I arrived in Bangkok this morning. This time I flew on Cathay Pacific. I’d always heard what a nice airline this was and their business class was the best I’d ever seen. In all my travels over the years I’d never flown on a 747 so I was really excited that this trip was on one. Having an upstairs on a plane is so cool for the geek in me! The seats upstairs were all window seats as there was only one seat on each side of the isle. It is hard to even call them seats as they are truly like their own little pods. There is a guest bench that becomes part of the completely lie flat bed when you are stretched out. I would think that I would have slept perfectly but unfortunately I had a stop in Mumbai India halfway through the flight. This stop was a bit annoying as it broke it into two flights of 3 hours, neither of which was quite long enough to get to sleep. I would say I’ve now been to India but I didn’t even get off the plane so I won’t make that claim yet.
When I awoke landing in Bangkok it was light out since it is 3 hours ahead of Dubai. I could see the fields surrounding Bangkok as we descended. As I got to the airport I remembered that I had learned Bangkok’s official name is the longest name of a city anywhere in the world. I’ve been trying to figure out how to pronounce it for a while and wonder if anyone can say it with one breath. Thankfully they don’t use this name very often otherwise I think I’d be in trouble. Here is the official name:
Bangkokg Krungthepmahanakorn Amornrattanakosin Mahintrayuthaya Mahadilokpob Noparat Rajataniburirom Udomrajanivej Mahasatharn Amornpimarn Awatarnsatis Sakatadtiya Wisanukamprasit
What a mouthful! Making my way through customs was a breeze and I found myself in a hot pink taxi moving very quickly towards the city. Katie was already at the hotel and had told me to expect a wonderful place. She had managed to get us a great friends and family rate at the Four Seasons (http://www.fourseasons.com/bangkok/), one of the nicest hotels in Asia (at least according to Condé Nast) on Ratchadamri Rd. I watched out the window and as we pulled up I noticed that the hotel my taxi driver had taken me to was the All Seasons, not the Four Seasons. After some very confusing banter trying to explain that they are two different hotels a security guard helped point him in the direction of the Four Seasons.
I pulled up to the hotel and was greeted with many bowing employees of the hotel. They ushered me in and I was quite impressed with the lobby with beautiful traditional Thai murals painted on the soaring lobby ceiling. Katie had been kind enough to order me chicken satay with peanut sauce so I had some nourishment when I got to the room which looks over Siam Square shopping centers.
After getting cleaned up Katie and I decided a walk was in order. The concierge suggested we take a taxi to the Chao Phraya River where we had decided to head first. He was worried that a half hour walk was too far for us. We assured him we could, with me thinking “we are New Yorkers and we walk a lot.” Well he was right. We walked partway there stopping to see the King Rama VI monument on the edge of Suan Lumphini (suan means park). As we continued we were both realizing that it was extremely hot and humid, and this is the cool time of year here. We saw the above ground train and decided to take it the rest of the way. We got off the train and walked down Charoen Krung Rd, one of the oldest in Bangkok. Lots of shops to peek into and then we went to the Oriental hotel which I’d read has a wonderful terrace on the back looking over the river.
After a drink, fresh mango juice and vodka for me and Katie with a Mai Thai (when in Rome), we took a taxi back to our hotel. At our hotel we noticed a ton of security. We went to the desk to ask a question and they told us that the princess would be coming to the hotel to light the Christmas tree and raise money for a charity. I’d never seen any royalty before so it was a must to see the princess. Katie and I went to the room and quickly googled the royal family and learned that Princess Siriwannawari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siriwannawari_Nariratana) was the one coming to the hotel. She is the granddaughter of the current King and Queen and the daughter of the Prince who will become the King.
