We settled into Bangkok and called Swasedee Hotel our home for the next 7 nights. The room was nothing like we have been accustomed to up to this point. It was pretty much a small box we were living out of. There was just enough room for a double bed and a narrow walkway on the left to walk to the washroom which was even smaller. You couldn’t have a shower without getting everything else wet in there. Suffice to say we were not used to this but we decided to take it as it was one of the cleaner rooms we saw in Bangkok and after walking into around a dozen guest houses and not being able to find anything we wanted, we took it at 420 baht a night ($12.73 CDN).
Bangkok is the largest city in Thailand housing more than 7 million people and approximately 95% of Thais follow Theravada Buddhism, also known as ‘Lesser Vehicle’ Buddhism opposed to the more liberal Mahayana or ‘Greater Vehicle’ school of Buddhism. The primary difference between the faiths is that Theravada Buddhists believe every individual is responsible for their own enlightenment, while Mahayana Buddhists believe that society can work together to achieve enlightenment for all. In addition to being one of the liveliest and invigorating cities in Thailand, it is also one rich in history and religion. There are about 32,000 monasteries in Thailand and 200,000 monks, many of which have been ordained for life. An interesting fact I was not aware of is that ever male Thai is expected to spend time as a monk, usually between finishing school and marrying or starting a career. Traditionally, they would devote at least a year or more to monastic life, but nowadays most boys spend just three months doing this. Bangkok is nothing like I had imagined it would be and is a very cosmopolitan type city. As we were riding into the city on the bus, you could see large highways (4 lanes each side), bridges and toll booths and many, many tall skyscrapers and apartment buildings across the city.
Our first couple of days in Bangkok were all about soaking in the atmosphere that this capital city had to offer and in particular the most popular backpacker street in Bangkok, Khao San Road. This road along with a few neighboring streets were just packed full of tourists. Walking down the streets was almost like walking down the streets of Robson. The only Thais you saw were those selling food and merchandise at the sides of the streets. Along with the tourists, were many McDonalds, Burger Kings and Starbucks which made this part of Thailand a bit too touristy for us but it was a part of the entire atmosphere. Khao San Road is the “busiest” street of them all. When you first walk onto this street, you see loads and loads of signs all along the street and at night time, it’s something else. The neon colors of the signs and the hustle bustle of everyone walking about and all the vendors on the streets selling their goods is amazing.
One of my FAVORITE parts of Thailand so far (and Chris’ as well) is the FANTASTIC food you can get here. The best part is that they sell it on the sides of the streets in small stalls and everything gets put into a small plastic baggy. You can get everything you could imagine and you just walk down the streets all night, eating little bits here and there for next to nothing. There are skewers of pork, chicken or beef for 10 baht each ($0.30 CDN), pad thai for 25 baht ($0.75 CDN), baggies of watermelon, pineapple, papaya etc for 10 baht each ($0.30 CDN), yummy banana pancakes with chocolate for 25 baht each ($0.75 CDN), huge pieces of bbq’d chicken for 30 baht each ($0.91 CDN) and the list goes on and on and on….and of course we can’t forget the drinks. A mega large size of Chang beer (a tasty Thailand beer we’ve been accustomed to) costs you 45 baht ($1.36 CDN) and cocktails of any kind cost you 60 baht ($1.81 CDN). Best part is you can walk around the streets drinking alcohol while you eat and shop. They have small stalls set up along the streets with some plastic chairs for you to sit on and some of the more creative Thais sell booze from their old Volkswagen vans where they have opened the top and have folks sit on stools along the side of the van and he serves booze out of his van.
We weren’t planning on staying too long in the big city but our short trip ended up being 7 nights, a few too many days for us but we made the best of it and filled our days with bits of sightseeing here and there.
We arrived in Bangkok on a Saturday night and right away on the Sunday decided to hit the daddy of all markets – the Chatuchak Weekend Market. This gigantic market only takes place on the weekends but is one of the largest in Thailand as it has a staggering 9000 vendors selling everything from live rabbits to hill tribe handicrafts to pot plants, crockery and hardware. They estimate that approximately 200,000 people mob the market every Saturday and Sunday and boy were they right. We arrived at the market not sure where to go or what direction to head so we picked a point and went from there. There are literally stalls after stalls after stalls of vendors. Note to all my girls, we could do some damage here if I were on an actual vacation and not traveling around the world for a year. Perhaps a mini trip in a couple of years!! Luckily the stalls are all covered so you are out of the direct sunlight but with the huge numbers of people and the very narrow lanes to get from store to store, it made for a very sweaty and long day but one I enjoyed as we were able to get some great stuff and again my haggling skills were put to the test. For those who are traveling to Thailand, some advice when shopping, definitely try to hit the weekend market as you can get much better deals here than in Bangkok and especially on Khao San Road. There are tons of vendors here as well but they are overpriced and are not as willing to bargain, that’s probably because they know not everyone gets out to the weekend market and therefore end up getting what they want price wise.
A few days later, we decided to visit some landmark sites in Bangkok which included the Grand Palace, the Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Wat Po (home of Thailand’s largest reclining Buddha).
Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew
The Grand Palace is an area of sacred ground which was consecrated in 1782, the very first year of Bangkok rule. This area houses not only the Grand Palace (where the King stays when he visits Bangkok) but also Thailand’s most famous monastery, Wat Phra Kaew – The Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
Both buildings were incredibly grand with the gold inlay and the statues of mythical beings. It was a very large area which you could explore quite thoroughly. The only place you could not go into was the Royal Palace.
The Wat Phra Kaew houses the Buddha made of jasper quartz which dates back to at the least the 15th century. The Buddha has three sets of golden robes which are ceremonially changed by the King (if he is in town) to mark the changing seasons. Usually you are able to go inside the Wat Phra Kaew to get a closer look at the Emerald Buddha but as luck should have it, we went on a day when the Buddha’s robes were to be changed and therefore the inside of the temple was closed to the public to prepare for the changing of the robes.
Wat Pho
Wat Pho is Thailand’s largest and oldest wat founded in the 16th century. The most famous sight here is the large gold Reclining Buddha which is 46 meters long. As soon as we walked into the wat, I was amazed at the grandeur of this Buddha. It kept going and going and going. It was quite the site and one of those things which you have to be there to actually appreciate it. It was quite difficult to get a photo that could capture the grandness and beauty of this Buddha, but we were able to get a few shots for everyone else to enjoy.
The remaining days in Bangkok consisted of a few trips to the Chinese Embassy, a few bus trips to the local shopping centre and more shopping.
Transportation in Bangkok is readily available. They have the following all with their pros and cons:
Metered Taxis – Air conditioned and fast but ensure you tell the taxi driver to put on the meter as a lot of times they will not put it and then ask for a bogus amount of cash at the end of the trip. Many taxi drivers will tell you their meter is broken, politely tell them you will change taxis then and all of a sudden their meter will miraculously work again. Funny how those things work. Taxis may not be the best choice if you are heading into the main downtown area of the city as traffic in Bangkok is at most of the times, at a standstill. If you get stuck in one of these jams, that meter will add up pretty quick.
Tuk Tuks – Tuk tusk are a great way to zip around the town but be prepared to haggle as they usually quote you a ridiculous price to start. If you do decide to haggle and lower the price, be prepared to make a “pit stop” along the way. Whether it’s a jewelry store or a travel agency, tuk tuk drivers get some sort of commission for bringing tourists into certain places as mentioned above. We did this on one occasion on the way to the weekend market and stopped into a travel agency to ask some questions and then decided to leave as their prices were way too over priced. The driver still got something but not as much as he would have if we had booked something I’m assuming. If you have some spare time on our hands and aren’t in a rush, it’s a nice way to help out the local tuk tuk drivers.
Bus – The bus system in Thailand is very good. Buses come quite often and there are three classes of buses you can take. Each class is dependent on the color of the bus and the prices vary depending on the type of bus. You can hop onto a regular public bus, an air conditioned bus which makes many stops or an air conditioned bus which makes very limited stops depending on where the passengers would like to be dropped off. The fares range from 6 baht ($0.18 CDN) per person up to 16 baht ($0.48 CDN) per person.
Sky Train – The BTS Skytrain is a great way to travel (although we never had a chance to do it) as it soars above the traffic jams and is air conditioned. It is fast, efficient and cheap. Only problem was that it did not reach the Khao San Road area where we were hence we never had a chance to take it.
We enjoyed our time in Bangkok but definitely found 7 days way TOO LONG to be here. 4 days would be perfect but due to our visas being processed and some additional weekend market shopping that had to be done; our stay there was a bit extended. We’re glad we had the time though as a few days we were able to meet up with our English friends we had met in Vietnam on our Mekong River tour, Louise and Mark and we also met Marvin, a man from Vancouver who lives only 4 blocks away from Chris, talk about a small world.
We are now ready to head to Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. Although this is a large city, it is known to have more of a slower pace and is not half as hectic as Bangkok. Chiang Mai like Bangkok offers tourists many temples to visit and lots of shopping but unlike Bangkok, it also offers more outdoor adventures such as rock climbing, elephant riding, treks through the forest, bamboo rafting and white water rafting. We are looking forward to a few days away from Bangkok and can’t wait to see what Chiang Mai has to offer us….
Hope everyone is doing well in their own parts of the world…happy belated St Patty’s Day everyone…
3 comments:
Okay, was the picture of the deep fried cockroaches really necessary? That is DISGUSTING and I truly hope that neither of you tried one. Who would eat that? A major reason why I never thought of visiting Thailand.
However the major sites and the shopping does sound intriguing and I hope that you did get some shoppping done Ravy!
Hope you guys are having a great time and I am thinking and hoping that my personal e-mail is on it's
way ;)
Miss ya both, Nat ;)
Hey guys, we really haven't had much of a chance to check out the blog lately....but, it looks great. The both of you look really refreshed and relaxed...don't get used to this lifestyle. You have to come back home...work, raise children and pay a mortgage till the end of time. Hope all is well and continue having a blast.
Cheers,
Karm
the food markets look awesome!! i'd have a go at the beetles and roaches and whatever else they had. definitely the fried squid! ...mmmmmm fried squid... (insert your own Homer sounds here)
what's with all the shopping? i now know why Rav agreed to go on the year long trip. it's one big shopping-spree.
anyhow, i won't tell you to have fun cuz you're doing it anyways, just have a cold one for me and eat some weird stuff too. later.
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