we flew from perth at nighton friday may 30th, at 9:30 i think, with a long stopover in singapore until around 5 or 6am. but before we left perth i realized i didnt have my wallet with me. luckily i phoned our shuttle service and they had it; apparently it had fallen out of my lap while i was collecting everyone's money. they dropped it off back at the dorm but it was too late for me so i had to borrow money from everyone all week.
singapore was pretty uneventful. we ate, realized we were minorities, and were surprised that english is the country's first language. we had to go through customs tho, even though we weren't leaving the airport, which was a bummer. our next short flight got us into bangkok around 7am. the bangkok airport was absolutely massive, the biggest many of us had ever seen. makes sense tho, as the city has about 9 million people in it. after collecting out bags and going through immigration we got our introduction to thai heckling, as we entered a lobby and about 5 cab companies accosted us. we got two big vans and were soon on our way. driving on the highway was crazy, there were big billboards saying "long live the king" and the city seemed to never end. boline and i listened to thai radio on my zune. it was my first experience being in a country that didnt speak english.
we arrived at the Prince Palace Hotel around 9:30am and checked in. the place was absolutely massive, with four big towers and what seemed like miles of richly furnished lobby space in between them. i forget the exact number but there is between 650 and 700 rooms in all. murph and i were in a double and thus in a separate tower from the rest of the group who were in suites so we dropped our bags off and explored the hotel. it had 2 pools, several restaurants, a spa, gym, you name it they had it. seriously the hugest hotel ever. and the cool part was that there were such awesome views from every location. every room, every elevator lobby, and especially the pool areas looked straight out at the city, since it surrounded us.
once everyone was settled in we went out to find brunch. we ended up in a mall type thing next door to the prince palace going up to the food court, but a few of us were eager to go experience the real bangkok so eddie, trish, and myself split off from the group and set off exploring. we got our first tuk tuk ride (three wheeled motorcycle taxi) and did our first bargaining, paying a mere 20 baht for the ride, which is about 60 cents (30 bahts in 1 US$). we went to the Golden Mount (labeled elsewhere as the golden mountain, mount was probably an english typo, there was incorrect english everywhere even in official pamphlets and signs), also known as Wat Saket. Wat is the thai word for temple, and this one was a big pure gold temple on top of a big hill. after a long climb we got to the top and were offered breath taking views of the city. you could walk 360 degrees around the top of the mount and it really made us realize just how massive bangkok is. there were big buildings as far as the eye could see in every direction. it was a great view. it was also cool to see people worshipping in it, there were numerous shrines or something where people would kneel and pray. oh yeah, and it bears mentioning that all of these wats were buddhist. next we walked to the next closest wat on the map. we walked over one of bangkok's numerous sewage filled, disgusting smelling canals before arriving at (wat?) Loha Prasat. it had both the typical golden oriental looking decorated temple and also a big black and white one. we took a spiral staircase in the center of the building all the way to the top for more great views. this one was cool because all 5 or 6 floors had walls that were arranged in a sort of a thatch-work or crosshatch pattern so that at each intersection you could see the outside in 4 directions and a the end of each 4 directions was one of the many buddhas that lined the outside of the complex. its difficult to explain...
on the way to our next stop we walked past a leafy alley where there were a few food carts set up. It looked good and fresh and not iffy like a lot of the other food stands so i insisted we get it. the lady didnt speak any english so we pointed at what we wanted and were served some absolutely amazing stuff. it was chicken stir fried with diced chilis and some leafy thing maybe basil? along side a fried egg and on top of steamed rice. it was so good and really spicy. i was glad bottled water was only 10 baht (30 cents). probably the best food i had on my entire trip.
we then walked further and passed by the big democracy monument, four prongs sticking up into the air in the middle of a traffic circle. interesting to note since i believe the king seized power within the last few years for a certain amount of time before handing power back over. currently they have a constitutional monarchy, and everyone loves the king. i guess he has given a lot of money to the burma disaster but we also wondered if everyone was just saying that they love him because i think it is illegal to speak ill of him.
