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Published: February 4th 2008
Bangkok
Khao San Road at nightRemember the old eighties song, it went something like 'One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble...one night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble'. Well, we were about to find out if there was any truth to the lyrics.
December 18th, and there we were in Bangkok! After a mini flight of 2.5 hours, and a couple of evil women at the Thailand customs who gave us a hard time, we arrived in the so called seedy and intense city of Bangkok, Thailand. We hopped on an airport bus which took us to the well known backpacker zone of Banglamphu.
Most of the cheaper hotels in the area are centered around the infamous backpacker filled ghetto of Khao San Road. It's the kind of place you either love or hate. You would swear that every backpacker in the world has decided to arrive at the same time. Everyone trying to get the same deals, buy the same t-shirts, and go to the same hotels. If you go there and accept those facts, it's only as bad as you make it. It was a different sort of place. When we first arrived, it was strange to be in
Bangkok
Tuk-tuks, aka 'Bangkok Ferraris', ready to take you shopping! an area that was lined with beer stalls and restaurants with English menus offering everything from burgers to green curry.
'Tuk-tuks', the three wheeled demonic mini taxis, lined the streets. It was impossible to walk by without the drivers noticing you and saying 'Where you go?' or 'Tuk-tuk, cheap cheap'. After a while, all of the 'cheap cheaps' started to sound like some flock of strange, exotic Thai birds. Being polite Canadians, it was hard not to say 'No, thank you' or 'No, I'm ok', but after hearing the same lines a dozen times every few minutes, we realized that it wasn't rude to just ignore them and keep on walking by.
We stayed at a pretty decent place that overlooked some beautiful, red roof tiled Buddhist temples. Street vendors lined the narrow alley below, selling everything from banana pancakes, beer, and fresh squeezed orange juice to used sleeping bags, travel guides and shoes. Our room had windows that opened, along with a fan. But neither made much difference in keeping the heat out; it was pretty damn toasty in there. We had to get used to taking our shoes off at the entrance of the hotel, and
Bangkok
Andy on the city streets walking barefoot to our rooms, since it's a custom in most Thai guesthouses. All Thai homes have very clean floors because most of the eating, socializing and sleeping is done sitting or laying on the floor.
The traffic in Bangkok was pretty crazy. There were crosswalks and traffic lights everywhere, but no one seemed to take much notice of them at all. Rattling old buses chugged along the packed roads, still in motion as people jumped on and off them. Motorbikes rode along the sidewalks, as well as the roads, dodging pedestrians with little effort.
A huge mix of locals and foreigners loaded the streets, shopping and haggling for the appropriate price, sitting together at food stalls, munching away on chicken satays and Pad Thai, drinking Singha beer or freshly squeezed orange juice. Again, we chose to shadow a local when crossing the street, and luckily for us, it seemed to work!
One of our favorite games was 'count the passengers' to see how many people we could spot riding one motorbike. Three is very common, four we saw quite a few times, and on at least three occasions, we saw five, yes five people on a
Bangkok
English 101 with the girls motorbike!
It was all pretty fast paced and in your face excitement in Bangkok. Silver stores lined the streets, along with tailor shops, desperately trying to sell you a new silk suit to show off to your friends back home. Everything in the area is priced much higher than it should be so haggling is a must on Khao San Road. However, there are many things that are so cheap in the first place, you feel that the price is not worth arguing about. T-shirts were about $3 and a plate of delicious vendor food was less than a dollar.
We decided to begin our adventures by getting out of the area. We got onto the cheapest red bus, which was packed full of locals, all hanging on tight as the bus sped around sharp corners with no fear. It's pretty weird, you see lots of people like tuk-tuk drivers and traffic cops wearing masks to mellow out the pollution they endure in their everyday lives. Bangkok has supposedly reduced their emissions quite a bit in the last decade, but it is still one of the most polluted cities on earth. You can't help but notice it right
Bangkok
Sunset over the canals away.
