Bangkock city

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Bangkok and local tours

It was dark when we landed in Bangkok from Hanoi. I was told the best way to the hotel was by train. Took the skyrail link to Ramkhamhaeung. The rail link was about 20m high in the air running all the way up to the center of the city, so had to climb down a lot of steps with the luggage. The heat (39ºC) and humidity (> 95%) is the same as in Vietnam, only the area is generally looks a lot richer. The first tour arranged had some confusion regarding pickup for the tour and had to be postponed. I did not want to use my Irish phone for fear of high charges, so first thing to do was to buy a Thai sim. For €8 you get 100 minute calls and unlimited Wi-Fi for 7 days. With tethering it makes internet access for the computer very easy. Very useful as you can use Skype, Viber or any other carrier. Very important if you are taking tours. If something goes wrong you can contact them and they can reach you as well if there are any changes. Another thing is to get your tour guide's number on every tour so that you can call if you ever get separated.

On the second bout of my stay in Bangkok (4 days) the first tour was to the famed floating village. Again the tour coordination was very confusing as the tour operator was catering for different attractions from the same tour. However the tour itself was not bad. The floating village is to the south west of Bangkok. The whole area would have been a swamp. In the days when there were no roads the canals provided the transportation system. The market developed around these canals which were many and spreading over a large area. There were shops at the banks (most buildings were built on stilts) and some were selling their goods out of the boats itself. We took a speed boat ride weaving through the canals. Then we went and did some window shopping. There were so many boats in the canal that they were creating a traffic jam. After this we had a buffet lunch which was OK. Then part of the party went to elephant show and the other rest went to the Thai Village. This was a very pleasant experience. There were live shows as to how elephants were used in Thai life (logging, ceremonies), different methods of making Thai musical instruments and utensils and even cooking. Then in the Auditorium there was another live show on Thai cultural activities as Thai dancing, harvest dance, Thai boxing, Thai sword fighting and other martial arts. There was also an exquisite rose garden with a variety of fragrant roses. However I was not really satisfied with the tour.

The second tour was to cover the city itself. I was to be picked up from the hotel at 0700hrs. It was nearly 0800 before the minivan turned up and picking up other tourists it was nearly 1000hrs before we started the tour. First stop was the temple of Golden Buddha. It was made for the ancient capital of Sukhothai. It is made of approximately 5.5 tons of solid gold, probably in the 12th century and is a beautiful piece of art. For fear of losing to the invaders, during their wars, it was covered with clay/plaster. Later on it was transported to Bangkok. When it was being installed in Bangkok a piece of plaster covering broke off. Only then people realised what an exquisite and invaluable piece they had in their possession. Part of the clay covering is still on display at the temple. The temple complex also is one befitting the statue, built around 1950s very ornate and beautiful.

We next visited the reclining Buddha in another fabulous temple. This in a huge structure of Buddha lying on his side made probably of concrete and plaster and covered with gold. It is around 40 m long and 6m high. The whole figure is almost enclosed by pillars on both sides (supporting the roof?). After visiting yet another temple we had something for lunch and headed to the palace grounds.

The Grand Palace is also the residence of the royal family and certain parts are not accessible to public.

Built in the 18th century when the then king Rama I decided to move his residence to this side of Chao Phraya river. More buildings were added later. This is one place that should not be missed on a visit Bangkok. It also includes the temple housing the Emerald Buddha (it is made of jade but still very impressive nearly 0.5m high) on a high altar. Again the story goes that when it was discovered in Chiang Mai in the 15th century it was also covered with plaster to protect it from invaders. When the plaster broke the monks thought it was an emerald figure and the name stuck. There are galleries all the way around with paintings telling the story of "Ramayana". There was also a great miniature of Angkor Wat commissioned by Rama IV. There is an armory museum, Museum of textiles and other places of interest such as royal courts which were fit for the gods. The richness of these places is unbelievable especially when we consider the poverty in Thailand. It is fully walled by a high wall nearly 2km long covering 65 acres. It was nice to see the royal Buddhist monastery with the Emerald Buddha where people came to pray and study inside a Hindu palace. It showed the maturity of the Thai kings in their tolerance and understanding of their people. There were numerous figures of combined beings, half man / half lion, half bird, half monkey etc. Everything was gold, green or red. Normally I would have said they are gaudy but somehow it fitted in with the surroundings and architecture. There were ornate buildings where the king held court. We saw two of these. One by Rama I and one by Rama IV. There were a lot of stupas, museums galleries where one could spend quite a few hours. Everything was in a grand and ornate style mainly in Thai architecture except the buildings by Rama V some of which had a lot of Italian influence. Thailand has a constitutional monarchy now. The king and the queen are still held in great reverence here and their pictures and even shrines were everywhere

I had toyed with the idea of visiting Bangkok's seedy areas but did not want to venture there on my own late in the night. But I knew a visit to Bangkok will not be complete without this visit. My travel agent Aya offered to take me there herself to the "Hangover Tour". This is named after the movie and was to visit the night clubs featured in it. Still I did not want to go if anything it would be more embarrassing to with a 25 year old girl. I asked her to come back if she can find somebody else to go with us as well. On my Bangkok Palace Tour I met Henry, a Malaysian living and retired in Australia who also had some interest. In the meantime the travel agent came back with another person. Now I had at least two to go with. I was picked up from the hotel at 1900hrs by Aya, took the rail and as the roads were jammed had to take a motorbike taxi to get to the place to meet with Henry in the town by 1930. In a short while we were joined by a 28 year old American, Joshua who was good fun to be with.

First we went to a couple of bars in the "cowboy" area. There were about 12 tables a girl dancing on each table. We were seated at one. Most of the girls were beautiful and young, must be doing this for a day’s wage. Aya told us we can take anybody we fancy for 2, 000 bahts. The second bar was higher up on the scale, on the lower level there were a few lovely barely clad girls rocking to music. On the upper level which had a glass floor had girls dancing topless and almost naked, some sight from the ground floor. We then moved to another area of Bangkok called "Nana". Here we went to a bar where there were a lot of "lady boys". Some of them were stunningly beautiful. I don't know how they could hide the male parts so well and I presume they had done something to improve their chests as well. The next bar we went to were of more explicit in nature and there were sexual acts on the stage. In one place Joshua was asked to sit on a chair on the stage while two naked girls danced on him. He seemed to enjoying it well. We were not asked to pay anything extra all we were required to do was to buy our drinks and that was not too expensive either. Joshua bought a couple of drinks for the girls who came and chatted with him for a while. By 2330 I had seen enough and chose get back to the hotel. Aya with the other two continued to the "ping pong show" club.

I think it is a combination of factors that has made the attitude to sex what is now in Thailand. There are a very high number of females to males. Even the males available are not all heterosexual. That leaves the girls to look elsewhere. I see a lot of European men aged 60 plus with young Thai girls on their arm and nobody even blink an eye. The Thais do not seem to have any hang ups when it comes to sexual matters. May be Buddhism have not given them a strict code on morality and it treat both sexes equally. May be it is just cultural as I did not see such liberal attitudes in Vietnam or Cambodia.

I had two options to get to Don Meueng (old Bangkok) Airport. Either take a taxi costing ~400baht or take a train to Suvarnabhoomi Airport and take a bus to Dan Meueng costing less than 100 baht. It actually cost me only 30baht as there is a free fast, hourly shuttle service now between the two airports. The frequency narrows to 20 minutes at peak times. It is nonstop and uses the Expressway and toll roads. All one has to show is either a reservation or a boarding pass.



This blog is the last in my present series. Not decided when and where to head next.

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