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Thailand |
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| Bangkok, Sep 8-23 |
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Bangkok is much cleaner
than I expected, and much, much larger than I imagined. The Thai people are
very polite and very respectful. Lon had been here 20 years ago, so this is
his second time in Bangkok. We spent an entire day at the Chatuchak Market. This is an enormous
market and it's only open on the weekends. They sell everything here ...from
opium pipes to baby alligators . I
finally broke down and bought some new clothes. After 6 months of wearing the
same thing, I felt justified. In addition to new clothes, I also got some
new sandals ...my old pair finally disintegrated. I also decided to take
advantage of the cheap tailors and excellent Thai silk ...I'm having a skirt and
jacket made. I guess this is the part where I spend all the money we're
saving on hotels and food in South-East Asia.
We got a good tip from Tim and Lisa (we met them in Fiji) and stayed at the New Siam Guest House . We found out they had just finished a new guest house (New Siam II) ... a mid to high end backpacker's place. New Siam II is probably the nicest guest house in Bangkok. We've stayed here everytime we return to Bangkok (and always look forward to it - feels like home now). It's in a quiet area just off of the crowded-backpacker area on Khao San Road. We've been using the public transportation to get around- bus, tuk-tuk, and boat taxi .
We
spent a few hours one day at the Grand
Palace. They don't call it the "Grand" Palace for nothing! This place
was amazing. There are various orante
buildings and structures. It almost felt like we were on a Hollywood movie set. It's also called Wat Phra Kaew (temple of the emerald
buddha). We did go inside the temple and see the emerald buddha. It was
interesting to find out that the monks change the "dress" of the buddha
according to seasons.
We did a full day tour of the Damnoensaduak Floating Market, the Death Railway
(bridge on the river Kwai), and Phra Pathom Chedi. The Floating Market was
exactly the image of Thailand I always had ...long wooden boats piled high
with exotic fruits. The traffic
on these narrow rivers was tremendous ...our boat collided several times with
other boats.
The Death Railway Bridge and cemetery was impressive. This bridge was
made famous by the film "Bridge on
the River Kwai" . This bridge was a strategic part of the Death
Railway to Burma during World War II. The Japanese soilders made prisoners
of war (mostly British, Australian, Dutch, and Thai) labor under harsh
conditions to build this railway bridge. Many POW's died. Lon and I sweat
like pigs just walking out onto the bridge ...the heat and humidity is
oppressive. We can't imagine what it would have been like to do hard labor
under these conditions. A cemetery
for the POW's is located 4 kilometers away. Walking around the graves and
reading the headstones was an eerie reminder of how precious freedom is ...so
much so that people are willing to sacrifice their life for it. The
message really hits home during this time of tragedy in our country (we
visited this site on 14 Sep., 2001, just 2 days after the attack on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon).
The Phra Pathom Chedi is the largest
Buddhist struture in Thailand. It's a large orange tiled pagoda ...not the
prettiest of structures (IMHO), but it had some beautiful statues and
buddhas. It was here that Lon and I had a brief conversation with a Buddhist
Monk. When he found out we were Americans, he went on to tell us that he
hoped the U.S. bombs the terrorists and does away with the Taliban. We
couldn't believe we were hearing these words come out from the mouth of a
Buddhist Monk?!?
Walking around Bangkok we came across all kinds of markets. There was one place in particular (just across from Wat Pho) that sold all kinds of dried seafood. The smell was a bit too much for Lon, but I hung around and took some photos of all the neat dried sea-critters for sale.
Bangkok has all kinds of entertainment. One night we saw the Calypso Cabaret show (not what you think - no nudity)... it's quite popular (especially among Japanese tourist). The unique thing about this show is that all the beautiful women are actually men (or at least, they used to be). These women are a testament to the marvels of modern day surgery. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera to this show!
We also went
to a traditional Thai dance and
dinner show. And, of course, you can't visit Bangkok without a walk through
the Patpong area (red light district).
This area is actually quite small and very touristy. The best part about
this area is sitting down and people watching. Some of the vendors are
pretty funny ...they try to get you come inside their bars - which tout shows
of amazing anatomical feats.
Temples?!?
Oh yeah, we saw temples - or wats (as they're called here). We went to Wat
Arun and Wat Pho. These temples were actually very beautiful (guess I
haven't gotten Buddha'd-out yet). Wat
Arun is a temple made from ceramics ...some parts were actually
made from broken dishes. When we finished our tour inside Wat Arun, I got to
dress up in a traditional Thai dance costume and pose for pictures (it was
fun!).
Wat Pho is Thailand's oldest and largest temple. It's probably best known for it's reclining Buddha figure. The reclining Buddha is under restoration, so we couldn't get any good photos of the entire figure. It's so large, I doubt that we could have gotten a photo of the entire Buddha anyway. There were plenty of other buidlings and buddhas in the Wat Pho.
| region | lodging | $US / night | rating | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangkok | New Siam I | $9.0 |  | Clean and quiet |
| New Siam II | $12.0 |  | New, clean, comfortable |