My flight from Kolkata to Bangkok was amazingly short and got me into the Bangkok airport at 5.30am, with a transfer to Lub d Bangkok, the hostel I had booked, I was in town by 7am and waiting in reception for the chance of am early check in.
One thing I had already noticed was that the driving was much more stable in bangkok, I actually fell asleep in the taxi I felt so safe, there were rules of the road and people seemed to know them, thank god.
I have to admit I spent the first 4-6 hours of my time in bangkok while waiting for my dorm bed to become available, in awe of the place and in serious reflection on what I had just experienced in India. This city just felt more familiar and made more sense to me than anything else I have witnessed for the previous four weeks. I think I even said I love this place out loud after spotting a “no spitting” sign; a simple and, I had previously thought obvious sentiment to share.
It took that day of settling in getting a lot of basic stuff done; like a new sim card, clothes washing and a clean dorm bed done efficiently and without pain for me to realise exactly how tough India was. I’m not claiming to have gone into the thick of it, I strategically avoided the golden triangle, based on other peoples reaction when I asked them how it was, as well as time constraints; but I think being a lone female traveller I can be excused, its a tough region.
I had five nights in bangkok for this visit, I knew in would be back when my friends came out to visit so I planned to do all true stuff I thought we would not get round to when we came together. That meant avoiding markets!
Day 1
I made a friend from London, Canada one morning at breakfast and from there headed off into the Bangkok heat to hit China town. We decided to walk once we saw the map as it looked nice and close; in London temperatures that would have been the case but the heat that was being thrown down made it feel a little further.
We got there recognising the Chinese lettering and decoration that covers the China towns in all the previous cities we have experience of, there is a grand welcome to China town arch typically decorated and lots and lots of Wat (temples!).
This is typical of thailand temples are everywhere on streets you would never suspect and with varying degrees of grandiosity. The interesting thing about some of the ones in China town are the Thai , Chinese combined design influences that are clearly visible inside and out.
The markets themselves are the narrowest walkways with both sides packed full of vendors selling some food stuff or another, all beautifully displayed and 80% of which unrecognisable to my western uneducated eye. So I spent the most part guessing with Laura what the jeepers we were looking at.
The food stalls on the pavement with plastic tables and chairs for Thai’s to eat at was a phenomenon to me that was now everywhere in this part of town. Where there was space there was a table and chair with someone chowing down on some yummy dish that was not on display for me to choose (by pointing which was how I had to start)!
[slickr-flicker tag=”chinatown” thumbnail_size=small]
After walking through all the yummy smells I needed to get in on some of this action, we found a stall with some tables and chairs; I chose prawns with pak choi and rice and sat down. With a big smile the lady delivered my plate, it was overrun with greens, I fished around for my prawns….there were two.
TWO on the whole plate. That was my first encounter with a sly Thai smile….smile yes while your trying to take the Micheal. I was too hungry to NOT say anything; I walked up to show her the two prawns and gestured to the pot for more, she put one more on the plate (still smiling, but don’t worry I’m smiling too), I gestured for her to keep ’em coming – even in England the serving size is 5, and prawns are in abundance on this side of the planet. We came to an agreement and I sat down to eat, it was not even nice for all the trouble, I ate and we left.
Day 2
Sightseeing, scams and more sightseeing.
So today was the day I wanted to use a map and the public transport network to get around the city, there were some walking tours and one temple I had been recommended to see; Wat Pho, and I wanted to see the Thai boxing stadium.
I planned to take lonely planets advice and head up north via the the river express boat, taking in some sight as I traveled. For only 40baht its well worth doing as the city comes alive from its river viewpoint, I disembarked at the last stop on the tourist boat and started to walk from there.
Tuk Tuks unlike India are not the recommend choice of travel for the local people and most of them will warn you off using them. So when I was approached by a tuk tuk driver asking “where you go” I had told him what I was going to do but that I was doing it foot. He offered me a ride to several places for 10 baht, I said no and reiterated that I wanted to walk.
What happened next stunned me…
“Awwww you ‘tuuupiid!” was his reply. I almost choked, his phone rang he answered it. I waited.
I told him that he is not to call people stupid as its rude and not very hospitable as Thai’s are usually, I told him it was my business if I wanted to walk. He told me to “F!#& off”, we exchanged the expected pleasantries after that point and I carried on my way…Perplexed.
