Monday 29 October 2012

One Night in Bangkok Makes A Hard Man Humble




One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble, but three nights in Bangkok can harden the humble man, I'd say. I got a little spoiled in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, a couple of tourist-friendly destinations. Bangkok is not for the naive or the faint of heart.

It's not for the naive because, unless you plan to hide in restaurants and your hotel room, touts at most tourist attractions WILL take advantage of you in every way you can imagine if you let them, and sometimes, even if you don't. I don't hold it against them, and I don't think any other visitors should either -- it's a living -- but if you're going to be here, its better to be ready for it; someone will most likely try to scam you at some point -- many points -- during your trip.


It's not for the faint of heart because unlike Singapore and KL, you won't easily find comforts from home here. If you can't get down with eating things that will surely test your palate, you might get hungry at times. I've been ok and enjoyed most of what I ate, but I grew up eating tripe and boiled pig skin... Then again, there's definitely tamer stuff out there for those of you who can't stomach the gamier animal bits in their food. Rice with omelette is pretty much everywhere there is a food market and is suitable for any palate.

Now, I know there are many of you out there who have visited and loved Thailand (I love it too) and you may disagree with my appraisal... But this blog is a place where I intend to be totally honest and this has been my experience. I don't know... Maybe it's because I am traveling alone and look like an easy target for the scammers... Maybe I haven't visited the districts where there is a McDonalds on every corner -- surely, I haven't seen all of Bangkok.

In any case...

If you're an adventurous traveler and can deal with stuff like this, then Bangkok will reward you. It's a strange blend of ancient and modern, like I've observed throughout my SE Asia travels so far, but in a much more overt way. There are centuries old temples nestled awkwardly into urban or residential areas. There are communities carrying on centuries old ways of living, modern only in their methods of transportation and communication. There are restaurants so intimate and romantic, and with breathtaking views, and yet, curiously, barely known to tourists -- I thought these only existed in books and movies. Bangkok is as exotic as you've probably imagined -- maybe even more than your mind can compute. It will truly sweep you away from your regular life in that way that probably lured you to the open road in the first place.


My first stop was Bangkok's Grand Palace which was home to the King of Siam and some government entities from 1782 until as recently as 1925, just a few years prior to the abolition of monarchies in Thailand. This is where I got my first taste of Thailand's less-than-legitimate touts. I was greeted across the street by one who was friendly enough and told me it was the wrong time of day to visit... There was a religious service that would be going on until 2:00 PM, 3 hours later and until then, tourists were not allowed to visit the grounds. Sounded reasonable enough. And he didn't try to sell me anything. So I took him at his word and began walking down the street as mulling over what exactly I would do to kill 3 hours before I could enter the site.


I was stopped by another tout who reiterated what the earlier man said, and then promptly started telling me about other sites which she'd be happy to arrange a tour of for me for only $... I stopped her. I realized what was going on and walked away, but let me tell you, they are very persistent -- she followed me for about a half block before she finally realized I was not going to buy her tour. Before I reached the entrance, I saw another man standing at the gate and asked him of what they were saying was true, assuming he was an employee. He nodded yes, it was all true and waved me on signaling me not to enter, but something rang false about the man, so I entered anyway. No one stopped me, so I proceeded to the ticket booth. I stood in line and no one advised me to leave. Finally, I got up to the ticket lady and asked about the alleged religious service. She assured me they were lying, and I was welcome to buy a ticket and visit the grounds.

I won't spend any more time talking about the "scams", but this one I thought was interesting because of the elaborateness... Multiple touts working together... It'd be almost deserving of my admiration were I not almost their mark. But bigger picture: the scams are harmless, designed only to part the naive with their money. At no point have I felt threatened or in any kind of danger -- I just want to be clear about that.

YouTube Video

Anyway, it turned out they weren't exactly "lying". There WAS a religious service going on, but it didn't mean tourists weren't allowed to visit. If anything, the service added a lot to the experience. I felt a little bad about intruding, but they didn't seem to mind and mostly just ignored the visitors. We surely did not ignore them. Their chants filled the palace from end to end. They were really beautiful -- melodic, rhythmic, spiritual. They had me tingling just like I'm sure other visitors were tingling as well. It was really special.



The palace, like most historical sites, was a delight. Thailand allows access to visitors on a level that I haven't seen often during my travels. It both excites me, and concerns me. While I don't love to be kept at a distance when I'm seeing ruins, I also understand that letting tourists like me walk all over the place will hasten their deterioration.




