Bangkok

Our Thailand adventure began in Bangkok with a whirlwind three days in the bustling, hustling capital. Bangkok is a city of contrasts, of chaos, of excesses and beauty, of flowers, canals, alleyways, food, markets, night markets, food markets, malls, high-rises, tuktuks, taxis, skytrains & subways, wats, Buddhas, expats, massage places, and pot shops. It's this, and so much more. Three days is not enough to even scratch the surface, but it's all we had, and we made the most of it.

Working on very little sleep and no internal body clock adjustment yet to our new time zone, 11 hours ahead of Toronto, we fought through the tiredness, avoided getting horizontal on the very comfortable looking bed in our hotel, the CHERN, and hit the streets.  Bangkok has excellent public transportation along with a seemingly endless supply of taxis and tuktuks, but nothing beats walking a big, vibrant city so we decided to walk to our first site, Jim Thomson's (AKA the Thai Silk King) House Museum, a mere (!) 3.4 km from the CHERN. Then another couple of km to the Siam Square - super vibrant with tons of nightlife, fashion, shopping, etc. - area to pick up a Thai SIM.

By now we realized we should start using public transportation as we were getting super tired. Our first trip on the subway, which is clean, modern, efficient and cheap, was to Chinatown which was predictably chaotic. The crowds and smells were at times overpowering, especially in our sleep deprived state. We found a nice little dumpling vendor in a relatively quiet corner and watched the craziness go by.

Then we walked back to our hotel and found a lovely little pot shop on the way.  The friendly budtender told us we could go upstairs to enjoy one of the two pre-rolls we had just purchased. Exhausted, but happy and buzzed, we walked the final few hundred metres to our hotel and crashed mightily.

Day 2:  Grand Palace, Giant reclining Buddha statue, insanity of Chinatown, Wat Arun -  where locals, and the occasional foreigner, don fancy Thai traditional wear that can be rented at one of the many shops nearby and get their picture taken, sunset drinks across the Chao Phraya River from Wat Arun, and finally, dinner, drinks, and live music around the Khaosan road area. Khaosan road is near unrecognizable from when I was there last, 18 or so years ago. At that time it was known as the main backpacker place to stay and hangout, and party, but the party-time ethos has been sent into hyper drive as touts shout, shove menus and various signs into your face and try to pull you in to the one of the many bars/clubs that are blasting their music at insane levels that basically cancel each other out and combine to form a  thumping cacophony of bad dance music. Drink specials, pot, and laughing gas are constantly being offered up from left and right...it was nuts. We walked the gauntlet and got the hell out of there!  After catching our breath we continued our night and hit three bars, 2 with good live music, the third was a weird bar that looked intriguing but was a bit lame finally. It was time to go back to the CHERN.

Day 3: Flower market in the morning, then took the public ferry down the river to visit the Talat Noi neighbourhood which seems to be in the midst of a makeover from car, motorcycle and all things motorized repair area to a bit of a hipster place with cool street art in the many winding alleyways by the water, funky cafes, choco-cafe, restos, etc. Then we took a bus to Lumphini park to chill and check out the Monitor lizards - fearsome looking but mostly harmless...we were told. And then finally, finally! we hit a spa in the Sukhumvit neighbourhood for a glorious foot and neck/shoulder/arm massage...ahhhhhh. Supper at W food market in the W district before heading home to freshen up before going out to enjoy a nightcap at the rooftop patio bar at the Swing Bar close to our hotel. Another busy, awesome day in Bangkok.

The next day, April 6, we took the train to Kanchanburi to visit elephants and waterfalls. See you then!
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