We had to find the Indian Embassy in order to get our visas to enter India, our next plane destination. Things were going smoothly until we got completely lost after perfectly executing a bus ride and sky train trip. We were confused, dehydrated, late to get our visa, and totally frustrated. After relaxing a bit in a park and enjoying a cold beverage, we got a good map from a lady in one of the more upscale hotels in Bangkok. She obviously thought we were staying there. With her help, and the map, we finally found the Embassy. But annoyingly, we inquired and found that the visa application center had moved and so we had to walk another 2 kms to reach the new location! By the time we got there, it was too late to submit our forms, since it was now closing time. An almost complete waste of a few hours, but we were now armed with the knowledge of how to get there the next day.
On our way back, we decided to hit one of the super malls of Bangkok, called Mahboonkrong, or MBK. Level after level of the usual mall stuff plus
Bangkok
A maze of escalators at the MBK shopping mall a movie theatre, grocery store, a big food court, and a huge selection of handicrafts filled the place. Seven stories in total! All the local shopaholics and tourists would gather to buy everything in sight. And the prices were reasonable, especially when compared to back home. We walked around for a while, then took the bus back and called it an evening.
Later, we went to a park near our hotel to relax for a bit while watching the sunset and the river ferries going back and forth on the canals. We were there only a few minutes when we were approached by a few uniformed Thai school girls and their teacher. They said they were doing a school project called 'Talking to Foreigners' and asked us a few questions to practice their English. The girls seemed pretty embarrassed (they were teenagers) but did very well. After their questions, they thanked us and gave us a huge bag of delicious goodies to eat later! We got our pictures with them, and watched as they went over to the next bunch of foreigners to repeat the process.
The following morning we set off to the embassy to sort out
Bangkok
Motorbikes rule the city streets! our visas. This time was so much easier, since we knew where we were going. The only down side was that we had to wait five working days to pick up our visas, and an extra two, since the weekend followed right after! We were a bit disappointed that we had to stay a week in Bangkok, so we went to MBK to see a movie in the big theatre.
It was really different seeing a movie in Thailand. At the beginning, everyone had to stand while the national anthem played and many photos showing the king doing various kingly things flashed on the screen. Only after it finished could you be seated to watch the movie. Usually there are English movies with Thai subtitles playing. We watched 'I am Legend', a pretty good movie, and even more interesting with such an assorted audience and subtitles below. The theatres were very luxurious and modern too.
As we rode the bus home, we figured, why stay in Bangkok for another week when we can go somewhere else in the meantime. Getting out of the city to lay on the beach and soak up some rays sounded really appealing to
Hua Hin
So happy to be at the beach us. Since it was almost Christmas, we wanted to do something special. We decided that the next day we would take a 3.5 hour bus ride to the beaches of Hua Hin.
In the morning we grabbed our packs, checked out, and decided to use a taxi to get to the bus terminal, just to make life a little easier. After telling a couple guys we didn't want to go shopping, or other places that they mentioned, and someone else that we didn't want to go with him because he wouldn't turn on his meter, we finally agreed to go with this guy that would turn his meter on. The problem was, he was either lost, confused about our destination, or taking us on a joyride to collect a larger fare. We weren't sure, but after a bit more confusion and some laughing, we finally made it to the Southern bus terminal.
Our plan was to get on a nicer, air conditioned bus and kick back and relax on the 3.5 hour trip. For some reason, perhaps since all of the signs were written in Thai, we bought a ticket in the wrong lineup and ended up taking
Hua Hin
This man put chicken skewers on the grill, then drove off while they were cooking! the second class bus. It was packed full of people and had no air-con at all. We were wondering why the tickets were so cheap and when we got on the bus our question was answered pretty quickly. It was good though, because it was only a short ride and we soon arrived in Hua Hin.
We checked into an amazing hotel which had a balcony, wood floors, air-con, a TV, and overlooked some of the local places down below. It was a nice, laid back place with a really sweet grandmotherly sort of lady running it. The only problem was it was completely booked, so we could only spend one night there before searching for a new room. We dropped off our bags, then headed out to explore the streets of Hua Hin.
The first thing we noticed was that there were a lot of older tourists with their families, just visiting for Christmas break. There were 7/11 stores on every corner. There were loads of food stalls where most of the locals ate quickly and cheaply. We walked through the narrow streets full of slow moving vehicles and old fat foreign men on motorbikes with their
Night Market, Hua Hin
Cruisin' the streets for dinner young Thai 'girlfriends' riding behind them. A very strange sight to see, but a very common one as well. We guessed that many guys aged fifty to seventy go there to re-live their youth and don't mind having a Thai girl spend their money. You see it everywhere, an older guy hanging off a girl that's way out of their league, and way too young for them.