Before seeing her we had time to take a taxi over to Vertigo, a restaurant and bar on the rooftop of a sixty-story hotel. As I’ve said before in this blog I think a great way to learn your way around is to see everything from a high vantage point. I figured sixty stories would work. Before I get to the views…upon exiting the elevator I was told that they had a dress code of no shorts and no sandals…both of which I was wearing. I was disappointed but perked up when they told me that they have pants and shoes to borrow. I took my borrowed clothes to the restroom where several other travelers were getting out of their pants and putting their shorts and flip-flops back on. We laughed about it and then my laughter nearly turned to tears when I put on the tight pants that were about 3 inches too short for me. I believe that this was Karma for when I laughed at Theresa in here jalabia in Dubai. I walked out of the bathroom and Katie burst into laughter. I was now wearing short black pants with black shoes that my heel was about an inch off the back of. Not a pretty site! However, the next site was the view from the rooftop and it more than made up for it. We looked around and took the view in of what was a much larger city than I’d realized. We had a drink and watched it the buildings turn their lights on as the sun went down.
After changing back into my “street clothes” we rushed back to the Four Seasons to make sure we’d see the Princess. By now the red carpet was up at the front of the hotel (though no one was allowed to walk on it) and the lobby full of well-heeled guests. We listened to the request from the Palace that no one take photos and then watched as Princess Siriwannawari came in and took her throne. Once she was settled in we went to dinner at the Spice Market restaurant. My first order of Pad Thai in Thailand! Then my lack of sleep caught up with me and after icing my foot (don’t ask – running into the side of a slide at Wild Wadi waterpark in Dubai left my foot black, blue and swollen) my head hit the pillow fairly early.
After one of the best sleeps I’ve had in a long time I woke up Tuesday morning at around 6:30 in the morning. Katie had apparently tossed and turned (no not because I was snoring…at least that is what she says) because her internal clock was telling her it was the middle of the day back in New York. We got ready and had a great breakfast in the hotel (again thanks Friends and Family for including that in our rate). We then took the train down to the river and the Central Pier. We boarded the river boat that cost 14 Baht (around 50 cents) and traveled up the Chao Phraya River past the Wat Arun ) http://www.into-asia.com/Bangkok/attractions/watarun.php) and disembarked at Tha Chang Pier which lies at the foot of the Wat Phrae Kaew (http://www.into-asia.com/Bangkok/attractions/watphrakaew.php) and the Grand Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace,_Bangkok). The Wat Phrae Kaew is the holiest place in Thailand and houses the Emerald Buddha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha), in fact it is referred to as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This complex was crammed full of the most ornate buildings, some covered in colorful tiles that looked like jewels and others in gold. The Upper Terrace is the pinnacle like structure that you traditionally would see at a Wat but this one is entirely gold. The Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha is the religious center of the complex and as the name suggested houses the Emerald Buddha, which is only about 2 feet tall and made of jadeite not actual emerald. It is however green! To enter the Monastery you have to take off your shoes. You don’t have to wash yourself up like in Dubai at the mosque. There are many religious “creatures” that are there to protect the site and they were quite beautiful. I only saw one monk walking around but by now we’d seen a few of them throughout the city.
As we walked to the Grand Palace we were a bit confused as we couldn’t figure out where to go. We realized that most of the inside of the palace was closed for a special event. We saw what looked like some very high military officials arriving with gold buddhas in hand. The grounds are beautiful and the buildings amazingly ornate.
We left the complex and grabbed a taxi, which are amazingly affordable in Bangkok (THB 100 –roughly $4- to go across the entire city), to see Siam Square, back near our hotel. We’d been reading and told by our very friendly taxi driver that Siam Square was the best shopping in Bangkok. Our taxi driver made me realize that this really is the city of smiles. He was the happiest person and talked about having lived in New York and was a former Thai Boxer. He was very excited to tell us he had two madams in his life! He dropped us of at the MBK, a shopping corner at Siam Square. We quickly realized Siam Square is a complex of shopping malls. Unless we were ready to buy things we could get at home this wasn’t really the spot for us. I did give thought to buying some things since for the last several years I’ve watched Europeans shopping until the stores are cleaned out in New York given the falling dollar. The prices in Thailand are much better than New York. This is a good thing since as I was re-reading my blog from Europe I noted the Dow at 10,000 and at 8,500…while in Dubai it closed below 8,000. I also continued to hear people referring to their 401k accounts and 201k accounts.
