Jeff and I arrived to Bangkok on Monday after an uneventful flight. The only thing worth mentioning is that as I was attempting to learn some basic Thai phrases from Jeff’s “Top 10 Bangkok” book, the ladies sitting in front of us were peering through the gap between the seats. I waved at them and they giggled, then asked if this was my first time to Bangkok. Of course I answered yes and they then helped me with my pronunciation and gave me a few helpful hints.
We met Jan at the airport once we had passed customs (quick and easy) and picked up our checked luggage (loooong wait). The air was wet and hot, which was a pretty drastic change from Hong Kong. She had been there for just over an hour and looked pretty tired. Her flight had left pretty early from Hong Kong, so she’d been up since 4am. Ick! So, we managed to wander most of the way towards the airport taxi stand, when suddenly Jan was accosted by a man who looked to be a Thai policeman. At first I thought a limo tout was pulling her aside to sign up for a limo into Bangkok, but then the man starting pulling her back towards the customs counter. She told him she’d already been through and he responded with something about alcohol and cigarettes. Jan started to panic and looked about ready to scream, so I headed towards her with Jeff right behind me. Jan insisted that she didn’t have alcohol or cigarettes and opened the bag the guy pointed to, but as soon as Jeff and I approached and started speaking in her defense, he said “Ok, ok,” and walked away. Unnerving first encounter with Thai authority!
Finally we got a cab, hopped in, and began the harrowing experience of weaving, zooming and honking through traffic. Suddenly, the driver veered off to the side of the expressway and parked, prompting Jan to get that “about-to-scream” look on her face again. Luckily (?), it was just that the car seemed to be overheating; not a big surprise, really, since it seemed to be a sauna outside. Five minutes later, we were on our way again and besides nearly hitting half a dozen motorcyclists with small children standing between their two parents on one seat, we made it to the Hotel Marriott with no problems. There we were treated quite well, quickly checked in and air conditioned back to a normal temperature.
Once we had all cooled off, unpacked and gotten comfortable, we decided to explore our surroundings and find some lunch. Off we went, sweating the minute we stepped out the door. The concierge recommended a place in a department store, but none of us felt that it would be a good first meal in Thailand, so we just wandered along the main street. My impressions were of an inner city: dirty, broken sidewalks, millions of cars, tuk-tuks, motorcycles and buses, smelly smog and overwhelmingly wet air.
We had a vague destination in mind, with the name of a street as our guide. Eventually I made the decision to turn down a side street, because I’d hit that traveler’s wall of hunger, fatigue and saturation. We saw a few street vendors but weren’t feeling quite that adventurous yet, and then I chose a place called "Monsoon.” The food turned out to be awesome. Jeff got massaman curry, which he describes as “ecstasy on a plate.” Jan got Celiac-friendly pad thai. And I got sweet and sour chicken, which was tasty and NOT fried. We each drank a large bottle of water, too. As
we ate, we checked out the older white gentlemen (one of whom was paler than Elmer’s glue) who had young Thai ladies with them at the restaurant. There were really some characters there!The food was wonderful and really calmed all of us down. We tried out our BTS legs on the way home; BTS is the name of the Thai metro system. There’s also a sky train, but I haven’t figured out the difference between the two yet. It was easy and pretty self explanatory once we got our bearings. We got back to the hotel and cooled off for a bit. I can really feel myself overheating here, on a regular basis. Anyway, Jan was ready to be done for the day, so we all just relaxed in the room for a bit. Lunch had been pretty late in the day, so none of us were hungry when dinnertime came around.
Jeff and I decided to go explore Patpong, a notoriously gay area that also is known for having some seedy streets and a fantastic night market. We went with the intention of skipping the seedy areas, but didn’t completely succeed. I learned after two or three occurrences not to even look when someone shoved a laminated sheet of paper in front of me. At first I thought they were menus, but upon closer examination they were sex show information papers. It was pretty disturbing to have men saying, “Open pussy show, miss?” or “You come see good pussy, madame?” Ick, ick, ick. We did find one “soi” or street that had restaurants and bars, including a Greek place and two Spanish tapas-style places. We chose one of the latter that was offering two-for-the-price-of-one sangrias and sat our butts down to watch the foot traffic go by. The small street was a gauntlet of restaurant and bar staff, all stepping forward and attempting to entice passersby to step into their establishments. I had some gazpacho which was delicious and cold, and Jeff and I had two rounds of the sangrias, which were tasty and cold. After that, we were both pretty fried and so we made our way back to the BTS/sky train and headed “home” to the Marriott.
