Monday, December 18, 2017

Bangkok, Thailand


I flew from Laos in the early evening and arrived to Bangkok after a short one-hour flight. The airlines here offer small meals even on short flights, and this one of chicken curry was quite good. The planes are small and quite old, but hey, they work!

The airport was again quite intense, and really crowded. It is difficult for me to get used to the personal space here-- very little! And people seem to walk right at you making a last-minute adjustment to not smash into you, where in the US, people seem to adjust further off so they don't approach so closely. When you stand still, you often have someone right up next to you, in your personal space. It wasn't bad at all in Laos, and somewhat in Krabi and Chiang Mai, but I got it quite a lot in the Bangkok beehive airport.

Very ready to be out of there, I called an Uber. Yes, they are in Bangkok and a nice way to get to your hotel without dealing with the subway at night when you're tired, or a taxi that might rip you off. The 50 minute ride was only around $11 USD. Well worth it. Finding my guest house was a little of a challenge and when I got dropped off, I wasn't entirely sure where it was, but knew it was close. Thankfully I back-tracked a few buildings and there it was!

It seems more of a hotel then a guest house and I was quite pleased. It's nice inside, and the rooms are quite spacious and comfortable. It was recommended by several on a Tripadvisor forum and well-rated. It's the first mattress that isn't a slab of granite and I slept like a dream. Before going to bed, I noticed my feet and lower legs were hurting a bit and tingly, and found I had major cankles-- swelling. I did some research with Dr. Google to find it's likely due to some dehydration. I didn't drink quite as much water yesterday as I have been, so that makes some sense.

I woke this morning really feeling exhaustion set in and not quite ready for the assault of Bangkok, so I stayed in the room until 8:30 and worked on my blog and loading pictures. The call of exploration hit, though, and now I'm on my way.

I walked along the waterfront (which was blocked in areas, requiring walking on the street that runs parallel) to the Royal Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew). The complex is enormous and exquisitely beautiful. It was also elbow-to-elbow with people, reaffirming my thought that I really don't like people all that much! Especially those with an entirely different concept of personal space. I suspect I mentioned this already, but I really do like at least an arm's length of space between me and people I don't know, and I bristle a bit if people push into that area. This area was so crowded it was impossible not to, but also I do find culturally that people here do not mind getting closer and often do. It feels like people aim to walk right at you which is a bit frustrating, especially in very busy spaces.































Then I walked down to Wat Pho, Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This is a smaller area but no less beautiful.



















My toots were hurting as I'm apparently dehydrated and have 'cankles' where my feet and ankles are swelling up. I decided to hop in a tuk tuk and learned later that I got robbed (when I got another) but I was happy enough with the fare at the time. Ha! I went to the flower market, which has a vegetable market across the street. I wish I could bottle up the smell! First I walked a bit through the vegetable market and the produce smelled so amazing, fresh and green. There were bags of greens, cucumbers, something that looked like green beans that were close to two feet long and many others. The flower market was equally impressive with the bright colors and the smell.














I was really excited to go to a floating market, and hired another tuk tuk to go to the one in Bangkok, the Talking Chan Floating Market. It took maybe 40 minutes to get there and was, as always, an interesting tuk tuk ride. You can reach out and touch cars and mopeds, literally, as there seems to be the driving laws you might expect in a beehive. It's an intricate, exhilarating and something scary dance. We got to some pretty impressive speeds as well.

We got there to learn that it's closed, and only open on the weekend. Thanks, Google! So, I was a bit of a captive audience and asked the driver to take me back to my hotel. We again negotiated the rate and off we went. The ride wasn't as long this time.

Man, I'm pooped and hit a wall after I think 9 days of nonstop travel and moving. I decided to chill a bit in my room and raise my ankles to try to keep the swelling down (it finally started to, after drinking a couple of bottles of water.) I got caught up posting my pictures on FB, on this blog, and checked in on my work email (I know, I know, but it was quick!) I wrote out my post card to my nephews, which I have kept up with on this trip so far, sending one from each location. Enjoying the chill time honestly and feeling sore, draggy and tired.

I head out to a night market to get some good Thai street food, and my hotel told me there is one that is a ten-minute walk. I'm staying at the New Siam Riverside Guest House and I'm quite pleased with it, boh the location and the room and service. The folks working the desk have been very nice and helpful.









I got some pad thai ($1.50 USD), and a mango sticky rice. The mango was really mushy and didn't taste fresh, so I tossed it. There was a long line at a meat place at the market. They had different cuts and I asked for a small portion of the grilled pork. It looked good but was mostly fat, so after a few bites I tossed it. It just wasn't going to be a great food night! (though the pad thai was good). I did see a lot of other places that were busy and look good that I may try tomorrow. I also got a charging bank for my phone as I have run out of battery taking pictures a few times and do NOT want that to happen in Bagan.

I walked around a bit after I was done but didn't see much appealing so decided to head back for a fairly early night.


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