Bangkok

I have spent the last few days in Bangkok, and honestly, I really have not done all that much.
Right away I met another girl traveling solo. Ashley was nearing  her last day of vacation in Thailand and wanted to go to the skybar for a small birthday celebration.  Now skybar is one of the “highest and largest” open air roof top bars in the world. It is 64 floors up, and boasts a decent view of Bangkok, an ostentatious cliental, and over priced cocktails.  After showing up and being turned away because my sandals were not with in dress code (even though I looked nice, clean, and presentable) Ashley and I searched the streets of Bangkok for some cheap sandals that would be within dress code. Not more than twenty minutes and a few less baht later, we showed up on the rooftop for our 450 baht cocktail.  The mojito was good, the view better.

The next day I met another girl traveling solo, Serene from Canada.  We decided to all go together to the see the temples and the Grand Palace.  After two hours of struggling to get there, fighting tuk tuk drivers, scam artists, and the greater Bangkok public transportation system, we arrived.

The temples were quite impressive, really a grand sight to see.  They were so magnificently decorated and there were so many structures in the complex that it soon became overwhelming.  The temple of the emerald Buddha was by far the most impressive. No photography was allowed, so you will have to google it to see a photo.  Apparently this statue of the Buddha, which is actually made of Jasper, not Emerald, was once covered in Stucco, and thought to merely be a stucco sculpture.  Later, however, a part of the stone was uncovered and thus the legend began.  It was “stolen” by Laos at one time, and later taken again by the Thais.

Another Temple that is worthy of noting was Wat Pho.  Here lays the largest reclining Buddha, made of brick, plaster, and covered in gold foil.  The best part of this figure are his feet, which are mother of pearl inlay pictures of smaller Buddha figures and script.

The Grand Palace was also very beautiful.  After spending a number of hours gawking at this ornate style of architecture, I started to feel as though I was at Disney Land for Buddha.

Friday night I met up with an old acquaintance, Craig.  Craig went to Trinity University also, and we worked together at the Princeton Review in San Antonio for sometime.  He has been living and working in Bangkok now for about a year and loves it.

We got dinner with a group of people then went to drink sake in the Japanese area of town. I used some of my skills and read the sake bottle to everyone. I felt fulfilled.

Later in the night we went to Khao San Road, the famous toursit/backpacker road from the movie The Beach.  It was happening, stock full of venders, drunks, and bars.  We went to a bar/club called Gazebo which was quite fun. I met a few more people and also Craig’s Thai girlfriend who was very cute.

The next day proved slightly non productive. I laid around and hung out with Serene before deciding to join her and her friends Charity and James from the US that live here.  We chatted and then found some street food before going out to attempt to get tickets to some Muay Thai boxing. Unfortunately the tickets were sold out, so we settled on roaming around Khao San Road. 

There I got some delicious pad thai for only 40 Baht (about $1.50) and chang beer ($0.80). Amazing.
Later that night we went to Patpong (Bangkok’s red light district) and were hassled to go see a ping pong show.  No thanks.

On Sunday I went to the weekend market with my new friend Mel, a Thai-American artist living in Seattle and studying Gemology here.  We had a good time, ate some great food: chicken, rice, papaya salad, etc. I walked around the market and amazingly didn’t buy anything.

Sunday night I hung out with Mel and Craig and roamed around the Silom Festival before retiring to a smaller quieter street for some good noodle soup.

I have mixed feelings about Bangkok. It is an interesting vibrant city, yet it is exhausting and noisy.  I am ready to get out of here and enjoy the charms of Chiang Mai-my flight leaves tonight.