There were also lots of guys trying to get us to see the Thai boxing matches and 'lady boys' trying to get us to go to their tranny style cabaret shows. We decided to check out the beach and get away from all the noise. We walked through a narrow lane lined with stalls selling hats, swim suits, towels, and lots of souvenirs and finally reached the sand. The beach stretched on for miles, and was full of restaurants with thatched roofs. Everywhere people were eating and drinking their favorite Thai beers.
Tourists rode horses along the beach, locals walked up and down, constantly trying to sell you overpriced handicrafts and stale donuts. And of course, old European guys in tight speedos with their new, hot 'girlfriends' by their sides. It
Night Market, Hua Hin
Seriously cooking up a storm was a little overwhelming at first to see all this action at once, but well worth getting out of the pollution of the city to soak up some sun. Really, our only stress was where to eat next or what to buy.
As we said before, we had to search out a new place to stay on our second day, and easily found one. Our new hotel was quite different from the previous one, but great in its own special way. It was located on a pier which went right out into the ocean. At night we could hear the water rushing in and out, right beneath the floor boards. There was a large deck where we could order food and eat with a view of the ocean, and it was only a couple of minutes walk to the beach. What more could we ask for, except maybe hot water, oh well, can't have everything.
Also we fount a giant cockroach that was way too fast to catch, so it stayed the night under the bed. One day we had a visit from a friendly ginger cat. As we opened our door, it ran into our room and
Hua Hin
'Should I have another, two, or three?' took a pee perfectly aimed into the drain of our shower. It looked well practiced, like it had done it many times before!
There were a few tailor shops near our guest house, and every time we passed them, the guys would call out to us to come have a look at their stuff. One guy in particular was very friendly, and stopped us for a chat. He told Andy that he looked like Steven Seagal, except he pronounced it 'Steven Seagull', which made it even funnier. It was hilarious, every time we passed his shop, (several times a day) he would yell out 'Hey Steven Seagull' and wave.
Hua Hin had a great night market which took up around four blocks. Great shopping along with great food. A huge assortment of seafood was available, to be cooked right there on a barbecue for everyone to see. One night we ate there, and because there was an election, the restaurants were not allowed to serve alcohol. What they did was either put the booze in ceramic mugs or just serve it a little more discretely, keeping the bottles hidden behind the counters. It almost made us feel like
Hua Hin
Chinese temple overlooking the ocean we were living life on the edge!
Now it was our turn to join everyone on the beach and suntan, swim, and be merry, since it was our first 30+ degree Christmas. The water was very warm and refreshing. It was strange to be laying in the sun during this time of year, but very good. On Christmas morning we saw a guy dressed up in a low budget Santa outfit waving to the passing traffic, which was amusing too.
Our Christmas dinner was eaten at 'Subway', never has a sandwich tasted so good. Christine even enjoyed a horseback ride down the beach on Christmas day at sunset, after agreeing on the price with the owner. Andy took the time to sit back and enjoy a beer.
And so we spent our week waiting for our visas to be ready. The sun was blazing every day we were out there. If it wasn't for sunscreen, our beach time would have been cut short due to some pretty brutal burns. It really was great to get out the city and enjoy the beach life, but it was now time to return to Bangkok.
On Dec. 27th, we
Hua Hin
Our guesthouse on stilts in the sea took the bus back to good old Khao San Road, got a room, then repeated the same process to pick up our India visas. Thankfully, they were approved and ready, and we picked them up the next evening, hassle free. We were set, so we decided that it was time to head north to Ayuthaya, to see the wats and ruins in the former capital of Thailand.
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Sarah
non-member comment
Ah yes the King
I had forgotten about movies in Thailand. We were in Chaing Mai when we went to a movie and were quite surprised by the anthem and all the pictures of the king doing his good deeds. They really do love their king! Great blog guys. I am having so much fun following them. Hope India is going well for you. Sarah