next we walked to Wat Suthat and the giant swing which was used for ceremonies in past times. there was some sort of organized prayer going on, with a bunch of people inside and prayers being broadcast on speakers outside. Buddhism is very strange, from watching people at all of the temples i still can't figure it out. it involves burning incense, laying flowers at shrines, putting money in donation boxes, kneeling on prayer rugs in front of statues, shaking the incense sticks inside of their case, pouring water on one's head and possibly in tubs of lotus pads. also there were crazy amounts of buddha statues of all sizes at every temple. it was strange also that they let us walk around and do whatever as they worshiped.
our next stop (wow we did so much in this one day) was Khao Son road, where a lot of westerners and other tourists congregate due to the shopping, eating, and nightlife. here we got our introduction to the thai vendor, every stall you walk past has someone come up to you and try to shake your hand and talk to you and basically suck you into looking at their shop. same goes with tuk-tuks, if they see a white person walking down the street no matter where you are about 3 will run over to you and see if you need a ride. also, many try to trick you by saying the place you want to go is closed and that they know of a place that is open or a place that is better. or while you are on your way they try and take you to a suit shop or something. this is because they have connections to certain shops where they can get commissions. but anyways back to khao son road, there was all the knock-off and illegal merchandise that you could imagine, from brand name clothes, bags, and shoes to dvds and music. all for dirt cheap if you bargain right. i didnt buy anything though, and on a whole did not get much throughout the week as it was just too much of a hassle to keep asking people for money.
that night (keep in mind, still the first day, saturday), after some serious nappage a few of us went to a muay thai boxing arena. originally all 9 or so of the guys were going to go but it ended up just being murph and steve and i. for 2,000 baht (60 bucks) we got transportation there and back and 9 fights. we got a bite for dinner in a little hole in the wall restaurant by the arena. it was the kind of dirty little place that absolutely no one would eat at in the US or australia, but hey when in thailand. the boxing was awesome, for those who don't know muay thai boxing is thailand's national sport and an absolute brutal mix of kick boxing. we had ringside seats and there were 55 baht (approx $1.20) beers, which was dirt cheap compared to what we are used to in australia. the fighters were kind of young, clearly not professional but still the fighters got older as the fights advance and thus more disciplined. we made friends with our beer server, named Kunk, and she actually gave us a free ride home when the night was over. the three of us went to one of the pool decks and enjoyed the views of part of bangkok's skyline lit up at night.
FINALLY we got a good nights sleep, although on sunday we did have to wake up early. we got an amazing continental buffet breakfast and then 14 of us piled into the vans and were driven out into the country to the famous floating markets. after an hour drive we arrived and were given two 7 person boats with drivers. it was really cool we drove through palm forests and past people's shacks on the canal until we go the market which we stalls that we could barter and buy from right from our boat without getting up. all i bought was a little thing called a thai pancake which was like melted marshmallows with citrusy pepper inside a taco shell. only 5 baht (15 cents?). we got to a larger central part and it appeared that people had arrived on land at restaurants where the cooks had paddled up from their houses and were making food on the water. after the long drive back during which most of us fell asleep, i and some other relaxed at the pool.
for dinner dan, steph, jess v and myself were hooked up by our hotel concierge with a ride to a nice clean restaurant where we enjoyed good thai food and some thai dancing. after wards we came back and hung out with everyone in the big group before grabbing tuk-tuks up to Khao Son road to see what the night life was like. we went to a place called Lava bar, where lots of crazy things happened, included one guy (jeff), being handed a thai baby by its parents to hold outside the bar at 3am as we were leaving.
on our last day, monday, we were supposed to go on a huge scenic tour set up by the concierge of the grand palace and some other places but 7 of us slept in too late and missed both breakfast and the tour time. but we decided to make the most of our day and go to the grand palace on our own. one stayed behind so the 6 of us went next door to the mall food court for brunch. it was my first time there and it was actually pretty good and of course, really cheap. and i got those candy chocolate and strawberry sticks that we used to buy at the hong's food store, which was fun. we took a couple tuk tuks to the grand palace, first stopping off at a suit store since our driver gave us a free ride if we looked inside for 10 minutes (he got free gas out of it). we decided to get a guided tour of the grand palace complex and i'm very glad we did since it was such a massive place with more temples and royal buildings that we really had time to see. i really cannot describe everything we saw, everyone there had their breath taken away and we all agreed that words and pictures just could not do it justice... luckily i took some video... there were a bunch of temples, some holding sacred buddhist scriptures, some holding relics, some holding ashes of former kings, one holding a dolid block of jade carved into a buddha, also there was the coronation building, the royal reception hall, the royal guest house, and others. oh and we also got to see the royal collection of weapons. it was a bunch of old weapons, no firearms, but it was still cool. i mean, what guy doesnt like weapons? of course i thought of rj this entire time, i feel like the royal collection of weapons is something you would excitedly blog about too.
