|
Fighting off Tuk-tuks Sawatdii Khrap, I am now in Bangkok, and at the end of a transitional stage of my trip. Singapore was definitely a low point - people were generally rude, ignorant, or unintelligible, the weather was raining almost the entire time except for brief periods of blazing humid heat, everything was expensive, and there's hardly anything worth doing. With the exceptions of a brief visit with a friend from Queenstown and a trip to the zoo, Singapore was a complete waste of time. The zoo was pretty cool though, with polar bears, orangutans, and komodo dragons, although the heavy rain didn't help. Finally, on the last day in Singapore while waiting in a long line at the supermarket, a Chinese woman didn't feel like waiting so she sent her two young sons to run right in front of me and shoved me until there was enough space for them to stand in line. They were very lucky my fear of the Singaporean police slightly outweighed my rage. The best thing about my visit to Singapore was that it was only three days. Singapore pictures follow. http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b34428a8a47f When I arrived in Bangkok, I managed to get to Khao San Rd with little problem, and then the adventure began. After walking back and forth 4 times and looking at about 10 guesthouses, I chose a nice guesthouse just off Khao San, relatively spacious with air conditioning and my own bathroom. Several hours later, I discovered that the mattress was harder than the floor (putting a blanket underneath me as a cushion helped a little), and that little pockets of sewer air were bubbling up in the toilet every 20 minutes or so. Tired from travelling, it took me an extra day to look at enough places to find somewhere nice and motivate to repack everything for a move down the street. I am now staying at a very nice hotel, with comfortable bed, good air conditioning, a small tv, and a properly functioning bathroom. As one of the more expensive places on Khao San, I am paying the extravagant rate of ten dollars per night. I spent a good part of the first couple days in Bangkok fighting off tuk-tuk drivers who wanted to take me to gem shops or happy happy joy joy. The rest of my time was spent getting lost via various methods of transportation including walking, buses, river taxi, and skytrain. I spent a full day trying to get to 4 specific temples, and didn't make it to a single one due to being sidetracked by university students for an interview with a foreigner, lots of wrong turns, and missing river taxi stops (all the while ignoring tuk-tuk drivers). In addition, it is difficult to correlate maps with reality, as streets and stations are often spelled differently on maps and signs, and sometimes when names look similar enough it turns out to be a completely different street instead. Furthermore, the majority of foreigners don't have a clue about anything in Thailand, and spend all their time drinking their brains out. In addition, most locals speak very limited English, and often don't know where things are as well (but love trying to help). Everything seems to always work out, but simple things tend to take a long time. Finding a shop to fix my shoes was particularly difficult (but only cost 50 cents). Despite all these challenges, I have seen and done some very interesting things. The temples are amazing, and Buddhas of varying sizes, positions, and colors are everywhere. The most impressive images are sacred and photographs are not allowed, so the photo link below will only give you a taste. I also went to a 2 hour meditation class with three other travellers (via a tuk-tuk driver who didn't have a clue where he was going, and asked about 4 different tuk-tuk drivers in various corners of the city for directions), which was a good experience although my patience ran out after the first hour (the mosquitoes didn't help). When the monks don't allow people to move for long periods of time, they could at least air condition the room... http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b34428b4a463 Eating has been an experience of its own, with a wide variety of quality. In the shelter of guesthouses on Khao San Rd, I have eaten a ton of Pad Thai meals - changing the type of noodle or meat gives the illusion of variety - and most of these meals have been quite good. As I've ventured off the main road and out of the main tourist areas, I have tried many meals in restaurants and noodle stands where no English is spoken and no other foreigners are present. Most of these meals have been pretty good, some excellent, and a few completely unedible. It is rare in all restaurants to spend more than three dollars for a full meal (except at Pizza Hut which I confess to one meal at), and I've had good meals for under 50 cents. Honorable mention goes to Quinn, for his suggestion of the best meal I've had thus far in the country. (This spot is reserved in future emails for the person who makes the best suggestions.) I've successfully avoided bars every night but two, and both were very interesting experiences. At the first, a mostly tourist bar on Khao San, music ranged from a hip-hop version of "For Elise" to a live band singing "Negila Hava", and I met a few other travellers. On a different night, I wasn't forceful enough in pushing away tuk-tuk drivers - usually saying no and walking away is enough - one followed me and managed to trick me into walking by various brothels. After the twentieth time of telling him I didn't want a special massage, I decided to enter a bar to get rid of him. The first two bars I tried to enter he convinced me had male go- go dancers, and the next was a seemingly normal bar that I entered. I ordered a beer, and he left. Five minutes later, twenty women with numbers pinned to their identical red dresses came out of the back and lined up in front of my table. It then became clear he had succeeded in deceiving me and had gotten his big commission. I made it very clear I wasn't interested, finished my beer and left, to find that I owed ten dollars for my one beer (it costs about one dollar in most bars). I suppose the moral of this story is that getting ripped off in Bangkok costs about the same as ordering a beer in a typical San Francisco bar. Final thoughts on Bangkok: It is way too hot and humid, to the point of becoming difficult to think in direct sunlight in the middle of the day. The air quality is absolutely terrible, and does not help this. The scariest and most difficult thing in this city is crossing the street. There is no break in cars, and people just start walking across at seemingly random intervals, hoping that cars, tuk-tuks, motorcycles, and buses will go around them. I have not yet seen anyone get hit, and this amazes me. Yet despite all these factors, 800-year old temples abound and meditating monks are commonplace. In the last week, I have achieved some adjustment to Bangkok life, and am now prepared to head north. I will stop in Lopburi for a couple days, viewing temples but more importantly the resident monkey population known for smearing excrement on shop windows and windshields and causing general mayhem. Then further north, with possibilities including Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, Um Phang, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Pai. Jungle and hill tribe trekking will definitely be in order. Then on to Laos for a slow boat on the Mekong, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat, and back through Bangkok to southern Thailand for parks, beaches, and islands. Eventually on to Vietnam and China pending avian flu and sars conditions, and Europe pending financial conditions. As always, it's great to hear from many of you, suggestions on places to go, stay, eat, etc. are always appreciated from those who've travelled this route, as are stories from your respective travel or home adventures. Those of you in Thailand are especially encouraged to get in touch and hopefully meet up.
Cheers, |