On Tuesday, all three of us got up, prepared for the day and had breakfast in the lobby. We discovered and tasted two new fruits: a honey apple and a rambutan, which has a red/pink and green spiny exterior and, once opened, yields a lychee-like meat inside. The apple wasn’t quite as good, in my opinion. Then we were off to the Grand Palace and Wat Phrao Kaoew via taxi. When we got there, we overheard some other tourists saying that they’d been told the Palace was closed. Luckily, we decided to check for ourselves and found that they had been told wrong. Later, we learned that some taxi drivers or tour guides will frequently stand outside a main attraction and tell tourists that it is closed, but they can take the tourists somewhere else (for a small fee, of course).
In any case, we found the main entrance wide open for tourists and in we went. Even outside the Grand Palace walls, we were wowed. The chukas, or spires, of the temples and palace buildings are pretty impressive: gold or reflective and always soaring high, the buildings are just incredible! Inside the walls, it’s even more so. Before I get to that, though, I would like to tell you about Surin, nicknamed Tony. Surin set his sights on us right as we walked into the Grand Palace entryway, showing us his tour guide license and his backpack full of appropriate wear for the temples (pants, skirts, long sleeved shirts). We gave in pretty quickly to have him guide us for the price of 500 baht, which equals about ten US dollars. 
given something to cover our legs. All three of our outfits were quite colorful, too! Then we paid our way into the Grand Palace and Surin guided us around, giving us interesting factoids and directing our attention to the different architectures and decorative details. We went to see the emerald Buddha, which isn’t emerald at all, but jade and incredibly impressive. The statue is up on an almost pyramid-like dais, wearing a cloth robe. Surin explained to us about how the Buddha’s dress is changed by the Thai King each time the season changes, with much ceremony. The King or his representative (he’s currently 84) must climb up to the Buddha to change his dressing, with much ceremony surrounding the whole affair. Jan, Jeff and I sat in that temple for quite some time, admiring the hand painted pictorial histories on the walls, the ornate Buddha-shaped angels with their elegant stances and hand positions all leading up to the emerald Buddha and just the incredible ambiance of the place. After awhile, we headed out to buy some souvenir postcards and then let Surin guide us to the other buildings and stupas to learn and admire.
As our one-hour tour came to an end, Surin gave us his card and told us if we’d like him to be our driver and tour guide another day, even to go outside of Bangkok, to let him know by 8pm the night before. We said we’d think about it and then followed him to a canal boat pier, where we boarded our own boat and went for a one hour ride through the main river and into an offshoot canal to see the sights. This was a bit depressing for me, because there were flooded homes that were probably dilapidated before the typhoon sent more rain here. Lots of shanties and poor shops, and with the backdrop of sky-high hotels and fantastic temples, the class differences were noticeable and sad. 
The canal ride lasted about forty-five minutes or so, and then we disembarked to visit Wat Arun, which we explored for awhile on our own. Before we began seeing the Wat, though, I was grabbed by a woman who said something about taking a picture and pointed at another woman, a Westerner, who was just taking off a Thai costume. I nodded and before I knew it, I was trussed up in a blue wrap, golden cuff bracelets and some heavy pendants. Then the two ladies who were dressing me peered at my fingers and laughed as they widened the finger coverings in order to fit my fat little Western fingers. Then on with a heavy ornate headpiece and I was ushered to stand in front of the Wat Arun entrance, with the main structure inside towering behind me. The gestured and posed their hands, which I copied, feeling list an awful American pretending to be Thai royalty. It was kinda fun, though, so I hammed it up a bit and had a few onlookers smiling at me. 
After playing dress-up, we headed on into the Wat grounds. Without any explanatory information via signs or a guide, we just wandered around and admired the architecture, artwork and alien-ness of it all. Jeff and I climbed to the highest open landing, which was a steep climb, and viewed the area around the Wat, including the river. After a short time, we decided to check out the souvenir market. Jeff and Jan bought some bells with leaves as the clanging part, and a few other knick-knacks, and then we were all in sensory overload and ready to go. We caught a boat to cross the river, which took about fifteen minutes and it was a bit scary for me. The wooden planks of the boat kept clattering and banging, loudly, each time we hit a wave… which was about every five seconds. I’m not afraid to say it made me a bit uncomfortable, but soon we disembarked and wandered our way through a few streets and alleys until we arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which a friend of Jan’s had recommended for lunch.
