THAILAND – Bangkok
The Frosties adventure of ‘Sensory overload’ Bangkok! We spent a few days in the City before travelling to Ko-Pha-Ngan, one of the Thai islands.
Three or four days in Bangkok are as much as any sane human being should have to bear. Don’t get me wrong I love it, but the mixture of the heavy pollution, in your face haggling, the poor condition of animals, constant scamming and the amazing gulf between the rich and the poor takes its toll on your sanity, not to mention your health… Funny how the body craves real air!
Gazza booked us into the ‘Marriott Resort & Spa Hotel’, and boy did he get brownie points for this choice, a beautiful colonial style hotel set in lush tropical gardens with great River views. Apart from being one of the plushest hotels we have ever stayed in, the staff were sensational and took ‘quality of service’ to a whole new level, highly professional and extremely friendly plus the location of the Hotel was ideal; easy access along the river, close by is Sanam Luang – the political capital of Bangkok which has many historic landmarks and buildings, including the Grand Palace, ancient temples, Wat Arun and the local canals. The area remains relatively free of modern architecture and has a real feel for “old Bangkok.”
I loved travelling up and down the famous Chao Phraya River, the King’s River as its commonly known. Although the smell from the River at times will knock spots off any stink bomb you may have experienced! A River that’s as brown as brown can be and does not take an expert to realize that it is seriously polluted with sewage and with who Knows what else that was once living! However it’s charming and alive with so many sights and sounds. A fascinating area of constant changing scenes, taxi boats gently transporting passengers, rice barges being towed laden down with goods and local trading boats, against a backdrop of glittering temples, modern warehouses and shanty towns. On the banks snotty-nosed kids play with empty plastic bottles, swim or urinate in the river; while mothers wash their rags in the brown waters.
Travelling around Bangkok was very easy, we loved to walk the streets and take in the smells and local hustle and bustle of day to day living, however the pollution was very high and it didn’t take long for me to start feeling like a large Buddha was sat on my chest!
We took our lives into our own hands on a few occasions and travelled by ‘Túk-túks’, a three wheeled pod like local taxi that whizzes around at dangerous speeds with large families of Thai in the back. I saw a few Túk-túks with eight or nine Thai in them; however Gary and I felt quite snug with just the two of us! The worst part of travelling in them apart from the insane Thai driving is again the pollution, other transport leaves trails of poisonous, black fumes in their wake, and so you do start to feel like your quickly dying from carbon monoxide poisoning. Still it’s a fun experience and allows you to hone your bartering skills with the driver before departure (never after).A problem with the Túk-túk’s is the drivers are very keen to take you to Silk and Gem merchants rather than your destination, and these places can be in remote locations where you run the risk of being abandoned if you don’t purchase anything, so for the most part we preferred to travel longer distances in air-con meter taxis which offered the bonus of clean air and a fair price.
Our first sight-seeing outing took us to the Grand Palace complex which was the official residence of the King of Thailand from the 18th century to early in the 20th century; his home was built in traditional Thai architecture mixed with European designs. Also there is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Keow) the most exotic Buddhist temple, and at the heart of the temple itself is a fabulous Buddha image, carved from one piece of Jade, which is the holiest and most revered of religious objects in Thailand today. My only complaint was that we couldn’t get very close to it and were not allowed to photograph it other than from outside, so if you want a good shot of it have a good lens and tripod with flash, we however had neither and therefore didn’t get any good shots.
We also saw the Royal Funeral Hall and the Royal Coronation Hall plus the ‘Chakri Mahaprasad Hall’, a building built in a style influenced by the Italian Renaissance. I loved the overall look of the entire complex which is a fantasy of glittering gold and wonderful coloured tiles, also the dotted huge mythological giants standing guard were really impressive.
Be warned that some Thai con-men can approach you before you find the entrance to the Grand Palace and inform you that the Palace is closed ‘Just for today’- but that he can take you to see another amazing sight i.e. more gem stores and silk merchants… very boring! In my very limited experience of Bangkok I have come to the conclusion that the majority of Thai are very polite and respectful, they wouldn’t dream of approaching you in the street. So my belief is that when a very friendly Thai stranger makes contact on the street, usually asking where you are from and then telling you he has family or a friend who lives there… yeah, yeah! Then asks you where you are going, you can pretty safely say that he is trying to con you into taking a ‘Tuk Tuk’ ride with his buddy to sell you stuff.
I always try and remember my fathers advice ‘Nothing in life is for free’, and ‘rarely will you find a true bargain’. I try not to be cynical, and I believe it’s important to remain open to opportunities and human contact, but just to do so with your guard up. Anyway wherever you go in the world were there are people, there will be con men. Thailand is no exception, Bangkok is after all the ‘City of Angels’ in a country known as ‘the land of smiles’, so for the most part our experience of the Thai was that they were warm, friendly and honest.
