Hey I'm finally back to the keyboard, writing another post. This is about my recent journey to Thailand, which I thought was a wonderful experience in many ways. It was the first recreational trip I have taken to another country of any considerable duration. I learned about what I like and dislike as a traveler. I learned about the contrasts between a place which is designed for its residents (Bangkok, Prachuap) and a place that is designed for tourists (Railay Beach). And best of all, I learned about Thai people and their culture.
We flew from Macau to Bangkok at 2pm on Friday, February 27. Flying from Macau saves a few bucks, but I really don;t think it's worth it due to the hassle involved. I had to take a hydrofoil from Sheung Wan, HK to the Macau ferry, then a bus and taxi to get to the airport. Shit. I was also exhausted from a wicked awesome tram party from the night before.
On arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport, I parted ways with the crew I was with from Hong Kong and met up with good old Daan Stevenson. I got some money from the ATM and promptly left my card in the machine. Luckily a security guard tracked me down and returned it to me. This is a good example of behavior form what Bryan Moses would call "Common Sense Boy."
We took a bus to our hostel, which was located along Sukhumvit Road, a main thoroughfare of Bangkok. The traffic was so horrendous that the trip took about 2 hours. Shit. When the bus stopped and the driver disappeared into some building (WTF), Daan and I decided to walk the remaining few blocks to our place. Along the way, we got our first taste of Thai street food: Fried Bananas, Chicken Satay, and sticky rice. Amazingly good and about 1 USD per person. If Thailand could be summed up in four words they would be "cheap and delicious food."
We soon turned the corner onto Sukhumvit Soi 38. In the Thai address system, sidestreets are identified as a numbered "Soi" of a main thoroughfare. This sidestreet was awesome. It was packed with some of the cheapest and most awesome streetfood around. Pad Thai, sticky rice with mango, Thai omelets, satay, fruit smoothies, banana rotee pancakes, you name it. One of our favorites was a Pakistani dude who whipped up some amazing banana/chocolate/condensed milk/egg pancakes for USD .60 a pop. w00t!
After checking into our dorm room and taking showers, we headed out for some of that awesome food and for a massage. We got a really awesome massage a couple blocks down for about 10 USD. Later in the evening we decided to go to a bar nearby that another traveler recommended. We took the skytrain one stop towards downtown. The skytrain is a relatively recently built elevated rail system that works quite well. When we arrived at the "bar" district, however, all we found were brothels with scantily clad women out front shouting at us in drawn out, nasally voices: "Sawadee kaaaaaa! Massaaaaaage?" We decided to hail one of Bangkok's famous Tuk Tuk taxis. We told the driver to bring us to Patpong, which is a famous go-go bar district. Although we weren't interested in patronizing these prostitutes, we thought it would be an interesting experience to see this world-famous district and its notorious sex bars. The Tuk Tuk driver was extremely annoying. Every time we stopped at a light or crossing, he would turn around and repeatedly shout, "Drinking! Girls! Go-go bar! I know! I know! I know!" However, once we turned our attention away from him and towards the city around us, the ride became quite interesting. It's a rush to zoom in and around traffic at high speeds in an open-air tuk tuk while the driver performs questionable and dangerous manoeuvres.
It's also a nice way to see the city. Anyways, this driver was definitely trying to cheat us. He brought us to some sketchy back alley area where many other tuk tuk drivers were sitting around smoking cigarettes and leaning on their rides. There was one dark and seedy club in the alley that obviously was commissioning these guys to bring in hapless tourists. We were not amused, and told the guy we weren't getting out or paying his ass until he brought us to Patpong. Eventually he reluctantly agreed and drove us to the real district, albeit with less jovial chatter on his part (hahaha).
Patpong was basically a couple blocks full of bars. Contrary to popular belief, they were not all go-go bars, but more than half were. There is also a night bazaar selling various goods in the center of the main Patpong street. We walked up and down the block, being approached innumerable times but grizzled men holding a sign and saying "Ping-pong show?" repeatedly. A "Ping-pong show" is actually a freak show where women pop many crazy things out of their vaginas such as ping-pong balls, fish, and razarblades. Knowing this, we politely declined.