Later, I visited another temple -- Wat Arun. Built in the 17th Century, Wat Arun is impeccably preserved. It appears from a distance to be a massive stone structure, but upon closer inspection, almost every inch of the structure is covered by pieces of ceramic which I understand to have been recovered from pots, bowls, plates and other wares that were thrown out by Chinese traders.



I toured the Khlongs (Thai canals) of Bangkok, still used by the locals to this day. I worried a bit about Malaria, but learned from the CDC website that Malaria is non-existent in Bangkok, so I'm in the clear. But even with Malaria on my mind, the experience of traversing the khlongs -- stilt-homes nestled closely along the banks of the river, locals commuting on the rivers on their boats packed with wares for the market place -- was otherworldly.



I talked a little about a intimate and romantic restaurant I ate at. My boat tour of the Khlongs ended at a pier on the bank of Chao Praya river which cuts through Bangkok. As I stepped off the boat, I looked up at a sign that read fresh coffee. Beneath it sat a couple quietly admiring the view. They looked so relaxed that I had to visit the restaurant. I made my way up to the second floor and seated myself at the open table with the best view, Wat Arun not far away on the other side of Chao Praya. I had heard that Wat Arun was absolutely breathtaking when lit up at night, so I ordered dinner and stayed for the sunset. It was worth the wait.



This was my view as I dined on my Thai Curry Chicken, bones in -- actually one of my easier meals here... It was delicious. But what I most enjoyed was the intimacy and romance. I felt privileged to be sitting there... This amazing spot in the city -- unheralded by any guide books or Travel Channel shows. And for that moment, it was all mine to enjoy. It was one of my favorite moments of my trip so far, one in which I've had many wonderful moments.

On the advice of my friend Mark who visited Thailand this time last year, I decided to visit nearby Ayutthaya, about an hour outside of Bangkok. I caught a third-class ticket for a train at Bangkok train station. 50 cents USD vs. about $15 USD for an air conditioned car. It actually wasn't so bad; the car stayed fairly cool since all of the windows were down and there are fans running throughout the car.




Like I said, ruins are always a delight, and Ayutthaya has the most ruins I've ever seen in a single city (I've never been to Rome -- it's on my list). And it was nice to venture a bit further out into Thailand. Now, I do feel quite conflicted about this, but I rode an elephant in Ayutthura, pictured at the beginning of this blog post. But it was a uniquely Thailand experience, so I decided to go ahead and do the elephant ride.

I visited a few more sites before catching a van pool back from Ayutthaya train station with some other travellers back to Bangkok. This is getting really long, so I'll just share the photos with you all and let you get on with your lives. :)










Alright, y'all. I'm going to pack and go to bed now... I'm flying to Chiang Mai, Thailand tomorrow. Thanks to all of you have been following me and especially those of you who left comments. :) Keep them coming! I really love reading them. Talk to you again soon.

Location:พิษณุโลก 2,Dusit,Thailand

9 comments:

  1. Love the ruin second from the bottom! Don't think I've even seen architecture like that. Everything looks Amazing over there Don. So glad you get to experience it :)

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  2. Yeah, I'm having a blast (despite my grumblings this morning -- thanks for letting me vent and for giving me perspective. You helped..). It's all very surreal so far... Like I'm imagining all this. :)

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  3. Eldest Brother here - your writings make for good reading. This real-time diary is marvelous; in my day we had to make do with goose-quill pens and parchment from sheep that we slaughtered, fresh, for each other... get off my lawn! Durned kids...

    Looking forward to future installments but please... don't change your stride to make them

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  4. Hey Bird... what a terrific trip so far! The writing, pictures & avi/flv are amazing. Can't wait to read more adventures. Remember one thing, if the locals laugh at Binh for eating their "special" local cuisine... assume it's monkey poop. Old geezer wisdom lives, by golly!

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  5. Thanks for reading, goobers! It's nice to be on the road and writing again... :)

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  6. Heh Don,

    Way to with the Ace award for our region, then skip town. Did they let you know before you left?

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  7. Lol, no, I learned about it a couple days into my trip; Brook sent me a FB message. I'm honored!

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  8. I don't know why, but I was getting nervous while reading about the scammers at the Grand Palace! I have a trusting nature (naive!), and I would probably be suckered by the touts. Sounds like you're doing fine at weeding out the scams, so that's good. Congrats on the ACE award! Trace

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