Traveling with the siblings: family reunion in Bangkok

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Bangkok was the beginning of 3 weeks traveling in Thailand with my brother José and my Sister Valentina (Vale). They joined me during my 2 year "leisure escape" from Chile.



It all started last year while I was still in Australia and I was skyping with José. He wanted to do something for his 30th birthday; "Maybe go to Colombia for 10 days or so" he said. He then asked me where I was going to be around May this year and my response was "somewhere in Southeast Asia". One thing led to another. A few days after having had this conversation there was a big airline tickets promotion and he and my sister got tickets for Thailand to arrive there on May 30th. Perfect timing: José managed to get a month off work and my sister finished Uni at the end of April.



I arrived in Bangkok from my trek in Nepal 5 days before they did. Before getting there I had contacted a former colleague of mine from the Navy whose brother (Jaime) lives in Bangkok and then ended getting in touch with him.

Jaime offered me to stay at his place and said he would meet me at the airport (I had assumed just to pick me up and take me to his place). What I didn't know was that he had a flight to Vietnam that left a couple of hours after mine arrived. We actually met on the airport and he handed me the keys to his flat. Because he barely had time to do the check in, I walked with him to the counter while he told me the instructions to get to the flat. All of which I wrote on a receipt I had in my pocket. Timing couldn't have been better.



My first impression of Bangkok was that of a well organized and modern city. That impression stuck. Thais are a friendly bunch. Not for nothing this country is also known as "the land of smiles". Bangkok is a well developed city with a modern and efficient public transport system. Other cities in Thailand, although not as developed as Bangkok, gave me a similar impression. This article on wikitravel gives a good overall view (find the side box which describes a few of the typical stereotypes of people to be seen): http://wikitravel.org/en/Bangkok#Get_around.



I spent the next five days staying in Jaime´s flat, very near to the Ekammai BTS station (BTS is Bangkok's skytrain). I also had a shopping center nearby. During that time I got acquainted with the city transportation system and did some touring around and a lot of walking.



And then May 30th arrived. I hadn't seen José and Vale for over 15 months, so it was a reunion we were all expecting. From what I could tell from the arrival screens at the airport, the flight was delayed. Apparently they just hadn't updated the info, because as I was killing time with a coffee, Vale sneaked up on me and surprised me.



At the airport we all got money and then did the combination of train, BTS and boat to get to where we were going. It probably would've been easier, faster and cheaper to take a taxi (paid between the 3 of us), but I wanted to give them a bit of a tour straight away and they agreed.

We took the express line (metro train) to Payathai Station and from there took the BTS connection to Saphan Taksin Station, which is one of the main places to take the Chao Phraya express boat. The boats along the river are also a mass system of transportation in Bangkok. The Chao Phraya river is huge and at one point passes through Bangkok (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chao_Phraya_River).

We took a boat that left us at the Phra Arthit jetty. This jetty's right next to Ram Buttri (the area where we stayed). Ram Buttri is conveniently located right next to Khaosan Road: Bangkok's main backpacker zone. Restaurants, street food, bars, travel agencies, street vendors, tuk tuks and hotels everywhere. Khaosan is full of backpackers, loud music most of the day and overall hectic. There's also a neverending offer of drinks, food, all kinds of clothes and electronics, overpriced transportation and sex-tourism offers, including the infamous "ping pong" shows, which by now are a huge scam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ping_pong_show).



We settled in what would be a guesthouse that we would keep coming back to when we returned to Bangkok a few times later (New Siam Hotel).

Then we went for a walk around the surrounding areas and in the evening I suggested we go out to dinner at the Riverside shopping center. At the rooftop of the mall, there is a bar and a restaurant. Y had read in a blog that both were good spots (and fairly inexpensive considering the infrastructure) to watch the sunset and have good view of the Chao Praya river at night, lit by riverside hotels, temples and just a wide range of buildings and constructions of all sorts. All the while, boats are cruising by.

