I ended up opting for the express sky train to the middle of town, which looked to be a couple of miles from my guesthouse. When I got off the train, I wasn't quite sure if I was going to try to walk there, take a taxi, a tuk tuk, or a bus or whatever. I guess I decided to see how walking went and started walking around. Apparently it was clear I had no idea where I was going because a random thai guy asked me where I was going. Again, scarred by Kuta, and all the warnings in guide books and travel websites, I was certain he was a tout trying to get me to take a taxi or otherwise sell me something. But when I told him where I was going (Sam Sen Sam Place) he politely and helpfully told me I was going the wrong direction and that walking there was a bad idea because it was very far, but if I walked across the street I could get the No. 72 bus that would take me straight across town to the street I needed to get to. I was so shocked about his sincere helpfulness without expecting to gain anything that I must've just stared at him because he seemed to think that I didn't understand him. I walked across the street and grabbed the bus, where it was me and whole bunch of thai people. Apparently tourists don't really ride the bus very often - probably because, as I later discovered, you can get a tuk tuk or taxi to/from just about anywhere in central Bangkok for $2 or $3. But ever the one not to overspend, I opted for a few buses while I was there (which were about 25 cents for non-A/C or 40 cents for A/C). While walking from the bus stop to the side street that was home to my guesthouse, I was a bit surprised to see that there were very few signs in english and very few tourists. I knew that might make things a little difficult when trying to eat meals and find my way around, etc., but after Kuta, it was a welcome difference. As soon as I got to the side street the guesthouse was on, this silly black cat waltzed across the street right in front of me - almost as if he was trying to give me bad luck and mocking me in process. Stray animals were pretty common in Bangkok, and I don't think anyone in thailand has ever used a leash because even the ones that were obviously not strays always seemed to roaming around freely as well.
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
Day 82 - Friday, April 13
I had a few Thai baht (Thailand's currency) from buying a drink on the plane to Thailand (I paid in IDR but got change in Thai baht), but I exhausted that $9 or so on train/bus fare and food items the previous night, so the first order of business on friday was getting money (as most places didn't take credit cards, or if they did, charged a fee for doing so). The first ATM I stopped at wanted to charge a $5 surcharge for using it, which seemed a little steep, but after walking around and checking out a few others, that seemed to be the standard fee. So I bit the bullet and paid the fee and got some cash. When I got back to my hotel, I realized I didn't have my ATM card, so I went running back there, but there was no sign of it, and the bank was closed for Songkran. I did my best to ask the lady operating a fruit stand right by the ATM whether anyone had come by and found an ATM card, but I don't think she really understood me. So I hoped the machine had eaten it when I didn't take it, and I figured I'd just come back the next week when they were open and check regularly online to make sure no one was using it. Have I mentioned that I have a tendency to lose/forget things?
When I started walking around Friday, I was surprised to see that virtually all of the shops and things that had been open the previous day when I arrived were closed for Songkran. If you read the Songkran link above, you know that Songkran is the 3-day Thai New Year celebration from April 13 to 15th. Since April is the hottest month of the year in many parts of Thailand, including Bangkok, the choice to celebrate with massive public water fights seems like a pretty good way to cool off to me. Along many of the streets, families sit outside with kids and douse passers-by (pedestrian and cars alike) with water. Some groups pile into the back of pick-up trucks with large coolers or large buckets of water and throw water onto other cars, tuk tuk passengers, as well as those along the side of the street. Those strolling along the street tend to opt for water guns so that they can retaliate against those who might attack. In some of the big night life areas (like Khao San Rd. and Silom Rd) streets are closed off and are packed with people, with temporary stages set up for performers, etc. Many people also walk around with small buckets of chalky white paste/wet powder that they rub all over everyones faces as the pass by.