Eventually, we decided to have a drink at one of the go-go bars. We slowly nursed a Singha each and observed our surroundings. Several bored-looking girls danced lifelessly in their underwear on the stage while dozens of men looked on from the sidelines. If a man chose a dancer to talk with, he would buy a drink for her and they would sit together. We saw a hugely fat old man with a super-hot babe. He was holding her ass with his giant meaty hands. It was gross. After holding my empty beer bottle for a while, I could tell the staff wanted us to buy another, so we just got out of there. After that, we walked around the marketplaces, haggling for this and that with the vendors. I bought some fake Birkenstock sandals for about 7 USD. Sweet!
The next morning, we got up early for temple-tromping. After having some complimentary tea and toast at our hostel, we set out on the skytrain. It was a beautiful, yet hot, day. After a really crowded ride on the train, we walked to a canal to catch a boat. The boat ride was awesome! These large boats have a roof, and as they pass underneath any of the numerous low bridges on the canal, the driver uses a lever to lower the roof so that we can just barely pass under! Sweet.
After alighting from the boat, we headed down the street to our first temple, Wat Rajanadda. This temple is one of Bangkok's "unappreciated temples, and few visitors were around. It was also quite beautiful, with a large garden and huge, ornate black spires along the roof. The views of Bangkok from the tower were impressive as well.
A quirky thing about this temple and about Thailand in general was that it was filled with cats and dogs that were just chilling out.
Sometimes you would see an ornate statue of Buddha and then at his feet are a bunch of animals sleeping. Super weird.
Next we headed a few blocks down to the Golden Mount. The spiralling climb was tedious in the hot Bangkok sun, but the views of the city form the top were impressive. There are also several large gold Buddhas in this compound. The views from this position really make apparent the sharp contrast between the compact, linear urban form of Hong Kong and the sprawling, radial nature of Bangkok development.
We flew from Macau to Bangkok at 2pm on Friday, February 27. Flying from Macau saves a few bucks, but I really don;t think it's worth it due to the hassle involved. I had to take a hydrofoil from Sheung Wan, HK to the Macau ferry, then a bus and taxi to get to the airport. Shit. I was also exhausted from a wicked awesome tram party from the night before.
On arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport, I parted ways with the crew I was with from Hong Kong and met up with good old Daan Stevenson. I got some money from the ATM and promptly left my card in the machine. Luckily a security guard tracked me down and returned it to me. This is a good example of behavior form what Bryan Moses would call "Common Sense Boy."
We took a bus to our hostel, which was located along Sukhumvit Road, a main thoroughfare of Bangkok. The traffic was so horrendous that the trip took about 2 hours. Shit. When the bus stopped and the driver disappeared into some building (WTF), Daan and I decided to walk the remaining few blocks to our place. Along the way, we got our first taste of Thai street food: Fried Bananas, Chicken Satay, and sticky rice. Amazingly good and about 1 USD per person. If Thailand could be summed up in four words they would be "cheap and delicious food."We soon turned the corner onto Sukhumvit Soi 38. In the Thai address system, sidestreets are identified as a numbered "Soi" of a main thoroughfare. This sidestreet was awesome. It was packed with some of the cheapest and most awesome streetfood around. Pad Thai, sticky rice with mango, Thai omelets, satay, fruit smoothies, banana rotee pancakes, you name it. One of our favorites was a Pakistani dude who whipped up some amazing banana/chocolate/condensed milk/egg pancakes for USD .60 a pop. w00t!
After checking into our dorm room and taking showers, we headed out for some of that awesome food and for a massage. We got a really awesome massage a couple blocks down for about 10 USD. Later in the evening we decided to go to a bar nearby that another traveler recommended. We took the skytrain one stop towards downtown. The skytrain is a relatively recently built elevated rail system that works quite well. When we arrived at the "bar" district, however, all we found were brothels with scantily clad women out front shouting at us in drawn out, nasally voices: "Sawadee kaaaaaa! Massaaaaaage?" We decided to hail one of Bangkok's famous Tuk Tuk taxis. We told the driver to bring us to Patpong, which is a famous go-go bar district. Although we weren't interested in patronizing these prostitutes, we thought it would be an interesting experience to see this world-famous district and its notorious sex bars. The Tuk Tuk driver was extremely annoying. Every time we stopped at a light or crossing, he would turn around and repeatedly shout, "Drinking! Girls! Go-go bar! I know! I know! I know!" However, once we turned our attention away from him and towards the city around us, the ride became quite interesting. It's a rush to zoom in and around traffic at high speeds in an open-air tuk tuk while the driver performs questionable and dangerous manoeuvres.
