It's Monday evening February 8th and we are on an overnight train headed OUT of Bangkok up north to Chiang Mai. Neither Aaron nor I were terribly impressed with Bangkok. We spent Sunday at the Weekend Market and Khao San Road and today we visited wats. It has been an adventure if nothing else and we've learned a lot in the almost 48 hours since we've been here.
I'm sad to say that perhaps my expectations of Bangkok were too high. Bangkok is big... very big. And with size comes people... lots of people, and with people come garbage, filth, smells, and noise. Poor people, children, dogs, and cats all sleep literally in the street, the filthy street. We've only had a few meals so far other than breakfast in our hotels and the food is mediocre. For me, I think that everything is made worse by the heat and humidity. It is very warm and humid. And it truly is a small miracle that we haven't been involved in an automobile accident yet. We've come across some very nice people but in general the people are not as nice as I had expected. I guess I shouldn't be surprise. It's a big city. A I sit here here and write this I feel spoiled and naive.
We've also learned the value of reservations. We had made hotel reservations for our first night and all went smoothly. We didn't however make reservations for anywhere else for the rest of the trip. It's so hard to tell what you are getting on the Internet and we didn't know what areas we'd like and which areas we'd not want to stay. We learned yesterday evening as we were wandering through the streets of Bangkok near Khoa San Road that Bangkok is too big and Aaron doesn't have enough time to operate in that manner. It all ended up fine but after a day of walking around in the crowds, heat, and humidity a plan and a reservation would have saved a lot of angst. Not to worry. We have learned out lesson and are now planning a few steps in advance.
What I find interesting about this culture is the extreme lack of consistency. We decided last night that we would really like to take the overnight train the next night to Chiang Mai. On line ticketing wasn't really working out so we talked to the 'concierge' at our hotel. He looked for us... "nope, train is booked, must reserve 3 days in advance". Bummed I figured we'd just book a flight, which is not much more expensive but also not as interesting and more difficult to get to. But after breakfast this morning we had the same guy check again. Miraculously there was space on the train we wanted and we booked it. I'm still baffled. I'm sure he understood us. Did he not want us to go? Did he not want us to take the train? Why? What could have possibly changed in 10 hours? I doubt 2 people canceled their booking in the 10 hours between us speaking to the guy at the hotel but I guess it's possible. Not to mention that fact that the fist time he checked for us it was on the computer. The second time he checked was via phone.
Again today at the train station we decided to grab something to eat at the 'food court' and bring it with us on the train for dinner. Aaron went first while I sat with the bags. In this 'food court' you had to exchange your money for coupons first and then use the coupons to pay for the food. So I asked the guy at one of the counters how much for chicken phad thai? 40 baht and he made me sake on it. Before I made my money/coupon exchange I went back and asked Aaron how much he paid of his phad thai. 35 baht. Ok, fine, whatever, 5 baht is 9 US cents. So I exchanged my money and returned to the counter. A different woman was there and while I looked at the menu again she attempted to hand me a plate of phad thai. No, I said, I wanted noodles with chicken in gravy. So we walked over to the wok, sighed heavily, put the oil in the pan, and stared off into space for a bit. She then looked back at me and said she was out of noodles. Who the hell runs out of noodles in Thailand? I looked at the noodles next to her and she told me they were phad thai noodles. Fine, I said, I'll have phad thai. And she preceded to walk over to the already made plate of phad thai, put it in a to go box, handed it to me and charge me 40 baht.
Oh yeah, and why is it that they allow people into the wat with sarongs over their shots to cover their legs (you are not allowed to show skin to the Buddha) but I was denied entry because I had a sarong over my shoulders? That did force me to buy a really cute shirt just outside the wat for less than $3 (80 baht). But it's stuff like that that is driving me nuts.
The Weekend Market was pretty interesting. Not as many fried bugs for sale as I was expecting but still an experience. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it weren't so darn hot and sticky. We went to the 'pets and pet supply' portion of the market and was a ton of baby animals for sale. Lot's of really cute puppies. Puppies who seemed way too young to be away from their mothers. Also saw kittens, chickens, birds, hedgehogs, and little squirrels. It was pretty sad.
The wats were cool. Very decorative. The Reclining Buddha had a better vibe than the Grand Place with the Emerald Buddha. Glad we went but again it was so stinkin hot.
Now, as I mentioned, we are headed north to Chiang Mai where we have reservations at a hotel with a pool. Looking forward to swimming in the pool, a jungle trek, the Night Bazaar, and who knows what else. Hoping that CM will not be as crazy busy, smelly, and crowed as BKK but I have a feeling we will find out peace on the beaches in the south. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment