Thailand - Bangkok - Travel Story
Written by Thomas Dembie Sunday, 28 March 2010 22:23
Bangkok
First Impressions & First Days
After bargaining for a good few minutes with the friendly taxi driver, I was dropped off at the end of Khaosan Road, since it was blocked off to vehicles every evening. Surprisingly, after stepping out of the taxi not one person came up to me asking if I needed a room or wanted to buy anything.
The trip from Toronto to Bangkok had taken about twenty hours, and it was now noon at home. When I checked in, the desk clerk told me that my room would be ready in a few minutes, so I took a seat and relaxed for the first time since leaving the plane in Bangkok. Though I had a lovely room with A/C, a shower, a toilet, satellite television and hot water, the one aspect that I had no control over was the noise level. I kept waking up to constant yoo-hoos, yippees and thumping tunes from the nearby bars.
The following morning I went straight to work on finding an affordable flight for the next day to Singapore. Because I had already purchased a ticket to the Formula One race near Kuala Lumpur, I had to work with my schedule and make sure I was there for the 23rd of March. I figured the most efficient way to move through the area without having to backtrack would be to head as far south as possible, to Singapore, then to Malaysian Borneo, and then make my way to KL. With my flight to Singapore now booked, I decided to explore the city by foot. I had to meet a friend at 17:30 on the other side of town, so I decided to make my way over slowly. During my two and a half hour journey, I encountered a wide range of interesting sites. The first was Wat Ratchabouhit. Wat means temple, and there are approximately four hundred of them in Bangkok! Bangkok has one of the worst traffic congestion and pollution problems in Asia. This became quite obvious early on, as many locals wear masks in order to protect their lungs. After walking for a good hour and figuring out where I was on the map, it seemed like the road was never going to end. Of course, my map was not even close to scale, so where I thought it would only take me fifteen minutes to get to the Wat, in actuality it took about one hour! When I finally arrived to the Siam Square area, I kind of felt like I was back home. There were some major shops and plenty of modern skyscrapers. The attire of the locals had also become quite a bit more fashionable and trendy, much like you’d see in New York. Even though I was now in the heart of the shopping district, prices were still very reasonable. When I finally met up with my friend we headed up one of the tall skyscrapers to a nice restaurant for a very classy meal. I honestly questioned whether or not they would even let me in, given my sweaty budget travel look. When all was said and done, our meal cost about $13 – a very high price by Bangkok’s standards! After dinner we hopped on the ultra-modern Skytrain and headed to the Patpong Road area. It was a huge market where you could buy anything you want – from fake student IDs to lap dances to designer knock-offs.
The Longest Name in the World
Bangkok, Thailand’s modern capital, means “City of Wild Plums.” The full-length of its real name is actually the longest in the world at 167 letters. Try putting “Krungthep Maha Nakorn, Amarn Rattanakosindra, Mahindrayudhya, Mahadilokpop Noparatana Rajdhani Mahasathan, Amorn Piman Avatarn Satit, Sakkatultiya Vishnukarn Prasit” on a map! In English, this translates to “The City of Angels, the Great City, the Residence of the Emerald Buddha, the Impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the Grand Capital of the world endowed with Nine Precious Gems, the Happy City, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.”
Final Days
Over the course of my stay in Lao, Vietnam and Cambodia, I had grown to enjoy the unexpected, the slow pace of life, the lack of western influence and the company of the local people. In Thailand, however, I was back to the fast-paced lifestyle I was accustomed to at home, complete with McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Starbucks around every corner and at every large modern shopping mall. By this point of my trip I was craving a good greasy burger anyway, so I didn’t mind the change.
After a good night’s sleep and my cravings now satisfied, I woke up and got ready to visit all the sites on my list that I hadn’t seen. Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace were first on my agenda. I wanted to get these places over with as early as possible, as it was extremely hot out, and you could not see these sites in shorts or any other revealing items of clothing. The Emerald Buddha has probably travelled more than most Thais. It was discovered in Chiang Rai Thailand, moved to Lampang, then Chiang Mai, brought to Luang Prabang and Vientiane by the Lao before making its way to Bangkok. Knowing how much the Thais love their royalty, I expected nothing less than a spectacular site. I was not disappointed. Right around the corner from the Palace stood Wat Pho (Temple of the Bodhi Tree), home of the 46 metre reclining Buddha.
After spending some time around the Wat Pho grounds, I jetted off by taxi to the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American Thai silk entrepreneur who fell in love with Thailand and built a magnificent house in Bangkok. The house was made up of many traditional Thai houses fused together that were transported from various regions in the country. Taking a tour is a great way to get some insight into the traditional way of life, and it also demonstrates the great creativity that Jim possessed. Following a brief trip into the heart of modern Bangkok, I headed back to Khaosan Road by tuk-tuk.
As my flight left very early in the morning and I would have to leave my hotel at around 3:00 AM, I decided to store my luggage in a safe room at a nice hotel for the day and find a cheap place to stay for my final night. The place I found, at 80 baht (or two dollars), had to be one of the most disgusting places in town. I didn’t care though as I only needed to rest for a couple of hours before heading off to the airport. The inscription on the wall near my bed read “Attention: When you leave make sure you shut the window – otherwise the sneaky fuck next door might come across the ledge and steal your shit like he did to me.” When it came time to get up and leave, I decided to take a quick shower. I tried the shower on my floor, but there was no water. I went down one level, still no water. Down another, nothing. Finally, I found one that trickled, and I cleaned up the best I could.
The trip to the airport went much faster than I expected. I had been to the airport a few times, and it always seemed to take an eternity due to the serious traffic problem that plagues the city. At this time, however, there weren’t many cars on the road. It was interesting to see markets that were already starting to come to life this early in the morning. A couple of hours later, I boarded the plane and immediately fell asleep. I didn’t even wake up for take-off. Lucky for me, I had an empty seat beside me from Bangkok to Tokyo and from Tokyo to Minneapolis.
