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Published: January 13th 2006
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So I arrived in Bangkok late Sunday night. It was kind of scary going to my guest house because it felt deserted since it was so late. Also, the staff wasn't very welcoming and the place is as we say in America, a shit hole. I felt like I was in the beginning of Apocolypse Now. But I guess that's what I get for paying 5 dollars a night.
The next day I felt much better though and decided to just spend the day walking around and adjusting to the atmosphere. I headed for Khaosan Road which is basically a street in Bangkok that is filled entirely with backpackers and Thai people trying to sell them fake designer clothes and other souvenires. It's much more than that though. There are people that offer to put your hair in dreadlocks, tattoo artists, food vendors, bars, massage parlors....It kind of reminded me of the parking lot before a Phish show. Except it is going on all the time. Or for the older crowd perhaps a Grateful Dead concert? Or for Grandma, try to imagine everybody in the lobby of the Symphony Center having dreadlocks and wearing dirty clothes and being about 40
years younger. And replace the constant sucking of Halls cough drops with cigarettes and joints. I saw some unusual people. I think my favorite was a European couple with dreads, dressed in all black, and tattoos and piercings covering their bodies. They were walking together while each holding a hand of their young daughter who was dressed in a pink dress. I started laughing.
I walked around for a couple hours and after a while I started getting lonely so I sat down at a bar and had a few beers. I got invited over to drink with a French guy and these three Thai women. We talked about what are travel plans were in Thailand and a little bit about American politics with the French guy. Mainly about how much he hates Bush. I know I'm supposed to tell people I'm from Canada because everybody hates the U.S., but I don't feel like I can be myself and have an honest conversation if I do that. So I just say I'm American, and then they always ask what I think of Bush. Things usually go pretty smoothly after that. After awhile he told me that he "could tell
Me at the Grand Palace
I hate asking random people to take my picture. A couple times I tried to take a picture of my self through the tiny little mirrors that cover the walls of the palace but that was stupid. Finally I asked this British girl to take my picture and she asked me to take hers. Her's was funny because she struck a pose and made the Zoolander face. I started laughing but she was serious. I guess she wanted to look like a model in a fashion shoot. It seemed ridiculous while standing in front of the Emerald Buddah. I was good even though I was American" and the four of them invited me to go with them to Ko Phi Phi that night. They said they had a cheap place to stay and that they would show me some untouched, beautiful islands. It was very exciting since the scenario seemed straight out of The Beach, which is the book I was reading at the time. I felt torn but I decided to decline since I had barely seen any of Bangkok yet. I got their email address though so I can contact them when I get to Ko Phi Phi.
After I left I felt really tired. It must have been a combination of jet leg and pretty much getting wasted in the middle of the day. I fell asleep around 8 o'clock. I woke up in the morning refreshed and ready to see the sites. I got side tracked though by a tuk tuk driver (tuk tuk's are basically golfcarts with a little kick that can be hired like taxis here) who tricked me into having him take me to the sites for cheap. He then proceeded by taking me to some bullshit places and then
Dragon Fruit Lady
This is the woman who I would buy a Dragon Fruit Shake from everyday. They are incredible! Dragon Fruit is really beautiful looking too. tried to take me to some clothing store. I told him I didn't want to go but he wouldn't listen. Eventually I just jumped out and walked back to the guest house I felt like an idiot because I knew to watch out for this, but I was tricked by just a random person on the street who told me to get into another person's tuk tuk. He was so friendly! I have been stopped like this on the street repeatedly since I've been here. Basically, you can't trust anybody on the street near Khaosan Road. Oh well. I realize not all Thai people are out to screw over foreigners.
Eventually I got to see all the amazing sites. The Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddah were unbelievable with all the intricate mozaics covering the architecture. It really puts the White House to shame. There are lots of other temples and what not that I checked out, that were also amazing, but it seems stupid to describe them. You need to see pictures.
The other night I decided to check out a jazz club that Let's Go recommended. I got there an hour and half before the show
started though, so I took a walk through Lumpini Park, which I guess is like Bangkok's Central Park. It was very beautiful and peaceful in the middle of the bustling, and quite frankly, dirty city. I walked upon some sort of public concert in the park with Thai music and a bunch of kids running around. It looked like a good time but I needed to get back to the jazz club. The problem was I couldn't figure out how to get out of the fenced in Lumpini Park! I walked around for a half hour before I finally just jumped the gate.
The jazz club had a guitar, bass and drums trio. The guitar and bass player were tearing it up but the drummer was sort of lame. I will give him credit though for managing to keep pretty good time while at the same time smoking cigarettes through half the set. They played all standards, which was nice cause I knew all the songs. I talked to the guitar player after the set for a bit about jazz which was nice. By the way, did you know that the King of Thailand plays jazz saxophone? I play
Wild Cat
There are wild cats everywhere in Bangkok. I found this one at the Temple of Dawn. Ugh, I hate cats. saxophone too! He's also written a couple of jazz tunes. Sounds like a dynamite guy. And that's quite a palace he's got going for himself. Anyhow, the guitar player was American and had been living in Thailand the last 10 years just because he fell in love with it. After the second set I got tired and took a tuk tuk back to the guest house.
This morning I took a bus to the floating market in Damnoen Saruak. It was awesome. You get to take a boat ride through this town that I think is entirely built on water. There are vendors that have boats filled with souvenires on the side of the river that you are forced to paddle by. I felt bad that I wasn't buying anything from any of them so eventually I bought some post cards from this one girl. She said I could have the postcards for 250 baht but I could have her for free!. I just took the postcards. Although she was very tiny, I didn't think she would fit into my backpack. Anyhow, eventually we came upon the floating market which is just packed with boats and women on them
Wild Dog
There are also wild dogs everywhere. This one was great. I also took this at the Temple Of Dawn. selling fruit and vegetables and cooking food. I got to try some really unusual fruit that was amazing. I don't know what it was called though because when ever I asked somebody (in English, I don't know Thai) they would just respond with "10 Baht. 10 Baht." After the floating market my boat driver took me to see some elephants. This one elephant was adorable. He would eat bananas straight from my hand and did some tricks with a hoola hoop and a basketball. He also gave elephant massages! This is where you just lay on your stomach and the elephant slaps his trunk on your back. Fun stuff! My camera ran out of batteries during this time so I don't have many pictures, which is incredibly frustrating. Something tells me I'll be seeing some more elephants later on in my travels though.
So tonight is my last night in Bangkok, and tomorrow I head for Kanchanaburi. I'm thinking about walking through the red light district before I go, but I'm feeling kind of tired and I have to get up early to catch a bus. So we'll see.
Sorry, this was so long, but I guess I
Temple Of Dawn
This place is right on the river and has these huge beautiful and intricate pagodas that you can climb. had a lot to say. I'll try to make them shorter from now on. Talk to you soon.
-Jonathan
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Mom
non-member comment
Long is great!
Don't make them shorter they're so much fun!!!