Talk about disparity! After our canal ride, seeing the opulence and richness of everything was a bit of a shock. The restaurant was lovely, however, with a nice view of the river, and the food was fantastic. Our desserts were fun too: Jeff got water chestnut jewels in coconut milk, which was completely new to us all and delicious. I got sticky rice with mango, which was just right for me. And Jan got a creme brulee which was out of this world. After the Mandarin, our plan was originally to head over to the Jim Thompson house, which is a museum centered around the man who made Thai silk famous. Instead, we got sidetracked by a sign advertising shops of various kinds, and we ended up spending the next hour at a silk shop. First, Jan admired a dress they had on display in the window. Jeff convinced her to ask more about it and then to get fitted for her own dress. Jeff then saw some silk shirts he liked and got fitted for them in two different colors. Finally, I found some sand-washed silk that just blew me away, along with a shirt style I really liked, and so I got fitted for a two piece suit, trousers and the shirt, in a sky blue which I just adored.
By that time, we were all pretty exhausted, so we took a cab back to the hotel. We relaxed and chatted about our day, and then decided to take up Surin, our tour guide at the Grand Palace, on his offer to take us west of Bangkok to see several places we were interested in. Try as we might, though, we couldn’t seem to dial his number from our room. Nor could we seem to call the massage place Jan’s friend had recommended. So, we went down to the lobby and the concierge called for us. We made our plans with Surin and then appointments for the massages. Jan and I were getting a one-hour reflexology and shoulder relaxation mix massage, and Jeff reserved an aromatherapy massage for himself.
An hour later, we arrived to the spa via sky train. The place, called Body Tune, was awesome. Jan and I were led to a darkened room with twinkling pinpricks of light all over the ceiling. We sat in reclining chairs, with a towel over each of us, just soaking in the darkness and quiet. Eventually, we each had a woman come in and start working away on our legs, soaking our feet and massaging. All in all, it was a well-deserved and well-received massage which relaxed both of us immensely. Jeff also enjoyed his and we all fairly floated back to the hotel and promptly fell asleep.
On Wednesday, we were up early to be ready for Surin, who had said he’d pick us up at the hotel at 8am. We ate our buffet breakfast with exotic fruits and then met him in the lobby. Our three goals for the day were to see a floating market, the Tiger Temple, and the Kwai River bridge. Our first stop, the Damnoen Saduak floating market, which was about sixty-two miles and an hour’s drive southwest of Bangkok. Surin, however, had a couple stops in mind before that.
First we stopped at a coconut sugar “factory,” which had a few stations set up out front to demonstrate how different products were made. The coconut sugar process is a pretty cool one. First they take the coconut seed pods and hack them from the tree, hanging them in bamboo tubes for a set amount of time to allow the liquid to drip from them. Then they boil that liquid until it turns thick and dollop the thick liquid into small saucers that are covered with a kind of cheesecloth or something similar. The result is a wonderful candy much like maple candy but with a much more subtle sweetness. This small pavilion also showed other uses of the coconut, such as scraping out the meat inside for various uses, as well as the wood from both the coconut and the tree itself for carving into an assortment of tools and trinkets. We managed to shop for a bit there, buying unique items (or refraining from buying things, as the case was for me) and admiring the handicrafted work that the people had created. 
Surin ushered us back into the car and off we went to the Damnoen Saduak floating market, which was an absolutely awesome adventure. First you arrive and walk through a long hall of very insistent vendors. One woman grabbed my arm and wrapped one of her lovely scarves around me, chattering prices and special price drops just for me. It was actually hard to give her back the scarf! Another woman snaked her arm through mine to show me her shirts. I have a hard time ignoring these people because it feels rude, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. If you give them even a polite smile and say no, they never stop! Finally we made it out to the canal and bam! There was the floating market. Jan’s first words upon seeing it was, “Wow, rush hour on the 
river!” It truly was, too. Boats going opposite directions filled the width of the canal, with the floating shopkeepers using cleverly shaped hooks to pull boats closer to their goods. There was fruit and cooked food, clothes and Buddhas and postcards and shirts, bracelets and toys and magnets. Anything! Everything! There were several motorboats (called long-tail boats because the motors stick out far behind them) as well as hand rowed boats. We took a boat that was rowed and began our tour of the markets.
I bought only one thing, which was really tough for me. It’s a collection of about twenty different kinds of
I bought only one thing, which was really tough for me. It’s a collection of about twenty different kinds of
spices, which I thought would be fun to bring with me as I couchsurf or maybe stay in hostels that allow cooking. Jeff had gotten the last set at the coconut sugar factory, and I was able to use the price he’d gotten to bargain my spices down from 750 baht to 250 baht (about $20USD to $8USD). I was very proud of myself, but later Surin got yet a third set of spices for Jan for just 100 baht! Anyway, we all had a wonderful time taking it all in, admiring wares and avoiding people’s insistence that we buy their goods.
