Bangkok Madness!

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On our first morning in Bangkok, we awoke feeling refreshed and excited that we slept through the night, finally! We had been thrown into a time zone 14 hours ahead of Vancouver and that combined with the bed in Beijing that resembled a flat rock, made for some nights of tossing and turning. Finally, after a night with a significantly more comfortable bed, and with significantly less sleep interruptions (okay, the truth is we each took a small dose of a sleeping pill in desperation!) we were refreshed and ready to whole heartedly explore the crazy town of Bangkok!

And crazy it was!

Bangkok is absolutely bursting at the seams. Full of color, traffic, noise, tuk tuks, locals and tourists alike, it is on full power 24/7, the dark night sky never seeming to faze it. It is amazing how a city can contain such a combination of vivid color, modern designs, historical sights and cultural inhabitants, yet be so run down, dirty and slummy the next building over. So much money is invested into building the city, but it appears that once the construction has been completed, the building is forgotten and not a penny is spent on maintenance. Still, the city has a unique charm, and we enjoyed our time there.

After just our first cab ride, we knew exactly why our friend Daniel had reminded us multiple times: "Remember, guys..... Bangkok Dangerous!". It was easier to close our eyes or distract ourselves by looking at our camera, because driving in Bangkok is very very dangerous! Seatbelts, shoulder checks, and driving within the lane do not occur in this city.

We managed to explore all areas of the city that were of interest to us over our short but sweet two days in Bangkok. The transit system is very easy to use, and surprisingly, we found that taxis were cheaper than public transit! Of course you have to insist that the meter is turned on, and know your prices and let the driver know that you have a general idea of the cost. And, as we said above, keep your eyes closed tightly at all times!

We explored the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, both of which are hard to put into words. You could spend days gazing in awe at the buildings of the Grand Palace and the fine attention to detail; mosaics and rich colors shimmering in the bright Bangkok sun. The golden reclining Buddha in Wat Pho is enormous - 15 metres high and 43 metres long, with its feet intricately inlaid with mother of pearl. It makes one wonder what sort of artifacts is our modern world creating that will invoke such awe and world renowned recognition in the future?

We decided to skip Wat Arun, having sailed past it along the Chao Phraya river already, opting to head to the infamous backpacker haven of Khao San Road for our first taste of cheap street food. We met a nice guy from Pittsburg who was traveling solo and heading to Khao San Road himself. He offered to show us there from the ferry drop off, which we gladly obliged.

Khao San Road is another place that is hard to sum up in a travel blog paragraph. Thousands of travelers drinking and shopping, sidewalks littered with locals trying to earn a dime selling a variety of tourist themed goods, 7-11s and food carts cooking up fresh Paad Thai starting at 25 baht everywhere you turn, and occasionally, the honking of a horn followed by a car being driven by someone who must be crazy to attempt to drive down that road. Look up chaos in the dictionary and there you will find a description of Khao San Road (as well as a description of Bangkok traffic!).

It is true what they say: it is jaw droppingly cheap to eat and drink in Thailand. For $13 Canadian we enjoyed a full meal including 2 750ml bottles of beer, a vodka redbull, prawn Paad Thai, and chicken green curry with rice. That easily would have cost $40 in Canada, plus tax and tip. Thai food is absolutely delicious, and we knew quickly that we were going to be eating our fair share of food while in Thailand.

Then there is the shopping..... Shirts with funny sayings (Same Same! But Different), beer logos, animals, designer knock offs, all for 100 baht. iPhone cases for 200 baht. Dresses for 300 baht. Rayban knockoffs for 69 baht. These prices are even higher than what one would pay, as everything can be bargained to a significantly lower price! We made a mental note to save some shopping money for the last day of our trip when we fly out of Bangkok, a shopping list already filling our minds.

Khao San Road proved to be a fun place for people watching while sitting on the sidewalk drinking cheap beer (44 baht for a large Chang which ranges from 6%-14% depending on the batch!), talking to people who were from all over the world on all different journeys, having drinks in the various bars, and enjoying the departure from our ever-so-seemingly average life back in Canada.

While in Bangkok we checked out the Patpong night market. We had no idea that we were also at the infamous red light district! We walked down the busy street completely oblivious to the girls (?ladyboys?) sitting on the steps of the clubs trying to coax Colin to enter. Perhaps it was just that we had already been approached to attend ping pong shows so many times while on Khao San Road that we were just immune to it?

We spent a few hours inside MBK - a massive shopping mall that has an entire floor devoted to cell phone accessories and electronics. Talk about iPhone case heaven! We pimped our phones and Steph at least will be heading there on our last day of the trip to stock up on cases as gifts for the ladies back home! There are also lots of stores selling silk, tshirts, and other random goods, but they are almost double the price of the same goods on the streets. Of course some people may be willing to spend more for the luxury of air conditioning shopping.

Animal lovers be warned - this next bit covers how we came to realize just how different of a world we were living in while in Bangkok.

We headed to the infamous Chatuchak Weekend Market on our second and final day in Bangkok. This market is enormous, to say the least. It is filled with thousands of stalls, selling every type of merchandise and food you can possibly imagine (although we didn't explore the food section too thoroughly, afraid that the "Beijing smell" may invade our nostrils once again). We were on a mission to find silk pillowcases on request from Colin's brother & girlfriend (hi, J&C!!) as well as compare prices of clothes to those on Khao San Road. We found the pillowcases in no time, and made our way over to the "exotic" section. "Made our way" is a lie, actually. We wandered around lost and perplexed until we stumbled upon that section by complete chance. Now in Canada, exotic is usually a description for sexual acts or items. At the Chatachuk Market, it refers to exotic animals and pets. Baby squirrels, every type of fish and aquarium supply you can imagine, puppies, cats, parrots, roosters and peacocks, more baby squirrels, amphibians with their tails chopped off, rabbits, mice and rats, and even more baby squirrels, all caged, leashed and on display. Those who could stared desperately at us and everyone else who passed by them, with such sorrow filling their eyes that it was hard for our eyes not to match the emotions found in theirs. If only we could have bought them all and released them for a better life, but instead we were left with the realization that this is an acceptable norm in the Thai culture and with sad hearts we left the market, pillow cases and cheap sunglasses the only purchased items in our hands. And yes, they do have cock fights there, which we very briefly watched (and do we ever mean brief!).

Sorry to place such a sad tone to this blog, but we will say that other than the exotic section of the Chatachuk Market, we did enjoy our time in Bangkok. We loved our hotel, and enjoying checking out the Wats and how the transportation system in a major city is run. It is a very unique city, but we don't imagine wanting to spend more time there in the future other than a couple days prior to other destinations, because it is so hectic. It was very hard to know who to trust, and the answer to that is - noone!

Bangkok Tips: You will need to do your research, know the general taxi prices to and from your accommodation, and be firm and prepared to bargain! Aim for 60% of the original asking price.

If you plan on using the skytrain a few times in a day, buy an all day pass. It's just 150 thb and you have unlimited access for the entire day.

Get to the Chatachuk market early. It gets overwhelmingly hot by noon and it is extremely crowded by then too.

We highly recommend Bangkok Loft Inn! We paid less than $35/night for a double bed with air conditioning, a warm shower, and a delicious and large breakfast. They even packed us breakfast to go the morning we left for our flight! And if you stay longer than 2 nights they will transport you to the airport one-way. It is located 5 minutes from the skytrain and the staff is very helpful. They stored a bag for us with our winter clothes for Beijing free of charge too!

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Photos

Steph at the Grand Palace
Gotta love the clothes we had to rent in order to enter!

Our First Paad Thai Experience!
Yum yum yum!

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[grandpa]

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Your photos & commentary continue to be amazing & a joy to read.