppet of the former prime minister, and therefore there
Keeping a Healthy Distance from History
Sipping a Starbucks before our VIP movie as chaos erupts are massive protests going on throughout Thailand, many of which have turned violent. Since the protests began, we have been spending time in the commercial district of Bangkok and thus have remained isolated from the conflict, but a number of airports are closed and we are hoping that the political situation does not affect our travels (today in the paper we saw pictures of Western tourists climbing over a security gate with their luggage and the help of the riot guard in order to catch their flight at Phuket Airport).
By and large, Bangkok is a fabulous city - an eclectic mix of old and new, traditional and modern, and conservative and extreme. It is a city that has so many different things to offer, with nearly limitless possibilities. However, the most surprising thing we have experienced in Bangkok is the highly limited Western soundtrack played absolutely everywhere, over and over and over again in an endless loop. Somehow more popular than the other songs is "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer (who knew?), and it shares the loop with number of other unlikely candidates for Song of the Millennium in Asia, including "How Do I Live Without You", "Stay", "Torn", and "Fields of Gold". The repetitiveness has actually become somewhat unbelievable, to the point where we feel like we are being stalked by a reality show testing the limits of hits of the 90's on unsuspecting travelers. And as we type this, "Kiss Me" has started again. "Eye of the bearded barley"....??????
Advertisement
Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 12; qc: 42; dbt: 0.0663s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb