bangkok is a city of dichotomies. we arrived after dark to the biggest, newest airport we've seen yet. everything was well organized, modern, and clean. we breezed through customs and got a cab to our hostel. the highways were also new and big. drivers even stayed in their own lanes and followed most of the traffic laws. leaving the airport (which we learned from our driver was only built two years ago) we could see how big it really was. it was kind of like a city all it's own with large hotels and multi-lane highways in every direction. it's hard to imagine it being completely blocked off by protesters only a short while ago. we're happy that so far, people are more happy with the current prime minister.
our driver was kind enough to put on music for our drive. we got our first views of the glittering city to the tune of brittney spears "not yet a woman." as hard as we may try we really can't get away from bad american pop.
the city really was beautiful at night. and once we got off the freeway, we began to see how bustling it really is. the six lane road outside our hotel was bumper to bumper. the elevated train and subway stations were busy, even at 10 p.m. we don't know what the actual population of the city is but it's a pretty big contrast to sleepy little bali.
since we only had two days in the city we decided to hit the ground running. we got an early start and headed out to the grand palace the next morning. the public transportation was incredibly easy to navigate... at least the sky train and the river taxis were.
the river is in the center of the city and is used as a main thoroughfare. there were barges and long boats. poverty and wealth live among each other. we passed the most expensive condo building in the city which had tiny corrugated tin homes on either side.
we made it to our stop and found our way to wat po, home of the reclining buddha. he is giant. he's covered in gold. his feet are inlaid with mother of pearl. he's impressive.
next we found the grand palace itself. we had known there were dress codes associated with the palace but they were a bit stricter than we had anticipated. gina was wearing a skirt that came below her knees and a tee-shirt. anna was wearing capri pants and a tee-shirt that came a little low in the back. we walked in the gate and up ahead was a tiny old thai woman with a megaphone yelling at people as they walked in. "excuse me! excuse me! no short pant!" or "stop, you! no tank top!" if you were white, she yelled in english. if you weren't, she yelled in thai. it was kind of like watching 'what not to wear' thai style. since anna didn't conform to the code she got to borrow some clothes for the day. they consisted of a sarong skirt over her pants and a men's button down shirt. it was a really good look for her. and she wasn't hot at all.
the grand palace is big and shiny and impressive. there are several temples on the grounds. and every building is gilded and covered in colored glass and tiny mirrors. it's kind of like looking at disco balls all day long. we found the temple with the emerald buddha. it's actually made of jade. our favorite part were his outfits. he is apparently important enough to have three.... one for each season. they're all made of gold and the king personally gets to dress him. currently it's the "cool" season, or at least that's the outfit he was in. it doesn't feel too cool to us.
after regrouping with ice cream and a coke we made it back to our water taxi. the taxi we had taken in the morning had said round trip was an hour. so we figured we'd get on the first boat that came along, even if it was going the wrong way. that way we'd get a nice tour of the city and we wouldn't have to sit on the stinky boat dock. after we got to stop #25 and we were the only white kids on the boat filled with people carrying briefcases we figured we had maybe misunderstood. we got off at the next stop and waited for a boat going in the right direction. whoops. we did get a nice tour of the city though. and the all day boat pass we had bought that morning took care of us nicely.
that evening walking home from the sky train terminal along our six lane road, we were waiting at a crosswalk. then, there across the street waiting at the crosswalk as well, was a man with an elephant. huh. we also learned that when an elephant starts peeing you should stand well clear. there's gonna be a lot. bangkok really is an interesting mix of old and new.
the next day our goals were to make it to chinatown and to the flower market. we took our trusty water taxi to the flower market first. and even though we followed the directions on our tourist brochure, we somehow ended up in the back warehouse of the vegetable/fish market. people gave us some pretty funny looks. they must not see a lot of white girls back there. but they pointed us in the right direction and eventually we came upon baskets and baskets of orchids and marigolds and knew that we had gotten to the right place. we've never seen so many flowers in our lives. it puts pike's place to shame. you could buy them by the stem, by the kilo, or made up into flower garlands used to adorn a shrine.
using our map of bangkok, we figured we could find chinatown from the flower market on foot rather than backtracking to the water taxi. we meandered and found a nice little bakery. when they saw us walk in they yelled to the high school age girl in the back. she must have been the only one who knew a few words of english. they served us our cokes in a plastic bag full of ice with a straw. it was a pretty perfect way to drink a soda on the go.
with a few wrong turns and a few close encounters with buses in the middle of the road (pedestrians do not have the right of way even in a crosswalk) we finally made it to chinatown. we walked through what must have been the "wedding" district and the "gold" district. we also saw lots of food stalls right on the sidewalk. some of the smells coming from them smelled good. some made us gag.
after exploring chinatown for a while we made it to the water taxi dock we were looking for. this time we chose a boat heading in the right direction.
on the way home we stopped at a busy shopping mall complex. you can go to the aquarium, see an imax movie, and buy a ferrari all under one roof. as we were walking in some girls handed us samples of auntie ann's pretzels. then they took pictures with us. we're not sure what those pictures are for. maybe we'll end up on some sort of thai commercial. we just smiled and didn't ask questions.
the next day we left bangkok on the "express" train to ban kruit. it was only an hour delayed which seems pretty good. we were the only tourists getting off at ban kruit. three different train personnel came up to us to make sure we knew it was our stop. we must have looked a bit nervous or something.
we were the only ones at the train station other than a couple tuk tuk drivers. luckily one knew where our hostel was. before we left home we had found this hostel on the internet. it was a yha hostel and the photos made it look like utopia. we were happy to find that the photos were actually accurate. the hostel is more like a resort. it's right on the beach. there's a pool. the cabanas are private and air conditioned. we have our own bathroom. these are all things that we like quite a bit. the funny thing about it is... it's off the beaten track enough that we're practically the only ones here. we were all alone last night. another guy checked in this afternoon so now there are three of us.
it's been a pretty relaxing few days. our days go something like this: breakfast, beach, lunch, pool, nap, shower, dinner, bed. we've mixed it up with a couple of bike rides. a visit to the temple on the mountain overlooking the ocean. this afternoon our big project was getting our bus ticket to phuket for tomorrow. we had to go to the bus station to buy it. that involved taking a tuk tuk 30 km to the main highway. it was a nice breezy ride through pineapple plantations and palm forests. and we never get tired of seeing entire families (including grandma and new born baby) on motor bikes.
we thought spending five days in the same place would be nice since we haven't actually spent that long without packing up and moving since we left home. it has been nice but we're getting antsy. we seem to have developed ADD. now three days in one place and we're about ready to move on. we'll see how this affects our life once we're back home.
tomorrow we leave our little utopia. as much as we like each other, it will be nice to see people other than the hostel staff again. we're headed south to more beaches. we're getting close to being so tan that we just look dirty. we'll see how much tanner we can get.
before we left we had wondered whether we would get tired of being at the beach or of sleeping in hotels. would we feel unproductive without going to work. nope. we love it. we love the beach. we love not cleaning our own rooms. we love not working. it's pretty great when the biggest decision of your day is "which swimsuit should i wear today?" or "what kind of ice cream cone should i have this afternoon?" we'll see how this affects our life back home. we've been trying to come up with ways people will pay us to keep doing this. we haven't come up with anything yet. if anyone has any ideas for us...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment