Thailand 1 - Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand 

Sunday 15th - Friday 19th January, 2012

Arrived in Bangkok about 6.30 a.m. Caught a taxi down town to the Baiyoke Sky Hotel, where we got a fantastic deal as we booked far in advance and tourist numbers have been a bit low since the recent floods. This is the tallest tower in Bangkok and we are on the 39th of the 84 floors in this building. Check-in is not until 2 pm and we are shattered - you see ourselves and lots of other tourists in various states of exhaustion scattered around the hotel waiting for their rooms to be ready. (Note to self, either arrive later in the day or pay the extra to have a room ready on arrival) .

There's nothing for it but to go for a long breakfast. We opt for the buffet option on the 79th floor. The buffet runs right round the central tower and the seating fans out to the floor to ceiling windows. The bewildering choice of food has Celia completely flummoxed and she opts for fruit and some scrambled egg and bacon. John is far more adventurous and is trying all sorts of rice, noodles, meat, vegetables and fish, declaring, “I don't know what it is, but I like it”.

Then the viewing platform on the 84th floor has to be visited – especially as it is a revolving platform – and it's a breathtaking view across the whole city, once the smog haze has lifted. After that it is time for the Golf Bar on the 18th floor. It is open to the elements with a small driving range at one side that is covered in high netting. You can get a deal on beer and a bucket of balls so although it is barely 11 a.m. John decides to give it a go. He's always wanted to try golf - never thought it would be here! He gets his eye in and by the 40th ball he is getting much nearer the target. Then there is the putting green and he's rather good at that. Celia sits reading and drinking her tea, trying not to let him see she is watching in admiration.

You cannot imagine the relief when we get into our room and can have a sleep in a horizontal position. The room is large with picture windows. We don't quite know ourselves as we have air conditioning, fluffy towels, hair dryer, pristine sheets and there are two very large armchairs. As we haven't experienced proper soft furnishings for some time we sit in them for a few minutes. However, it isn't long before the lure of the large TV pulls us in and we are sitting on the bed watching some daft movie, just because we can, before faling into a deep sleep.

That was pretty much it for day 1 in Thailand, apart from dinner on the 18th floor that night. Will we ever leave our hotel?

Bangkok is a shoppers paradise (John loves a retail viewing opportunity and is very excited). So we take a fast, thrilling and breathtaking tuk-tuk ride to the enormous Siam shopping malls. We have never seen anything like it. There is everything you could ever want and everything you will never need. All the top designers have outlets and they are doing plenty of business. Celia buys some new underwear – a long felt want after the drubbing it has all had from the dhobi (laundry) in India and Sri Lanka.

There are several cinemas in this complex and, as we haven't been to the pictures for months, we go in. They only have the expensive seats left for the film we can no longer remember the name of, however, what we both distinctly remember is the environment. A vast auditorium with around only 30 or 40 sets of double seats, widely spaced. Each set of seats has a table and two huge, leather covered, electric reclining chairs that you can set from upright to almost flat out. There are cushions and, most surprisingly, great big fluffy duvets covered in warm silky material. Celia's immediately in to it while John's going “what's all this for?” and has to have explained to him that the air conditioning is set to Arctic and 'young people' like to watch films snuggled under a duvet. Once he gets his head round this we have a great time and he almost dozes off. Before the film started the national anthem was played and everyone stands up and shows great respect as the royal family is revered here.

We start venturing out into the open air on the following days: We visit Jim Thompson's House/Museum first. This is a series of old teak houses set in a beautiful garden beside one of the canals. Thompson brought these houses from various parts of Thailand and had them reassembled in the early 1960s. They demonstrate the differing styles of architecture and are exquisite. They are filled with his belongings and his art collection – particularly sculpture. Living in this house would be a delight. Thompson also revived the Thai silk weaving cottage industry and the usual 'exit through the shop' has fantastic silk items for sale – but we resisted the temptation.

We visited the Royal Palace and temple complex and it is stunning. It is a vast site containing several fantastic temples and a number of royal residences built from dark teak and mahogany with white walls and gold decoration shimmering in the sun and the distinctive steep roofs with intricately carved and painted gables and eaves. The temples are filled with Buddhas and frescos, and while the tourists snap photos where they are allowed, the worshippers bring incense and offerings and say prayers among the throng. 
 

The palaces are richly furnished with grand rooms containing thrones and weapons, paintings and garments. They are surrounded by many cool cloisters which are decorated with beautifully restored and preserved murals depicting the lives and stories of Buddha (see below). Part of the complex houses a museum and it is not much visited so we went along to have a look. When we got inside we had to take off our shoes (as you do in many buildings here) and walked along highly polished teak floors and up the stairs. 

 At the top of the stairs sat a small, fierce, female security guard with a face like thunder. She stared at us unsmilingly with arms folded across her ample chest, with the uniform straining to bursting point across her thighs. She wore large, pointy, Dame Edna glasses and bright red lipstick under heavy brows. Very scary. We went round the exhibits for about half an hour and then made our way out. There were very few people there and the silence was palpable. We got to the top of the stairs and there she was, still sitting there in the same position. It was then we realised she was fast asleep. We crept quietly past the sleeping dragon, hobbit-like. At the bottom of the stairs we retrieved our shoes like a pair of giggling children and walked out past the stone dragons that guard the entrance.

Leaving the tranquil palace we stepped out into a street food market by the boat service dock. A complete contrast. The noise, crowds, smells and aromas assault the senses but in a Thai way, that is very easy to cope with (nothing will ever compare with Old Delhi for hassle). The array of eats is incredible and all smells delicious, so we plunge in, eating things from several different stalls along the way: grilled pork or chicken, fish, prawns and any manner of vegetable and tofu dishes that are quickly fried up for you with spices and fish sauce. The fruit sellers have apples, Chinese pears, bananas, grapes, oranges, dragon fruit, star fruit and plenty of ones that we don't know the names of. They will sell you slices of mango, pineapple and papaya – deftly sliced up in front of you by a smiling lady with a huge knife – that is all put into a plastic bag with a large cocktail stick to eat it with as you go along.

In amongst the gleaming towers of offices, hotels and shops, wherever there is a little bit of space along the entrances or at the back of the parking lots and all over the streets, there you will find small stalls cooking up food – and I mean every nook and cranny. The Thais are busy people, neat, quick and industrious. We still can't get over how clean the streets are and the rubbish is cleared away each day

They also like a laugh. We had a cabby with a shock of afro style hair that shot out in all directions and a face like a laughing Buddha, with questionable taste in the colours of his clothes. We were going across town to the Vietnamese Embassy (we have to get the visa in advance of our trip there in February) and were stuck in traffic and so had quite a long conversation – mostly with him laughing at the absurdity of the traffic and life in general. However, tuk-tuk rides are our favourite as they are quite mad journeys – like being on a crazy space-age dodgem, weaving in and out of the traffic with apparent disregard for life or limb. But they're cheap and they're fun.

So we get to the Vietnamese Embassy and fill in the requisite forms and go to the counter. We have left it all a bit late and are leaving Bangkok tomorrow, so need the visa today. The man at the counter says we can have them back tomorrow and we explain we are leaving tomorrow and need them today and ask if there is any way we can have them this afternoon? A fee is agreed (of course) and a phone call made and we are told we can collect them in two hours time. It's not long enough to go too far as we can't risk getting stuck in traffic and not getting back in time. Looking at our map, we see that the big city park is a few blocks away, so we walk up there and enjoy a walk under the big trees and sit by the lake. Here we see a large green and black water monitor hanging around the edges of the water and then he slides in and is gone – or so we think. As we go to leave he rushes across the path almost across Celia's shoes – that made her jump!

We return to the Embassy and collect our visas. To celebrate our success we get a tuk-tuk to the famous Mandarin Oriental Hotel for our usual ritual of having a cocktail in the best hotel in town. We sit by the river drinking and enjoying the river scenes, with long black barges being towed in a chain of two or three, by tiny tugs. At the tip of each barge is a small wooden cabin and the bargeman and his family seem to live in it permanently. As they go past they are cooking, eating dinner, having a stand-up wash, the children are playing in and out of the washing lines and the dogs keep watch. Tourist express buses go up and down, local ferries and smaller boats ply their trade as well.

We watch the sunset and then rush to the ferry stop to catch the last express boat of the day. They are similar to the Venice boats, dashing between stops at break neck speed, stopping just long enough for passengers to hastily get on and off. The ferryman gives a series of shrill whistles to let the captain know when to stop, start and manoeuvre. The ticket seller is tiny and has a heavy metal ticket dispenser round her neck and rattles her change holder as she pushes through the crowd with ease – no one escapes her eye. We buy a ticket to take us up to the nearest stop to the Khao San Road – yes, it's time for us to plunge into the madness of back-packer land.

Khao San Road is where all the cheap places are to stay, eat , drink and be entertained.. The place to meet other travellers and the place to exchange what we like to call travel lies with everyone else. Then there is the people watching – endlessly fascinating. There is an amazing mix of nationalities and you hear every language, but, fortunately for us, English is the most common after Thai. There are lots of people wearing the fisherman's baggy trousers that are on sale everywhere in crazy colours and patterns (we can't bring ourselves to buy and wear any because we all know secretly deep down how ridiculous they look).

Groups of Chinese and Japanese visitors with their tour guide, cut a swathe through the crowd. Big, tall Russian guys with very loud voices stalk the streets. They sound really annoyed but it's just the way the language comes over. Plenty of Australians, New Zealanders, Americans, Canadians, Brits, Dutch, Belgians, French plus loads of others. The noise level is pretty high as music spills out of all the the bars and restaurants.

There are open air massages available on the street. The enterprising Thais take a section of pavement and put 10 or 20 big, comfortable, reclining chairs in a row. For around 60 Baht you sit down and have a lovely foot massage whilst drinking a beer and watching the world go by. We sit there like lord and lady muck whilst a diminutive Thai works on our hot sweaty feet (what a way to make a living). Neck and shoulder massage is also available. 

 Then there are the fish spas – big glass tanks full of tiny fish. There are seats round the edge and people sit dangling there feet whilst the fish nibble at them. There are some reports that you can catch other people's diseases through them and I can believe it! We pick a restaurant where there was a '3 for 2 Cocktails' and  a Thai guitarist singing perfect covers of all the songs we know. We eat great food and chat to whoever is around and have a laugh. Then it's time to go back to our ivory tower and all our fellow sedate (or in our case sedated) travellers. Bangkok's been a great introduction to Thailand. 

 In the morning we are flying north to Chiang Mai, to see what it's like up there.

(Here are some frescos from the Royal Palace)