15 minutes later I’m taking a picture of the king poster that is everywhere and this guy stops me to talk about the king and his birthday that is coming up in the next few days, he mentioned the celebrations that were going on and that this weekend there was an offer on at all tourist attraction attractions. He said the government were subsidising the tuk tuks to make this easy for your tourists to visit, his enthusiasm was infectious and he said all I needed to do was look for a tuk tuk with a special flag.
As if planned, along comes a tuk tuk, this still does not click with me as being organised (I’m usually quicker than this) and I get in the tuk tuk where the driver reconfirms the special deal and takes me to the tallest budda first. When I tell him only want to do a few of the temples on the list he seems to not understand me, he takes me to the emerald budda, where there is a very helpful man (also part of the scam) who tells me about what else is going on in honor of the kings birthday includes a session put on by the government about how to spot fake clothes makers, clamping down on the dodgy low quality materials and clothes produced. He also throws in that Wat Pho is closed until 2pm so it would be a good filler. Being interested in dressmaking I thought this would be useful information, not because I wanted to buy a suit, so before I know it I’m back in the tuk tuk reiterating the useful information I know have, Wat Pho is closed until 2 and there is this new place I now want to go! (Fool I am!)
He take me to a clothes makers shop, this guy tried to intimidate me into buying a suit re assuring me after asking me where I was from if only to scoff “its only £100!” I told him must be five times do not want a suit – I thought this was something else. He finally let me leave…and I went back to my tuk tuk driver and asked him to take me to Wat Pho, he looked upset and said “oh you no look at the clothes, I need my token to get my subsidy and you did not spend long enough.”
I was getting annoyed now, this was not my plan for the day it was getting on into the afternoon, he asked me to go to one more and look for longer. I reluctantly agreed only because I had come across this before in India and I wanted to help.
On to the second place I knew the drill i told the guy who asked where I was from that I was from the west indies… Convert that baby! After the usual trying to find out what I might be interested in he started quoting me in US dollars, EC dollars were not in his roladex of currencies to convert to….hehe. I was wasting time remember, if there is one person that can browse – its me, he on the other hand got restless and after 10 minutes blurted out,
“do you even have the opportunity to wear a suit. Are you going to buy something?”
Red frikkin flag….I told him I was from the west indies; not on his rich hit list so he wants to start insulting people. I told him where was really from and asked him if he still wanted me to leave, his attitude changed so I let him have some more, I told him his attitude when he thought I came from a poorer country stunk and that I can and will browse as long as I want, with no intention of buying from him because he was to out of order.
I carried on browsing asking questions about the fabric, telling him i sew myself and it is cheaper for me to do it myself and other comments, generally being a wind up. He left a female to attend to me after a while, shortly after that I left, I think 30 minutes was plenty for somewhere I didn’t want to be.
The tuk tuk driver still had a face on him….”awe you no buy”. I was done, I told him I never wanted suit in the first place and right now he needed to take me to Wat Pho. He drove off angrily. That’s when I realised almost everyone I had met today was not trust worthy, they were into selling crappy material to idiot tourists in the shape of a suit.
He dropped me off at some random temple no where near Wat Pho, again thanks to Google maps I put myself right. I must of looked distressed as this old Thai man asked me if i was alight and I told him what happened he said yes, its a scam, he quickly announced they were not Thai but neighbouring country folk in Mafia style gangs that put this togther, he told me never trust a proper English speaking tuk tuk driver as Thais generally don’t get taught it at school and that they should never approach me.
I made it to just outside Wat Pho to catch an Ghanaian girl having her map circled and drawn on by two guys the same way mine was…being me I put my nose straight in the circle of her and the two guys, listened, then said to her, I was scammed in the very same way just now. As I finished my sentence the tuk tuk driver of the two had taken off and the one on foot slyly crossed the road and disappeared. I had stopped it happening to her.
I told her my story and we visited Wat Pho together and got the river express back.
Day 3
Ampsawa Floating market
This was an organised tour by the Lub d Bangkok hostel team, two hours journey outside the side this market had food, clothes gifts and more food. As there are two branches of he hostel it was a great way to meet others and three of us popped off to explore it together.
We pooled our resources to try everything we possibly could and basically spent the day eating everything we had seen and wanted to try. This market was full of Thais doing the same, it seemed to be a real family day out for them all.
The food is served off of floating cooking boats, lots of seafood and meats of all kinds, the seating is along the edge of the river, at times with your legs dangling off. There is nothing like it I have seem before and the elegance, efficiency and team working of the Thai people makes it hard for me to believe it can be effortlessly replicated.
This day ended with a evening beer on the riverside with the market all lit up. Perfect.
[slickr-flicker tag=”floatingmarket” thumbnail_size=small]