It's also a nice way to see the city. Anyways, this driver was definitely trying to cheat us. He brought us to some sketchy back alley area where many other tuk tuk drivers were sitting around smoking cigarettes and leaning on their rides. There was one dark and seedy club in the alley that obviously was commissioning these guys to bring in hapless tourists. We were not amused, and told the guy we weren't getting out or paying his ass until he brought us to Patpong. Eventually he reluctantly agreed and drove us to the real district, albeit with less jovial chatter on his part (hahaha).
Patpong was basically a couple blocks full of bars. Contrary to popular belief, they were not all go-go bars, but more than half were. There is also a night bazaar selling various goods in the center of the main Patpong street. We walked up and down the block, being approached innumerable times but grizzled men holding a sign and saying "Ping-pong show?" repeatedly. A "Ping-pong show" is actually a freak show where women pop many crazy things out of their vaginas such as ping-pong balls, fish, and razarblades. Knowing this, we politely declined.
Eventually, we decided to have a drink at one of the go-go bars. We slowly nursed a Singha each and observed our surroundings. Several bored-looking girls danced lifelessly in their underwear on the stage while dozens of men looked on from the sidelines. If a man chose a dancer to talk with, he would buy a drink for her and they would sit together. We saw a hugely fat old man with a super-hot babe. He was holding her ass with his giant meaty hands. It was gross. After holding my empty beer bottle for a while, I could tell the staff wanted us to buy another, so we just got out of there. After that, we walked around the marketplaces, haggling for this and that with the vendors. I bought some fake Birkenstock sandals for about 7 USD. Sweet!
The next morning, we got up early for temple-tromping. After having some complimentary tea and toast at our hostel, we set out on the skytrain. It was a beautiful, yet hot, day. After a really crowded ride on the train, we walked to a canal to catch a boat. The boat ride was awesome! These large boats have a roof, and as they pass underneath any of the numerous low bridges on the canal, the driver uses a lever to lower the roof so that we can just barely pass under! Sweet.After alighting from the boat, we headed down the street to our first temple, Wat Rajanadda. This temple is one of Bangkok's "unappreciated temples, and few visitors were around. It was also quite beautiful, with a large garden and huge, ornate black spires along the roof. The views of Bangkok from the tower were impressive as well.
A quirky thing about this temple and about Thailand in general was that it was filled with cats and dogs that were just chilling out.
Sometimes you would see an ornate statue of Buddha and then at his feet are a bunch of animals sleeping. Super weird.
Next we headed a few blocks down to the Golden Mount. The spiralling climb was tedious in the hot Bangkok sun, but the views of the city form the top were impressive. There are also several large gold Buddhas in this compound. The views from this position really make apparent the sharp contrast between the compact, linear urban form of Hong Kong and the sprawling, radial nature of Bangkok development.
Next we tried to hail a taxi. The funny thing about this city is that the majority of the taxis are hot pink sedans. They look like they belong in a Barbie Girl playset! We took the taxi to Wat Pho, which contains the largest reclining Buddha in the world. His feet are also inlaid with an intricate pattern of mother-of-pearl designs. 
Sweet! The stupas and other temple structures here are extremely elaborate with colorful clay flowers covering each surface.
Sweet! The stupas and other temple structures here are extremely elaborate with colorful clay flowers covering each surface.
After bargaining for and purchasing the finest pair of sunglasses in the world (which later would be broken on my fall from a mountain) we boarded a boat for Wat Arun, a phallic-looking, impressive set of towers on the far side of the river.
We experienced our first (and most blatant) case of getting screwed over while riding the boat back across the river. First, we were told that a boat ride a few kilometers downriver would cost us several hundred baht. I laughed at this lady and later got a ticket for 30 baht. We had checked with the boat operator to make sure it would take us where we wanted to go. Everything seemed quite alright until the boat flipped a bitch after about 2 minutes and started taking us in the wrong direction. After another cross-river boat ride, we eventually got on a legitimate boat and cruised on a pleasant journey to the port near Humphalong Train Station, where we needed to buy some tickets for our journey south the following morning. The funny thing about the train station here (and in other places in Asia) is that there is very limited seating, so everyone just camps out on the floor. It's like a giant slumber party! Too bad they weren't baking any snickerdoodles!
