Welcome to Bangkok! We closed Ruby down for the winter so we could jet set off to farther lands. Neither of us had ever been to Asia, so we picked a few destinations in that general direction and got on the plane Jan 10. It’s a tough slog flying 16 hours in the dark…my mind had a hard time comprehending the perpetual midnight chase on this flight. Also, who can sit and/or sleep that long?
We landed without issue and after 1.5 hours to get through immigration, gathered our bags and headed out of the airport. We had done some YouTube research and found out the best way to get into the city to your accommodation is either via GRAB app or the state train system. We opted for the train, cause why not. Our initial reaction to the train system was very clean, quiet and efficient. We got off on our stop, then navigated the upper walkway system down to the sidewalk, across a major intersection to the water canal ferry, got off on the next stop then had a 10 minute walk to the airbnb. We managed this with luggage and we were pretty proud of ourselves we didn’t get lost or have a nervous breakdown!
Luckily we were able to get an early check in so we unpacked, showered, changed and headed out to see what was around. Todd found a neat lunch spot around the corner – our first intro to street food, where the lady washed the dishes on the street. We didn’t venture far, cause we were exhausted and t was time for a nap! We slept a solid 3 hours and by 7 we were up and ready to track down some dinner.
We tried to take the canal ferry, but it stops running by 7:30/8:00 in the direction we needed to go. So we headed to the train station, where we almost got on the train in the wrong direction….but figured it out just in time. Our destination was the Pratunum Night market…we stumbled across a couple of booths none with street food then doubled back and tried another street where we thought we could find something, but cart after cart had nothing that seemed GF for me or looked like a dinner food. It was at this time I said to Todd, I feel like I’m in the washing machine on the spin cycle…there is so much going on and so many people…I don’t know what to eat or where to go. It was A LOT….ALOT of people, A LOT of carts, A LOT of noise, A LOT of smells. We finally came across a place to eat and then immediately went back home….we needed our beds. Lights out.
Spent the next day touring around the streets in our area to find out what was near us. Walked to a ‘supermarket’ to find some healthy snacks and such. On our way found the nightlife zone one street over from our condo.
Figured we should also go for a Thai massage or a massage in general. We both did some googling and after lunch walked over to a massage parlour that seemed good…not sure how you judge these places. We picked relaxing oil massage….Jill’s was fine and by fine if you have heard my Turkish bath story it wasn’t that bad but wasn’t great. Todd has another story to tell on his….next time you see him, ask him about it!
On the Wednesday we took the canal boat 16 stops to the Vejthani hospital for some medical tourism. Todd LOVES this boat service. And it’s super cheap way to get around. Our condo is right in the canal so it’s a no brainer for us to get around. It took a few hours to get Todd’s testing done and then walked to the mall for lunch. We read that some of the food in the food courts are as good or better than street food. We were overwhelmed with the food court choices of food, drinks, desserts …. But everything we ate was delicious! We did end up at a restaurant close to home that night for dinner where Todd declared the best Pad Thai of his life (only to be punted to the curb, when he tried Mae Thum Pad Thai!)
We opted to do a full day on the hop on hop off bus where our strategy was to take it for the full loop to see what we wanted to check out in more detail. We learned that Bangkok, Thailand officially became this name in 1939, it used to be called Saigon, Siam. Chinatown in Bangkok is the largest one in the world, so we got off at this stop to check it out a bit more. The key thing we noted was many unrecognizable food items, also bugs on a stick, intestines, and really weird looking beige flat things, gross smells, moth balls….it was a lot going on and all your senses were on high alert! For anyone who remembers the smell of moth balls, add that to the smell of raw meat or fish, and piss and bbq and all other weird smells you can imagine. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
One of the things Todd really wanted to see here in Bangkok was a Muay Thai fight. We bought tickets for the Friday Night Knockout event. The Rajadamnen Stadium is the original and oldest stadium…basically Muay Thai was invented here in Bangkok. There were 7 bouts – for the women they fight 3 rounds for 2 minutes and men fight 3 rounds for 3 minutes. There were Thai, Danish, Chinese, American and Canadians fighting. The stadium was almost Las Vegas style with LED screens, a live Thai band and a very animated announcer. All in all, we were glad we went, it was a cool experience.
By day 6, we were both looking for something not so “city”….we found a huge park down by the new mega mall. This time we got to try out the subway and it was VERY easy to figure out. The pay system is not like home, you pay for how far you are going and they issue you a token. The token is swiped to allow you to get on the train and then when you get off your stop, you deposit your token in the exit gate. No screwing up your stop or you can’t get our of the station. The subway is all air conditioned, very clean and there is a very organized queuing system for getting onto the train. Everyone on the platform lines up in the queue and waits their turn to get on. We got to our stop and it was pouring rain. So we pit stopped for mango sticky rice at the mall while we waited out the storm. 20 minutes later we were checking out the park and watching the monitor lizards – they are way smaller than the ones in Australia! We eventually made it back to the Central Park for dinner at one of the 17 Michelin rated good court options. Both Todd and I reported excellent food from 2 of them.
Our last full day in Bangkok started out early, and back on the subway to get to the Grand Palace. Before we left the condo we had to make sure we were dressed appropriately to include covered shoulders, knees and ankles. A quick 45 mins later we were heading inside the Grand Palace fort. The Palace is located on the Chaka Phraya River and was built in 1782 for King Rama I. We walked around the grounds, inside the chapel and checked out the golden tiled buildings….it was all so incredibly beautiful and indescribable. The one building we really wanted to see was the Emerald Buddha….but it was closed due to some ceremonial hoo-ha going on.
Probably the hottest day we have had and we were walking around in full leg coverings….it was time for lunch and some A/C. A delicious lunch and rest by the pier before we checked out the Museum Siam. By 2, it was time to go home and shower….we were both so hot and sticky.
Here are a few pics, with no music or words to describe any of them (I’m using my IPAD instead of my laptop, so options are limited!) Bangkok
We depart tomorrow for Camobia for 10 days, but here are our thoughts on Bangkok:
- There are 17 million people here….that’s a lot!
- It’s the most international city either of us have been too and the variety of all peoples nationalities and languages was very cool
- Surprised by the organization of certain things (rail, metro) and the Thai people are real rule followers
- The amount of and different types of mass transportation was impressive. There are so many people being moved everywhere all the time.
- Surprised at the civilized public bathrooms (although we spent a lot of time in tourist areas)
- Thai people are so nice, kind, thankful, polite, quiet people.
- If you can’t find something you like, there is always Pad Thai.
- The food options really opened our eyes that there is more to Thai than Penang Curry!
- A great intro to Asia, but prefer smaller less busy areas