“Yes madame, chopsticks for 500 baht! 400 baht! Ok, madame, 350 for you, special price!”
“Lady, yes, shirt for you! Beautiful for you! You must have, give me just 1200 baht! Ma’am! LADY!”
Geez. It got to be a bit much but we all had a lot of fun. There were also a few men with huge snakes wrapped around them. For a fee, we could hold the snake and take pictures. None of us tried it, though I did take a picture of one guy who tried to get me to pay him 50 baht for the privilege. Luckily, we were floating off along the river already. By the end of our canal ride, Jeff and Jan had several bags full of wonderful goodies to bring home. We found Surin eating some fried bananas, which he offered for us to taste, and then we were off to the next attraction.
One thing I forgot to mention. Before we got on our boat to start shopping, we were walking through the pier shops and I managed to twist my ankle a bit when I didn’t look where I was going and half stepped over a downward stair. Luckily it was just one step, but down I went, feeling almost like it was in slow motion as my ankle folded, then my leg, and then plop! There I was, in a pile on the floor. My ankle was sore but seemed to be working just fine, so we headed out to the boats.
Once we left he floating market, Surin had another surprise stop for us: a handicraft showroom, where works of wood workers were on display. These were magnificent things, teak or rosewood carved or crafted into the most amazing three dimensional pictures or objects. There were, of course, many carved Buddhas, but also all sorts of animals and platters and murals. Out front of the showroom was an entire pavilion of wood-workers with their tools, working on projects so that we could see how they did everything. It was really pretty amazing, the things they could do with their chisels and hammers!
At the showroom I sat down for awhile because my ankle was bothering me. I stretched and prodded it, checking for swelling or bruising, but nothing showed up and soon I was up and about again, admiring all the beautiful woodwork. Not long after that, Surin ushered us out (after Jeff bought a beautiful piece) and we were off to the Tiger Temple. None of us (except Surin) realized how far a drive it was, so for the next hour and a half we all talked about all things Thai. I actually fell asleep for quite awhile, being suddenly tired for no reason at all.
The tiger temple was a little disconcerting. It’s really a wildlife refuge for all kinds of animals, but since the last 1990s has begun a tiger rescue program. It’s still in its infancy, apparently, with no successful releases into the wild yet, but we ran into several volunteers who were very positive about the future of the program. There was no real temple that we saw, but of wildlife and tigers, we saw plenty. The tigers we could pose by were understandably chained, but it was still a bit sad to see them, lazy and magnificent and chained. It was pretty scary to kneel behind them and touch them, although the staff and volunteers all urged us to. We also saw a peacock, some huge boars, dogs, cats and a few other animals. The experience was less incredible than I’d hoped, but still pretty neat. I would like to do some research to find out how well this tiger restoration project is received world-wide.
Our next drive was yet another hour drive away, but we passed the time and soon arrived at the Kwai River bridge, which is something like 100 meters upriver of the where the original was once built. We ate at a restaurant with Surin that was out on the river with a perfect view of the current bridge. While we ate some delicious prawns, soup and spicy
chicken, we discussed the history (which I was ignorant of, for the most part) and surroundings a bit. We were going to see the war cemetery and I think a museum, but we started to worry that we wouldn’t get back in time for Jan’s fitting for her dress. She had a flight out the next day, so she really did have to make the fitting that night and her appointment was for 6:30pm. After our lunch and dessert, it was 5pm and Surin ushered us into his car to head home.
Unfortunately, we hit some major traffic. Some flooding has been occurring north of and near Bangkok, and we actually ran into backed up traffic because water had gotten onto the main highway. Luckily, there were no accidents or major flooding, but it still took us over two hours to get back to the city. Again, luck was with us and the silk shop had stayed open for us. Jeff’s shirts were ready and fit him perfectly, Jan got fitted for her dress (which looked amazing on her) and I was able to try on the trousers of my suit. It needed a few slight alterations.
After the fittings, we headed back to the hotel, deciding to avoid the street traffic and take the sky train home. You can imagine that we were all completely beat once we arrived, but Jeff and I were hungry and so we went downstairs and ate in the hotel restaurant. My beef soup was pretty tasty and very satisfying, although my stomach didn’t seem pleased about an hour later.
It was a full day, but seeing the countryside and hearing Surin talk about his family, his views on the current political situation in Thailand, and a host of other topics was really worth it. Jan was out like a light when Jeff and I returned to the room, both because of the long day and because her trip home started with a flight at 11am the next morning.
