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Published: January 26th 2009
Our first full day in Bangkok proved to be an eventful one as we set out on foot to link up with our good friend Miah. He's been living here in Bangkok for about 8 months filming a movie that he's been working on for three years.
Instead of taking the transit to his place we decided to walk to the closest BTS station and try our hand at the above ground light rail system, called the Sky Train. Bangkok isn't really a walking city, since it's so hot and the traffic is constantly crazy, but our walk definitely threw us into Bangkok culture and was the meat and bones of the days adventure. Starting out on Kao San Rd, the major tourist district, we headed east with the use of our trusty Bangkok map. As soon as we crossed the first major four lane street, the culture changed dramatically from tourist to local. No longer were we being approached by every street vendor, but people almost acted like we were not even there, which was a refreshing change from the typical harassment to buy something.
Walking through the streets of The Big Mango gave us a real taste
of what true Thai culture is like here. Everything is so dense and bustling, yet friendly. We found ourselves walking incredibly narrow streets at times, dodging food vendors, carts, deliveries, cats, dogs, other people. The street is prime real estate and every inch of it is taken up by some kind of vendor, be it hot food, fruit, clothes, or wares. We also saw a lot of people in a market getting ready for the lunar new year/Chinese new year, which is on Monday the 26th, bringing in the year of the Ox.
At one point we crossed a major boulevard to a large circular park type thing. A huge flock of pigeons immediately descended, sending us scurrying for cover and over towards an incredibly thin and frail old man reclining in a make-shift bed/chair. He simply smiled at us and being the first truly destitute person we came across in this new place, we took pity and placed a 10 baht piece in his hand. He
wai'd to us repeatedly showing his gratitude. Since then, we have been exposed to the truly tragic scene of small children coming up to our taxi windows and pressing their faces against
Top Of Baiyok Tower
Photo was taken on top of the tallest building in Bangkokthe glass, forcing us to look away in shame since we know that any money we give them will not really help them, but rather a mafia type pimp forcing them to beg in this fashion.
Our walk continued under highway overpasses, across busy streets dodging cars, motor bikes, and tuk tuks, past young boys playing soccer and more pictures of the King then we can count. We finally arrived at the Sky Train and met Miah and his Director of Photography, Anka, at the Baiyoke Tower, Bangkok's tallest skyscraper. They were filming some final cut away shots for the movie in the neighborhood, so we decided to be true tourists and ascend the Baiyoke. The views were incredible and really conveyed the immense sprawl of the city -- sprawl that would put LA to shame. As far as the eye could see (with quite a bit of smog) buildings shot up into the air surrounded by the dense thicket of city streets. Bangkok has no real grid... it is a mass of twirling streets.
Once night fell, we returned to our hotel for a "nap" at 8pm since we were dealing with jet lag... we didn't wake up until 6am the next morning! This was actually really nice because we got up and headed over to the Wat Pho, famous for Thailand's largest reclining Buddha (see next entry!).
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Kell
non-member comment
BAngkok**
I was so sad not to be able to send you two off!!! But I know ya'll had plenty of peeps doin it rite! I am sending many blessings and ginormous love to you 2 ;) Loving the blog! SOundz like you 2 are having an incredible start to your fantastic voyage *** Thank goddess the reign Adolf Bush is over* Love and Light (speed ;)