After eating some tasty street food back on Sukhumvit Road, we headed to Lumphini Stadium to see some Muay Thai boxing. However, we noticed the prices had gone up significantly from those listed in our guidebooks. It was now 1500 baht to sit in the crappy seats and 2000 for front-row. This was extreme bullshit. A sign posted in Thai gave the "locals" price of 200 baht. After arguing for a while we decided it wasnt worth it; the nice kid who they had dealing with us showed us 5 minutes of a match and it was between a couple of 14 year-olds!
We returned to the hostel and had a few drinks with some of the other travelers staying there. Then we decided to head out to Khao San Road, known as a traveler's mainstay and as a nightlife hotspot. This street is filled with interesting people, both travelers and locals alike. 
For example, a tiny young girl was walking around selling roses. However, she kept approaching people and challenging them to thumb wars. She challenged me to an 100 baht match (USD 3). I kept insisting that I didn't want to play for money, but she was really adamant, so eventually I grudgingly accepted. It turns out she's a hustler, and easily defeated me! Daan also played her later in the night, and claims that her techniques are questionable. However, I heard from some of our local friends that she racks up tens of thousands of baht per night! Holy crap!
Anyway, we went dancing in an awesome underground club. They served a lot of "bucket drinks" here. These are plastic buckets (like those used to make sandcastles) filled with the alcohol of your choice. Our Indian stock broker friend kept buying bucket drinks for all of us, which was a really sweet deal. Near closing time at this club, we started talking to a few local Bangkok people, who convinced us to join them in a cab to "Narcissus," a club that stays open till morning. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go out all night because I was drop-dead tired, but I'm really glad I decided to go. We rolled up to the club and it was like a dream world: Attendants in suits opening doors for you, incredible statuary and fountains. Me and Daan were worried because we were wearing shorts and sandals, but our friend Natsha said "Don't worry, you are farang (foreigners). You'll be fine."
Inside the club was even more impressive. The club was enormous: 4 levels, 4 bars, incredible decor, all in one gigantic room. The centerpiece of the club was a disco ball that I swear was about 5 meters in diameter. On top of that, many people (employees?) were standing around with powerful green hand-held lasers, shooting at the disco ball, causing a crazy propagation effect as the lasers reflected in all sorts of directions. Anyways, we danced here and had a ball until around 6 in the morning, before we had to catch a cab home to prepare for our 8am train ride to Prachuap Khiri Kahn!
Thus ends the first portion of my exciting Thailand adventure! Stay tuned for next weeks installment: "The Perils of Prachuap!"
For example, a tiny young girl was walking around selling roses. However, she kept approaching people and challenging them to thumb wars. She challenged me to an 100 baht match (USD 3). I kept insisting that I didn't want to play for money, but she was really adamant, so eventually I grudgingly accepted. It turns out she's a hustler, and easily defeated me! Daan also played her later in the night, and claims that her techniques are questionable. However, I heard from some of our local friends that she racks up tens of thousands of baht per night! Holy crap!Anyway, we went dancing in an awesome underground club. They served a lot of "bucket drinks" here. These are plastic buckets (like those used to make sandcastles) filled with the alcohol of your choice. Our Indian stock broker friend kept buying bucket drinks for all of us, which was a really sweet deal. Near closing time at this club, we started talking to a few local Bangkok people, who convinced us to join them in a cab to "Narcissus," a club that stays open till morning. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go out all night because I was drop-dead tired, but I'm really glad I decided to go. We rolled up to the club and it was like a dream world: Attendants in suits opening doors for you, incredible statuary and fountains. Me and Daan were worried because we were wearing shorts and sandals, but our friend Natsha said "Don't worry, you are farang (foreigners). You'll be fine."
Inside the club was even more impressive. The club was enormous: 4 levels, 4 bars, incredible decor, all in one gigantic room. The centerpiece of the club was a disco ball that I swear was about 5 meters in diameter. On top of that, many people (employees?) were standing around with powerful green hand-held lasers, shooting at the disco ball, causing a crazy propagation effect as the lasers reflected in all sorts of directions. Anyways, we danced here and had a ball until around 6 in the morning, before we had to catch a cab home to prepare for our 8am train ride to Prachuap Khiri Kahn!Thus ends the first portion of my exciting Thailand adventure! Stay tuned for next weeks installment: "The Perils of Prachuap!"
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