Fantastic first full day in Thailand!
--Z
“Yes madame, chopsticks for 500 baht! 400 baht! Ok, madame, 350 for you, special price!”
“Lady, yes, shirt for you! Beautiful for you! You must have, give me just 1200 baht! Ma’am! LADY!”
Geez. It got to be a bit much but we all had a lot of fun. There were also a few men with huge snakes wrapped around them. For a fee, we could hold the snake and take pictures. None of us tried it, though I did take a picture of one guy who tried to get me to pay him 50 baht for the privilege. Luckily, we were floating off along the river already. By the end of our canal ride, Jeff and Jan had several bags full of wonderful goodies to bring home. We found Surin eating some fried bananas, which he offered for us to taste, and then we were off to the next attraction.
One thing I forgot to mention. Before we got on our boat to start shopping, we were walking through the pier shops and I managed to twist my ankle a bit when I didn’t look where I was going and half stepped over a downward stair. Luckily it was just one step, but down I went, feeling almost like it was in slow motion as my ankle folded, then my leg, and then plop! There I was, in a pile on the floor. My ankle was sore but seemed to be working just fine, so we headed out to the boats.
Once we left he floating market, Surin had another surprise stop for us: a handicraft showroom, where works of wood workers were on display. These were magnificent things, teak or rosewood carved or crafted into the most amazing three dimensional pictures or objects. There were, of course, many carved Buddhas, but also all sorts of animals and platters and murals. Out front of the showroom was an entire pavilion of wood-workers with their tools, working on projects so that we could see how they did everything. It was really pretty amazing, the things they could do with their chisels and hammers!At the showroom I sat down for awhile because my ankle was bothering me. I stretched and prodded it, checking for swelling or bruising, but nothing showed up and soon I was up and about again, admiring all the beautiful woodwork. Not long after that, Surin ushered us out (after Jeff bought a beautiful piece) and we were off to the Tiger Temple. None of us (except Surin) realized how far a drive it was, so for the next hour and a half we all talked about all things Thai. I actually fell asleep for quite awhile, being suddenly tired for no reason at all.
The tiger temple was a little disconcerting. It’s really a wildlife refuge for all kinds of animals, but since the last 1990s has begun a tiger rescue program. It’s still in its infancy, apparently, with no successful releases into the wild yet, but we ran into several volunteers who were very positive about the future of the program. There was no real temple that we saw, but of wildlife and tigers, we saw plenty. The tigers we could pose by were understandably chained, but it was still a bit sad to see them, lazy and magnificent and chained. It was pretty scary to kneel behind them and touch them, although the staff and volunteers all urged us to. We also saw a peacock, some huge boars, dogs, cats and a few other animals. The experience was less incredible than I’d hoped, but still pretty neat. I would like to do some research to find out how well this tiger restoration project is received world-wide. Our next drive was yet another hour drive away, but we passed the time and soon arrived at the Kwai River bridge, which is something like 100 meters upriver of the where the original was once built. We ate at a restaurant with Surin that was out on the river with a perfect view of the current bridge. While we ate some delicious prawns, soup and spicy
chicken, we discussed the history (which I was ignorant of, for the most part) and surroundings a bit. We were going to see the war cemetery and I think a museum, but we started to worry that we wouldn’t get back in time for Jan’s fitting for her dress. She had a flight out the next day, so she really did have to make the fitting that night and her appointment was for 6:30pm. After our lunch and dessert, it was 5pm and Surin ushered us into his car to head home. 
Unfortunately, we hit some major traffic. Some flooding has been occurring north of and near Bangkok, and we actually ran into backed up traffic because water had gotten onto the main highway. Luckily, there were no accidents or major flooding, but it still took us over two hours to get back to the city. Again, luck was with us and the silk shop had stayed open for us. Jeff’s shirts were ready and fit him perfectly, Jan got fitted for her dress (which looked amazing on her) and I was able to try on the trousers of my suit. It needed a few slight alterations.
After the fittings, we headed back to the hotel, deciding to avoid the street traffic and take the sky train home. You can imagine that we were all completely beat once we arrived, but Jeff and I were hungry and so we went downstairs and ate in the hotel restaurant. My beef soup was pretty tasty and very satisfying, although my stomach didn’t seem pleased about an hour later.
It was a full day, but seeing the countryside and hearing Surin talk about his family, his views on the current political situation in Thailand, and a host of other topics was really worth it. Jan was out like a light when Jeff and I returned to the room, both because of the long day and because her trip home started with a flight at 11am the next morning.
Fantastic first full day in Thailand!
--Z
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