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Published: March 11th 2014
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I'm writing this from the bed of my sleeper train on a 14 hour overnight trip ($28) from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in the North. Why waste a day with travel, when it can be accomplished while you're sound asleep?
Bangkok is a huge city, and a lot of the sights are over in the old town Rattanakosin area, which is kind of a pain-in-the-ass to access from most parts of the city, including Nana, where I was staying earlier. Plus, the famous Khao San Road backpacker holy site is over there, so I figured why not change venue and spend a few nights over in that part of the city.
Well, I had figured that 3 nights would be a good stay, but I ended up staying 5, due to me by accident making my reservation one day later, and then finding out that the Monday night train to Chiang Mai was already booked, so I had to wait until Tuesday to head north. 5 nights was definitely too long to be in this area, unless you are in a drink-and-party phase of your life, in which case maybe you could stomach that much.
Anyway, I checked out some of the “can't miss” sights, like the Grand Palace, the neighboring Wats (Buddhist Temples), cruising the Chao Phraya river, and the Bangkok National Museum. These were OK, with Wat Pho being my favorite, containing an enormous Buddha, WiFi, and massage. However, its indoor Buddha pales in comparison to the giant outdoor reclining Buddha of Street Fighter II fame, located in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya, which I regretfully didn't see. TIIIGGGGGEEEERRRRRR!!!
The history of the Thais is kind of interesting. Apparently there's a good deal of uncertainty on the roots and initial settlement time of the people living on the site of modern Thailand. Also interesting is that Thailand is the only nation in the area that never was a colony of a Western nation. The Dutch, Portuguese, British, and French carved up their neighbors pretty well, but somehow Thailand remained independent.
Most of the crew passing through my hostel (Khaosan Immjai, best hostel I've ever stayed at), were in their young twenties and mainly looking to party. I escaped the scene to check out a Muay Thai event at a venue inside the local channel
7 TV building. This was cool because it was like 90% Thai there, and there wasn't any entry fee.
Despite being a Western backpacker Mecca, Khao San Road is also frequented by a number of Thais. Bangkok is a huge city, so despite its popularity as a travel/retirement spot for the West, Thais still dominate the population there, and it stands to reason that some non-negligible percentage welcome the Western invaders. I didn't see any freelancers at Khao San. I was having a good time partying with some normal Thais girls who eventually demanded that I buy them a 2000-baht ($60) bucket of drinks. Nah-uh. Based on a few other similar occurrences and from speaking with expats, financial support is likely going to be an aspect of any Thai-Farang (Caucasian) romantic relationship here. This is understandable, and tolerable to an extent, due to the likely wealth disparity. However, it's a thin line to walk though between a relationship built on love, or at least mutual enjoyment of one another's company, and one built on economic milkage.
The scariest thing I did in Bangkok was get on a motorcycle taxi and traverse half
the city at rush hour to get to one of two Bangkok bitcoin meetups that I attended while here. Weaving in-and-out of slowly-moving cars while being maneuvered on a small, wobbly bike by someone 2/3 your weight is not for the feint of heart.
Despite an initial knee-jerk reaction by Bangkok central banking authorities, bitcoin is not actually banned in Thailand, and in fact there's a website (which should become an exchange in the near future) that let's you buy and sell bitcoin and make transfers to and from Thai bank accounts. Since I thought I might like to do this at some point in the future, I tried to open a Thai bank account, despite having no visa whatsoever. The first 2 banks requested a work visa, and turned me down, but another let me go ahead with a passport and a driver's license. I could only get a savings account, without any internet banking ability, so I think I would actually have to be in Thailand to make use of it.
Well I haven't said everything interesting that's happened here in Bangkok, but I've decided to invoke the Vegas clause: (at least
some of) what happens here stays here. Even if I told you everything, the description pales in comparison to the experience of this city. You should come and check it out. When you have the time 😉
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Matt
non-member comment
what's allowed?
From the photo, it seems that short and long-sleeve shirts, pants, and shorts of any length are not allowed. Is there any clothing that IS allowed?