After the Grand Palace we visited ‘Wat Po’, which is the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok and houses the absolutely enormous ‘Reclining Buddha’. I have to say I was pretty blown away by this sight roughly 150 feet long and 50 feet high and covered from head to toe in gold leaf. I was especially taken with the fingerprint detail with mother of peal inlay and the massive toes, very Beautiful! Trying to take a good photograph that captured the whole Buddha was impossible though, at least for us.
After an exhausting day out we ended it by having some wonderful seafood in a nice little restaurant on the river washed down with a few Singhar lagers – the local beer! Both Gary and I loved the Thai food. Thai cuisine combines vegetable, fish, and other meats cooked with many kinds of spices such as garlic, chilli, lemongrass, coconut milk, tamarind, ginger, coriander, basil, and peanuts. The taste of Thai food is usually hot and spicy but very, very yummy. We ate at some lovely restaurants but some of the tastiest and most delicious Thai food we found in the streets off the stalls. ‘Tom Yum Kung’ being a favourite, a spicy shrimp soup and ‘Pad-Thai noodles’ fried with meats and vegetables.
Another day-trip took us to the ‘Damnoen Saduak floating market’ which is located in the Damnoen Saduak District, Ratchaburi Province, about 85 kms from Bangkok. The Market is an example of Thai’s old and traditional way of selling and buying goods from boats. Small wooden boats laden with fruits, flowers, and vegetables and other produce from nearby orchards and communities are sold at market time by Thai women blue farmer’s garb ‘mor hom’ and flat-topped conical hats called ‘muak ngob’.The floating markets are still important commercial centres for those living along the banks of ‘klongs’ with no road access but is mostly in my opinion a tourist attraction and a bit too commercialized at that, which would have degraded some of its original charm. It was still an interesting experience and I thoroughly enjoyed buying fried bananas, Rambutans and looking at all the spices. Gary gave the local women something to laugh at when he wore a sarong due to feeling cold in his shorts, they kept pointing and giggling and telling him it was something women wore.
Fruit in Thailand is amazing and offers a huge variety of familiar and more exotic fruit, it’s a real paradise for fruit lovers, and its worth being adventurous and sampling as many different kinds as possible as most are very yummy so the market was a good place to do that.
At night for the most part Gary and I were exhausted after schleping around the city all day, so we were happy to grab some food have a few relaxing drinks and crash out, however on a few nights we headed out and on one of those nights we went to the ‘Ratchadamnoen’ Stadium to watch the Muay Thai boxing – totally hard core! This is a Thai martial art that combines lethal kicks with furious punches, but while we watched on it looked like anything goes between the fighters who are fast and strong and lack mercy for their opponents. Matches consist of five three minute rounds with two minute intermissions between each round, the main rules of the game however were lost on us and how the winner was decided we were unsure, unless it was obvious and one was still horizontal… LOL!
The atmosphere in the stadium was almost as exciting as the matches themselves, what with the strong odour of Beer, Sweat, blood and Tiger Balm in the air, to the crazy chanting and screaming of the oddest animated gamblers I have ever seen. Looking around us we observed some really shady Thai characters, and the betting rituals looked bizarre, we felt conscious of body gestures in case we laid a bet by mistake; something tells me we would have being paying out in one way or another had we done so and lost! The whole night was a real smorgasbord for the senses.Oh, while I remember the Thai Royal anthem is played twice daily and every single person will stop in their tracks like a massive game of musical statues whilst it plays. Whether you are Thai or not the expectation is that you stand in silence during this, to not do it is met with hostility from the locals, particularly from officials… so be warned.
On another evening we had dinner on the Chao Phraya River aboard a beautiful restored rice barge. Apart from enjoying a traditional Thai meal it was a wonderful way to see the river at night and all the historical landmarks along the way. We both really enjoyed the starter which was called ‘Mieng Kam’, which is wine leaves wrapped into parcels with coconut, lime chilli and prawn in the centre, very hot but really nice. This was a very romantic dinner and we both really enjoyed the food and scenery, although I was glad I had brought a warm top as it got a little chilly.
We considered a trip to ‘Pat pong’, the infamous red-light district of Bangkok but in the end decided we could live without another red-light experience – seen one you have pretty much seen them all, plus I’d visited it before on a previous visit to Thailand and found it sleazy and hugely touristy, what with go-go bars and ping-pong balls and being offered everything from a small child to goat; it just wasn’t really our cup of tea.
We opted instead for Thai massages which were truly amazing, this tiny little Thai woman used her body and mine to manipulate and stretch my body and then using either her knee’s, elbows or feet put pressure on muscles that I didn’t even know existed! You find yourself doing a mad impersonation of a drooling Homer Simpson crossed with a very pained contortionist. By the end you feel five inches taller but without any bones in your body! It’s as though you have melted into a blissful pool. However you can start to feel quite bruised if you have too many… LOL!
Well that was Bangkok, four days of madness followed by a hunt for an asthma pump! We left for Ko-Pha-Ngan but due to some very unseasonable bad weather we wrote it off, and headed to Vietnam for more adventure instead.