So I spent friday afternoon and evening just walking around the streets around Khao San Rd. taking it all in. It was essentially a giant party (not too different from Mardi Gras), with lots of music and everyone dancing in the street and covering each other in water. Between the water fights and the chalking of faces, and all the kids getting really excited about all of it, it was a really cool way to interact with a bunch of local thai people without being able to speak each other's language. I think I pretty much had a smile on my face the entire day, and I think it was probably the most fun I had since I started traveling. Just so much fun and an amazing experience.
I opted for my new $3 shorts for the day of water fight fun, and sure enough, the first time I wore them the stitching ripped... I opted for a small water gun, thinking that it might be a pain to carry around one of the big ones, especially in large crowds. I also didn't want to have to worry about hurting any small kids, and some of the big guns can pack a punch. So my little water gun fit pretty nicely in the back pocket of these top-quality Balinese board shorts. Well, at one point later in the night when I was out celebrating on Khao San Rd., a short thai girl asked if she could get up on my shoulders (chicken-fight style), an understandable request because I kind of towered above all the thai people and could see everything, but the crowd was packed in really tight, so short people like her could probably only see the asses and backs of the couple of people in front and beside them. So anyway, when I bent down so she climb on my shoulders, the pocket that was serving as my water gun holster totally ripped open. You're all shocked, I'm sure.
For obvious reasons I left the camera in the room Friday (and Saturday and Sunday as well). Here are a few photos I stole from around the web and some videos as well. The last video is kind of long, but gives a pretty good idea of what it's like in some of the areas around Bangkok.
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
Day 83 - Saturday, April 14
The only reason I knew about Songkran and got to Thailand when I did was because my former roommate from Newport (for all of a month) Adrienne had mentioned that she was planning to go to Bangkok for the celebration. For those that don't know, Adrienne lived in Bangkok for a while and now lives in Singapore, so I figured if she used to live there and was going back for the festivities, it'd probably be a good idea to join in on the fun, and I definitely wanted to see her while I was in Asia. So many thanks to Adrienne, otherwise I would've totally missed out. Adrienne and two of her friends, Adam and Matt, flew in Saturday, so I met up with them Saturday afternoon, and then Adrienne led us to this really good authentic Thai place a little off the beaten path for lunch. Afterward, we made our way through the water fight festivities to the craziness of Khao San Rd for a while. Unlike the day before, in which I was often outmanned and outgunned during water fights, Adrienne and Adam opted for the serious guns, with water canisters that were so large they were worn backpack style. So on Saturday, our foursome was delivering as much of the water as we were receiving, which was a nice change. Once again had a ton of fun, and then Adrienne insisted that Matt's and my trips to Bangkok (the first for both of us) would not be complete without a trip to the Patpong area of Bangkok and an infamous ping pong show. So we hopped in a tuk tuk and headed over to a very classy establishment named Super Pussy. [Note to self: edit this blog entry later if you're applying for jobs or running for political office] I think it was somewhere around this point, that Matt took his and Adrienne's iPhones out of his pocket and realized that the ziplock bag they were in wasn't as waterproof as expected and the phones were not exactly functioning properly. Not good; though I think at least in Adrienne's case it was only a temporary setback. Again, for obvious reasons, I left the camera at home, but it was more of the same from the day before, so please refer to pictures and videos above.
Day 84 - Sunday, April 15
I was a tad hungover on Sunday morning, so after I awoke at 10 for the free breakfast, I promptly went back to sleep until early afternoon. With me not having a phone and reliant on email and Adrienne's phone suffering the effects of the previous day's festivities, we weren't able to connect and figure out a plan for meeting up. I contemplated just taking it easy after the previous two days, but I didn't want to miss the last night of Songkran. So I headed back over to the Khao San area for more soaking wet fun. When I decided to head home later that evening, I was walking along a street that was normally really crowded, but there was an area that had cleared as if there was a fight or something, with lots of people staring down this one alley like someone had headed that way. I kind of lingered for a bit trying to figure out what was up but figured whatever the commotion was, it was over, and continued walking. About 2 minutes later as I was walking back to my hotel, I heard two loud bangs followed shortly by a third, it took me a second to process it, but when I saw people running franticly away from the area I had just passed and a sea of people piling out of the street and into alleys and behind whatever shelter they could, I realized it was gunshots. And then I realized that I was kind of by myself in the middle of the street and running kind of at the back of the pack. I guess I wasn't conditioned on how to react to gunshots quite like the Bangkok natives were. So I was freaking out for a bit when I realized what was going on, but I quickly made it to an alleyway and past the back line of people, as others were slowing down their sprints and starting to turn their heads to see what was going on. No big deal, just your standard shooting in a street full of thousands of people. [For my parents, I'm just kidding about the shooting thing, no need to worry.]
Other than the whole shooting episode, Songkran was really a blast. I definitely think the U.S. needs to adopt this method of celebration in some form. But I guess it might be a little cold for water fights on Jan. 1st. Maybe labor day?
Day 85 - Monday, April 16
I had hoped that the banks would be open on Monday so that I could check and see if they had my ATM card at the bank where I left it, but because of Songkran, banks were closed again on Monday. One of the things on my to do list for Bangkok was to get my iPhone unlocked and the screen fixed so that I could buy SIM cards in various countries as I travel as well as use Skype and other apps to communicate with folks back in the states. So I headed to MBK, which is a giant 7-story mall near the center of Bangkok, where there is an entire floor almost exclusively dedicated to electronics. I finally found a place where someone spoke enough English that I could communicate what I needed. $30 and 1 hour later, I had a new screen and unlocked iPhone. There was a movie theater, and unlike Australia where movie tickets were like $20, here they were only like $4 or $5 and I had been wanting to see the Hunger Games movie after reading the books, so I took a page out of the Reeds book and opted to take in a movie and leave checking out some of the main tourist attractions in the city for the next day. A minor oddity when watching a movie in Thailand: prior to the start, they flash up a picture of the king and everyone stands up for a while to honor the king.
Day 86 - Tuesday, April 17
Even though Tuesday was also a public holiday (from what I can tell), banks were open. So I made my way over to the bank where I last saw my card and did my best to communicate what happened, but it took about 4 bank employees working in concert to figure out what I was saying. They did, however, have my card, which was good to hear and gave it back without too much hassle.
I then decided to head over to the zoo. On the way, I passed the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, a pretty impressive building:
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
The zoo was definitely a far cry from a zoo like you would find in the US. I felt like many of the animal cages/habitats/confines were probably not big enough and the whole place seemed a bit dilapidated and made me question the level of care that the animals received, but I did get to see lots of cool animals. And security/safety measures are minimal, so I probably got a lot closer to the animals than I would've ever been able to get in the states. I took some photos. They are in the picasa album, but I'm going to assume you guys already know what elephants and giraffes and hippos and tigers and such look like and don't really want to see any mediocre pictures of such animals in captivity.
After the zoo, I made my way through the city stopping at various temples along the way. I didn't realize how many temples there were in Bangkok, some of which seem to be very well maintained by the resident monks, while others, not so much. This one is known as the marble temple because it's primarily constructed out of marble:
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
Day 87 - Wednesday, April 18
On Wednesday morning, I booked a ticket to fly to Phuket the next day, so that meant it was my last day in Bangkok. I grabbed a water taxi in the morning and headed down the Chao Phraya River from where I was staying down to Silom/Sathon Rd which I guess is considered "New Bangkok," and is home to most of the tall office buildings, nice/big hotels, etc. On the boat, we passed by Wat Arun, another of the famous temples:
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
Some the housing along the riverside was hard to believe as it seemed like all it would take was a stiff breeze or good wave to send it into the river:
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| From Thailand - Bangkok |
After the journey south on the river, I walked up Silom Rd. and checked it out then headed north on the skytrain to the AmEx office to pick up my credit card that I lost who knows where. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped back by MBK to get a Thai SIM card - hooray for rejoining the 20th century.
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