Now mid-day we decided to have lunch at a restaurant we’d heard about called Blue Elephant (http://www.blueelephant.com/). This is the original outpost of this restaurant which has expanded to places such as London, Paris, Kuwait and Copenhagen. It serves “traditional royal Thai cuisine.” Katie had her first order of Pad Thai and I had a traditional Thai dip, a dish of shrimp, in this case, that you dip into a very spicy sauce and comes with grilled vegetables. After lunch and quick train ride back to the hotel, Katie decided it was time for a spa treatment to help her with jetlag and I decided to read magazines by the pool. A rest before we head to the night market at Sukhumvit Road Soi 38 and Patpong road for Bangkok nightlife.
After a bit of a rest in the hotel we decided to go eat at a place I’d read about. I was pushing Katie into this one since it was a night market off Sukhumvit Rd and the food was going to be from a hawker cart, a road stand in this case. So we made our way by taxi to Soi 38 far off from our hotel and the center of the city. When we got out of the taxi we were expecting a large market but found only a small street of food stands. We confirmed we were in the right place and decided since we were there we’d go for it, even though it looked a bit scary for our stomach. We ordered Pad Thai from the hawker that had a sign touting being rated one of the best in the city. The Pad Thai was spicy and I thought quite good. The only part I didn’t like was the shrimp jerky, as Katie and I called it. Dried shrimp that was covered in spices and added along with fresh shrimp. They were a bit chewy and didn’t taste that good. Katie was not as enamored with the scenario as I was but was a great sport and enjoyed the overall experience.
We had noticed that the elevated train was nearby and we took it back to Sala Deong station near our hotel which was where we’d read true Bangkok nightlife that we’d both pictured existed. Three roads of sorts, Patpong 1, Patpong 2, and Patpong 3. As we exited the Sala Deong station we came onto a street teeming with sidewalk sales of everything to remote controls to buddhas to underwear. We came to Patpong 3 first. As you walk down the street you are instantaneously accosted to come in and see the shows. We’d already been warned that the shows are on the second floor and you likely will be disgusted and/or pay huge sums to get out of there. These are the leftover spots from the days when true brothels existed in this neighborhood, though it is clear there are still the same services available.
As we walked down Patpong 3 there were tons of people standing around watching women dancing in the middle of the alleyway…or so we thought. Katie commented that she was the only woman besides the dancers. I looked around and she was right. That was when I thought it was funny that there were no women here and realized that Patpong 3 is the gay Patpong. These women dancing were not really women but men in drag putting on a dance show similar to that you might find at the Staples Center with the Laker Girls! After watching in shock and awe we decided to move on and see Patpong 1, which we’d read was more tranquil. Patpong 1 was certainly more tranquil but tranquil is not a word for it. It was a market in the middle of a street with stand after stand fake bags, clothes, cds and dvds. Along side were restaurants and bars with women dancing on the bars in their skimpy clothes. So after wander that we went to Patpong 2. Patpong 2 is covered with neon signs, as the others were, and we were quickly solicited to see the “ping pong show.” For those who haven’t heard before the ping pong show is women shooting ping pong balls out of their lower extremities! We did not see it first hand deciding instead to head to a more major street and hit a beer garden (not like the beer gardens I’d recently seen in Munich).
Several Singha beers later and lots of beggers and sales people accosting us (in a fun way) we were ready to head back to the hotel in our first tuk tuk ride. A tuk tuk is a motorized three wheel vehicle. It is open with a cover on the top but no doors or windows. It is a fun ride with the wind, and cars, buses and trucks, whizzing by. Before we got out of the area we saw our first elephants walking down the street! In the middle of this huge concrete jungle elephants were wandering along. Coming from New York we are used to seeing just about anything but I can comfortably say I’ve never seen an animal we are used to seeing in a zoo walking down a city street.
Arriving back at the hotel around 2 AM I saw an e-mail from my mom asking if we were safe given the riots at the airport. We’d not even heard of it so quickly looked up the news online and learned that the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protestors had taken over the main Suvarnabhumi airport (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/25/AR2008112500564.html?hpid=moreheadlines). We had seen nothing in the city to even lead us to believe this was happening down the street. After a quick call home to let everyone know we were fine we hit the sack.