The food was good, although I was still hungry after the meal and the views to the Chao Praya river at sunset and dusk were pretty good as well.

Back to Ram Buttri we took a Tuk Tuk, which we bargained for what was still an overpriced run. But more often than not you pay "tourist prices" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuk_tuk).



The next couple of days we did some of the typical tours around the city (all on our own). I found that the best websites for enquiring how to move around are the "Trip Advisor" and "Lonely Planet" forums and also "Wikitravel". There's also heaps of good information to be found on travel blogs, especially from expats. All you want to know has already been asked by others before. Thank the gods for online collective knowledge.



The places that we visited were the Grand Palace which totally exceded my expectations. It's a huge complex that can take half a day to cover. It had a wide range of temples, buildings for the monarchy and displays of different types of collections (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace). Within its precincts is the complex known as Wat Phra Kew, which includes the Temple of the legendary Emerald Buddha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phra_Kaew.



That same day we visited other temples: Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn), a distinctive landmark by the side of the Chao Phraya river (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Arun) and Wat Po which is the Temple of a 43m long reclining Buddha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Po).

The most famous floating market (by tourist standards) is Damnoen Saduak. We really wanted to see a floating market, but I suggested that we go to one that's further away from the city and from what I had learned, had very few tourists (Amphawa). I found about this one in another blog written by an expat. It seemed more genuine (http://www.amphawafloatingmarket.com/).

We took a van to Amphawa from Bangkok's northern terminal and it took us about 2 hours to get there and the van dropped us right at the market.

It wasn't exactly what we were expecting and were a little dissapointed. I guess we were expecting a chaotic, somewhat unorganized scenario with lots of noise, people-shoving and cobra shows. It was the opposite: well organized, not overrun by people and pretty decent looking for a market with, in general, neat and tidy stores. We spent several hours walking and then made our way to where supposedly there was a "bus stop". Luckily, as we were walking there, we saw the same driver that had taken us before. 2 more hours on the van and we were back in the north bus station of Bangkok. Even though the experience wasn't quite what we had expected we didn't regret going there and we didn't go to Damnoen Saduak, which I was told by different people, has become a tourist trap.

The best part of was the food: getting to sit on the concrete steps at the side of the river and choosing your food being cooked on the longtail boats right in front of you. That was awesome. José and I feasted on seafood and pork skewers. Vale just watched and took photos. No way in the world was she having any of that.



One of the evenings we went by BTS to Nana Station, which is along the famous Thanon Sukhumvit (Thanon = Avenue). Nana station is one of the red light district epicentres (especially Soi 4, Soi = Street).There are a few more, including the most reknowned one which is Soi Cowboy. These red light districts are what give Bangkok its naughty reputation. These are still places worth going and have a look around, as tourist attractions (just as the Red Light district in Amsterdam). On the downside, there are ladyboys (transvestites) everywhere, which is a disturbing sight.

Besides the red light district, there are plenty of other things to do and see near Nana Station. Soi 11 is a street filled with good restaurants and pubs and a popular hanging place for Bangkok's expat population. There are several high-end rooftop bars around to have a drink and enjoy the views.

At night, there are innumerable stands that sell every type of goods, street food and there's a street nearby full of arab restaurants and shops.

We had a good time there walking around, taking photos and having a bite to eat.



Another thing we did was to go to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. This market is held right besides the Chatuchak park which in turn is close to the Mo Chit BTS Station. We went on a Sunday. José and Vale wanted to go to look around and shop. I definitely wasn't interested in buying anything besides I few items of clothing I needed to buy to replace a pair of shoes, trousers and T-Shirts that were in such state I had to throw away (I've been using the same wardrobe for nearly 1 1/2 years now).

Instead, I wanted to go the Channel 7 TV Station. I had found out browsing on the web, that there were Muay Thai fights televised there every Sunday afternoon and it's free entrance to watch them at the studio. I really wanted to watch this popular national sport and the other options I had were to pay 30-60 USD to watch them at one of the stadiums.