after about an hour and a half, maybe two hours, our tour was over. the st johns guys headed back to prince palace and myself and eddie, trish, and jesse o decided to go on a boat tour of bangkok's main river. it was kind of uneventful, esp since i had already been on a boat in the floating markets but this was still cool because the river was so big and there were big ships around us and big buildings. it took us to bangkok's most famous temple, Wat Arun (temple of the dawn... feel free to wikipedia any of these names), and also to the reclining buddah, which was a golden statue of budda lying on his side. the thing was about 30 yards long, just unnecessarily big but cool just for its novelty.
after the hour boat tour it was late afternoon and the 4 of us again went to khao son road. they got massages but i was out of cash for the moment so i wondered around my myself, getting pad thai from a street vendor for 20 baht (60 cents!) sat on the curb and people watched. i realize i keep mentioning prices but i still cant get over how cheap everything was. i got a tuk tuk home by myself and pooled it for awhile with the people back from the tour i missed in the morning. i dont remember what everyone else was doing that night for dinner but whatever it was steph, jess v and i wanted to walk around a little more so we tuk-ed it back to khao son road. we ran into some other from our group who were eating at an italian place but i thought that was a cop out so steph and i went across the street to and indian restaurant (a lot of indians have immigrated to thailand, along with chinese). it was soo good, i have been wanting to get indian food for awhile and this was the real deal. i got some sort of dish with mutton it was very good and spicy, i also took a tiny bite of this mini pepper on steph's salad and a few minutes later my mouth was on fire. i had to order some naan (indian bread) to save my life. after that we shopped for a little while and i finally bought something, a Polo brand polo shirt for only 6 dollars after some haggling. steph got all 4 seasons of entourage and 3 movies, 16 disks in all, for the equivalent of just over 3 dollars each. on the way back we stopped at mcdonalds and i got a cup of iced milo which was absolutely fantastic. Milo is a hot chocolate type drink made in australia and it was amazing served cold on ince, which you dont ever find in australia. that monday night i packed. 11 of us were going on to phuket for the rest of the week and the rest of them were staying in bangkok. it was at this point that i realized my 30gb zune was missing and the front desk wasnt too helpful in assisting me ing finding it. it was most likely stolen out of my room, since i didnt use it elsewhere. i guess there actually was a reason for having a safe in every room afterall.
anyways i had a late night looking for it and then we had to get up at i think 4:30 am to check out. check out was also an adventure as the front desk tried to scam a bunch of us, saying we took things out of the mini bar that we didnt, and broke things that were never used such as a coffee maker. it took over 45 minutes and we were still arguing with them but we had to catch our flight so we just said screw it and left. i guess we were not safe from the bangkok spirit of haggling even inside our supposed 4 star hotel. we were pretty steamed about that but in all the trip was really eye-opening and probably the craziest i will ever go on. to be in an asian country, where there is little english spoken and i was in a vast minority of people was so different and great.
well this post covers only friday night thru the wee hours of tuesday morning, and i still have to cover tuesday thru friday in the resort island of Phuket. For the sake of your eyes, my fingers, and also my grades since i have a final tmr, the phuket blog will be worked on at a later date in time. enjoy the pictures... remember click to expand:
bargaining with tuk-tuk driver
view of the prince palace hotel (big compound middle of picture) from the Golden Mount
democracy monument
inside of wat suthat
wat suthat
about to shove off at floating markets
floating market canal
grand palace complex
one of our pools
view from our elevator lobby
4 comments:
Wow...can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!
XXOO Mom
baller. don't make me wait another month for the next update.
-dakio
want to audition for the amazing race with me???? um thailand sounds amazing and i feel so overwhelmed because i want to go everywhereeeee.
Haha, sorry it took me a while to read these again, but sweet blog, thailand sounds ridiculous. And you are so right, old collections of ornate weapons are awesome and something blog worthy. I'm gonna have to read about Phuket later this afternoon. Cheers mate.
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