On Wednesday morning we woke to hear the news that grenades had gone off and gun shots had been fired at both airports. Suvarnabhumi was closed and they expected it to open again at noon. There were fifteen thousand protesters at the airport trying to oust the current prime minister and they had blocked the airport with over three thousand cars. No flights had left but unfortunately for many they’d allowed flights to land so there were now thousands stuck in the airport.
Figuring there wasn’t anything we could do we went to see the Snake Farm so we could see some of the slithering creatures of Southeast Asia. Unfortunately we missed the snake handling and venom milking show but we were able to see vipors and cobras in the “zoo” portion of the compound. Leaving the Snake Farm we headed to the Jim Thompson House (http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/). Jim Thompson is an American who had lived in Bangkok and re-invigorated the silk trade in the 50s. He had built a beautiful house in Thai, mixed with western, tradition. He mysteriously disappeared in 1961 while hiking in Malaysia. Interestingly his Thai horoscope based on his year of birth suggested that his sixty first year would be one in which to be careful.
Katie and I ate lunch at the Jim Thompson house restaurant which was located near the canal and in the midst of the beautiful gardens. After lunch we decided to walk to the Siam Center and get some things we needed and then back to our hotel.
After checking in at the desk to see if the airport had re-opened, it hadn’t, we went thank upstairs to see if we could re-arrange our travel plans. We decided, much to our disappointment, that we couldn’t get to Chiang Mai. The PM had landed there as he came back from Peru and demonstrations (read riots) had started there. So altering our plans we booked an additional night at the Four Seasons in Bangkok and e-mailed our hotel in Phuket to check in early. We rented a car for Friday morning so we can make the 9+ hour drive from Bangkok to Phuket. We also registered with the embassy to ensure if the unrest grew we could go there and get help. Watching the news we thought that we were in big trouble until we realized that new riots had erupted in Mumbai (which I’d just flown through…coincidence?) and several hotels were on fire and hostages had been taken. We were realizing that thus far we had it pretty good…stuck in the Four Seasons with no violence nearby. The song One Night in Bangkok (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Night_in_Bangkok) came to mind since we were staying an extra for a total of four nights in Bangkok.
That night we went to a great restaurant for dinner called Eat Me. It is owned by an Australian and served wonderful food. I had fig and blue cheese ravioli and Katie had Risotto. After dinner we came back to the hotel to have a lazy evening of reading about the PAD’s continuing civil unrest.
Thursday morning…Happy Thanksgiving! Katie and I woke and wished each other Happy Thanksgiving. We then headed to the gym for a quick workout before breakfast. Hearing that the airport was indeed still closed we were glad we’d reserved tonight in our hotel. We did decide, however, that since we couldn’t go to the River Café in Chiang Mai for our Thanksgiving dinner of fried cockroaches that we’d splurge. Katie reserved a table for us for this evening at the Oriental hotel that is serving a traditional turkey and stuffing buffet Thanksgiving Dinner! Yum!
Having an extra day in Bangkok we decided to visit Chinatown. We took the elevated train to the subway to get there. The elevated train is quite efficient and you get to see the sites as you go by. The subway was amazingly clean and made New York’s seem quite dingy. Chinatown in Bangkok is huge and very overwhelming. It gives New York and San Francisco Chinatowns a serious run for their money. We had a dim sum lunch at the White Orchid hotel that was delicious. Then we walked to Old Siam shopping center. A market of sorts that ended up having a lot of strange, cheap nick-nacks. After the market, Katie decided to brace it on her own and go to Wat Pho, with the reclining Buddha. I decided this afternoon was a down time after so much traveling around. I came back to the hotel and sat by the pool writing my blog and sipping a Singha beer. What a life!
Thanksgiving dinner tonight was traditional American, except on the bank of the Chao Phraya River at the Oriental hotel in Bangkok. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy. They even had pumpkin pie…my favorite. Although we had tropical drinks with our dinner it still felt like Thanksgiving in its own way! After dinner we headed off to the State Tower and the 64th floor Skyview Bar, the Dome. It was a bit scary to me as we perched above the city with seemingly nothing below us. Great views, music and drinks was a fun way to end Thanksgiving in Bangkok. Now I’m off for a good sleep before our lengthy drive tomorrow to Phuket.