José and Vale went with me to the Station, but we arrived there late, after 13:30 and the place was packed. They left. I stayed. It wasn't in the best spot and it felt like being in a mosh pit at a concert. I managed to watch about 3 fights and I left. It was still good fun and the atmosphere inside gets rowed up, especially after round 3, when the fighters are really trying to end each other. Each blow, especially with the knees, gets a cheering from the spectators. It's a good thrill, with at least a few good fights. There are also bets going on constantly. I left with the intention to go back on another Sunday and get there early.



A few more random things that I can remember about this trip: bargaining for taxis. Whenever a taxi stops, a lot of times the driver will ask you for a pre-fixed price to the desitnation, instead of using the taxi meter. Sometimes they'll ask as much as 4 times the actual price. A lot of times we had to haul 5 taxis before coming aross an honest driver willing to turn on the taxi meter. But it saved us a lot of money.

Fruit shakes: this was a big plus during the trip. They're drinks made by blending fruit and ice and they're popular in several South East Asian countries. The first time I mentioned the fruit shakes to José and Vale, they were reluctant to try them. I had bought a mango fruit shake on a street stand while walking to the Grand Palace.

After I convinced them to have one, they didn't stop having them until the last day. Nutritious and refreshing in a 35ºC - 40ºC real feel climate.



One of the nights, Vale wasn't feeling too well, so we left her sleeping and José and I went to have a few drinks at Khaosan Road. It was good to catch up on each other's current activities and I tried a local delicacy: a burned-to-a-crisp scorpion on a stick. There are a few street stands that sell all kinds of bugs to eat. I'm not sure that even the locals eat them. (At least not at the prices they sell them for). Looking at it was disgusting, but in truth, it didn't taste half bad. It was an interesting experience, that's for sure and one that I had to try.



We went back 2 more times to Bangkok: On our way from Chiang Mai to Cambodia and when we came back from the islands in the South. At this point José and Vale had to fly back to Chile and I stayed an extra week in Bangkok to figure out my next destination.



During that week by myself, I didn't do much sightseeing and mainly took the time to read, write, organize photos and prepare for the upcoming months.

I did go back to the Channel 7 Studio on a Sunday and arrived there about 2 hours before the fights began. A good time to get there is between 12:00 and 12:15 to get a good spot. I arrived there at around 11:00, way early. But I got a really good spot. I did have my Ipod and book, so it was alright. I watched 5 fights. There was a Techincal KO in the second fight, a guy had to be carried out on a stretcher on the 5th and in the 4th fight, one of the fighters was apparently defending a title (everything was spoken in Thai, so I just assumed that). It made for excellent weekend entertainment.



During those 3 weeks of traveling, José, Vale and I also visited Chiang Mai, Siem Reap & the Angkor complex in Cambodia, plus a few of the Southern Thai islands. All of which will be described in different posts.

Here, a video I got of the 5th round of the 4th fight:

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Comments

[Andres]

saludos desde Lonquen
Hola Dani, da tanto gusto verlos a los 3 juntos. Muy entretenido el relato y las fotos buenísimas. Acá todo sin novedad. Mónica y los niños muy bien. Pablo fue a Argentina hace 2 semanas por un intercambio escolar de su curso. Esta semana tenemos a un niño argentino en casa con nosotros. Estamos pensando en Julio ir a Puerto Montt a ver unos amigos para las vacaciones de invierno de los niños. un abrazo Andrés

[Andres]

saludos desde Lonquen
Hola Dani, da tanto gusto verlos a los 3 juntos. Muy entretenido el relato y las fotos buenísimas. Acá todo sin novedad. Mónica y los niños muy bien. Pablo fue a Argentina hace 2 semanas por un intercambio escolar de su curso. Esta semana tenemos a un niño argentino en casa con nosotros. Estamos pensando en Julio ir a Puerto Montt a ver unos amigos para las vacaciones de invierno de los niños. un abrazo Andrés