Thailand Trip Post 8

January 5, 2015

              We woke up late-ish again and breakfasted on rice soup and fruit. We checked-out, but got to leave our bags in a locked room at the guesthouse. We would pick them up when we came back to catch our scheduled ride to the airport at 11pm. Our flight home left at 2 am, so we still had the whole day to explore.

              We finally checked out some Bangkok temples. Wat Pho had a pretty big complex that we wandered around and got lost in once. Then we figured out the ferry system and went across the river to Wat Arun. Wat Arun has a really old chedi (Buddhist stupa). You can climb up it for a small fee. So, we paid 50 baht to risk our lives scaling the steep steps/ladder to the top. Pretty awesome view though.

Wat Pho

These were scattered around the complex of Wat Pho and caused us to get quite turned around.

We learned through observation that Bangkok temples tend to have very decorative roofs and insides, just like the ones we saw in Chiang Mai, but the rest of their outside walls are starkly white.

We made friends with some temple cats.

The Wat Arun chedi

SUPER steep stairs!

I made it though!

     We also saw the Hall of the Reclining Buddha. He's a pretty huge deal.

       

I wasn't kidding about him being huge.

     
         We had planned on visiting a park full of copies of famous and old structures from around Thailand, but our guidebook informed us that it was closed on Mondays. Instead, we took an express ferry down to Chinatown. The friendly British man with the bus map yesterday had told us there was good food and cheap stuff to be had there. There was LOTS of cheap stuff. Narrow streets full of stalls and shops full of randomness. We ate noodles and roasted duck and I had chrysanthemum juice, because why not? It was very flowery and sweet. Unfortunately, we saw several bugs crawling around, so we booked it out of the restaurant and made our way back to the ferry landing.

              We saw advertisements for a River Walk, but when we got off at the stop, we found the place was brand spanking new, and most of the shop fronts were empty. We hung out in a café for a while and walked up and down the river before getting back on the ferry.

Here's a pic of our ride over to Wat Arun.

Here I am hanging out at the River Walk.

              We wandered up and down Khaosan road until dinner time. After dinner at the Elephant Bar and Café again, we found a massage place. This guy worked magic on my shoulders and neck, which always give me problems, but were extra tight from all the walking and carrying of things. Then we collected our bags, did a final check of everything, and waited for our ride to arrive.

Goodbye Khaosan! (No we did not, at any point, set foot in McDonald's.)

              The bus to the airport arrived on time, and after stuffing in more people and bags than legal or safe, we headed off into the night. We had no problems at the airport, even though everything seemed to be on a different level. Up for baggage drop off, down for security, up again for pre-gate waiting (which had no seats), and a final downstairs trip for the actual gate. The place was clearly built to be modern and cool, with all the chrome and glass and sleek lines and bright lights, but it`s not very well laid-out or relaxing. By the time we got to our actual gate it was 1 am, we had been walking outside all day, and we were exhausted and grumpy. Thankfully, the airport didn`t seem to care about our grumbles.

Here's a look at the inside of the airport.

 

Our sad, dead phones are charging away.

              We both conked out for the first part of our flight and woke up in Fukuoka. I didn`t ever think I`d be relieved to be in a place where I understood only half the signs and language around me. But it is amazingly comforting to be able to read at least half a sign, when you spent the last week not being able to read any signs at all. A brunch refreshed us and then we took turns charging our phones while we waited for our flight to be called and the last leg of our trip to begin.

              My trip to Thailand was awesome and I definitely wouldn`t mind visiting again, especially Chiang Mai. I highly recommend it!

Thailand Trip Post 5

January 2, 2015

              Our taxi came early and we had no problem getting to the airport for our 8:30am flight to Bangkok. There were several points of security though, the first one being a quick scan of all baggage and people entering the airport. We had to check our bags, because the weight limit for carry-ons had changed, but we didn`t have to pay any extra, so it didn`t matter much. We got drinks and breakfast from the only place selling food and headed up to our gate to wait.

              The flight was bumpy, but short. The transportation system was pretty confusing. We were let out onto the tarmac and bused around to the airport terminal proper. Then there were several options of trains and buses, all going to different places at different times. Bangkok has two airports, and the one we flew into was the older one, far out on the northern end of the city. We eventually figured out which train we wanted, although it wouldn`t come until 11. We waited at the station and applied sunscreen and bug spray for the umpteenth time. The train was like something out of a movie. Sparse bench seats, open windows, and full of people standing and sitting in any spare bit of space, with other people shuffling through the crowd selling drinks and food.

              When we arrived at the end of the line, smack in the middle of Bangkok, it was midday and none of the taxis we approach would even consider taking us anywhere near Khaosan Road, backpacker mecca and the nearest identifiable landmark to our guesthouse. A woman flagged us down and convinced a dude to take us in his tuk-tuk. I was super wary of this, because, hello, that sounds like the beginning to a scam. But he took us to the end of Khaosan Road and let us pay what she had told us to pay (200 baht, which was way overpriced according to the metered taxi we took later, but not horrible on the transportation scale). It was a terrifying journey of clutching our bags, each other, and any part of the open back end we could reach while the driver zoomed in and out of traffic as if lanes didn`t apply to him. Lanes don`t really seem to apply to anyone in Bangkok.

              We walked down the busy street full of stalls, stores, hotels, cafes, and people and found our guesthouse on one of the quieter side streets. It was easier than I expected based on our map reading. We were about an hour early for check-in, but they let us in anyway. We dropped our stuff in our room, reapplied the sunscreen and bug spray and headed off to find something to eat, since it was 2 hours past noon.

              We wandered into an art museum that advertised a café, that turned out to only sell drinks, but the admission was free so we walked around. Saw some traditional and contemporary Thai sculptures and paintings. There was a whole room of stuff painted by a past king, which was pretty cool.

              When we left there, we decided to check out the large park that was supposed to be nearby. It took us several tries and risking our lives to cross the crossway-less highways, but we made it. It was large and nearby, but almost completely devoid of trees. Just a swath of brown grass. We headed back to Khaosan, as a sure place to find food and shade.

              After some shopping to pick up some of the ever present elephant pants, we ate dinner at the Elephant Bar and Café. I had Pad Thai and chicken and Victoria had a curry. They had a mix of foreign food on their menu too, so we got the mozzarella sticks, because we couldn`t resist deep fried cheese. They served their Thai milk teas in mason jars which made us laugh all over ourselves. The group next to us asked for forks after their food came, and we were immediately offered forks and spoons as well, but we stuck with our chopsticks. We were seated on a balcony overlooking the street, and the people-watching was excellent.

The view from our seats

Delicious curry

              We asked about the potential for laundry at our guesthouse and a few others nearby, but were turned away, so we bought some detergent at a 7/11 and did some washing of our own in our sink. Then, we chillaxed in our beds while watching Scooby Doo in Thai until we fell asleep.