My two week vacation for Chinese New Year was spent in Thailand. Let’s do this in steps because there are a lot of details. Here are my accounts of my first days of the trip in Bangkok.

NIGHT 1 (Sat 1/28): Metha and Ko picked me up at the airport. Metha and Ko are friends from college. They were roommates freshman year. Ko is quite the entrepreuner. Co-managing a home improvement business, evironmental science consulting practice, insurance and cosmetic salesman, soon to be coffeeshop owner. Needless to say his cellphone is ringing every other minute. But he was happy to take time off. He is a great taxi/tour guide/breakfast deliverer and more. We stayed at his place the first and last 3 nights in Bangkok.

Got in around 10pm. Drove into the city, parked and took a tuk-tuk to Chinatown (watch the ride. 10mb) A tuk-tuk is an automatic rickshaw that makes for quite an interesting taxi ride as they drive really fast. Saw a big dragon given to Thailand from China celebrating the King’s 60th anniversary on the throne. Went into a buddhist temple and said some prayers (this would happen quite often on the trip). I didn’t know which day of the week I was born so I prayed to the same one Metha did, the Reclining Buddha.

DAY 1 (Sun 1/29): I think we got a late start because of me. I was tired. We (Ko, Metha and I) visited a floating market in the city. This is a dock with many vendors in boats and canoes selling food and goods. There is a more famous floating market in another city west of Bangkok Metha wanted me to see but we didn’t have time. This one was good enough for me. We ate brunch and then went for a two tour ride on the canal stopping at different places here and there. It was really interesting to see the homes right on the canal. They don’t have carports, they have boatports. Their mailboxes stand on a post sticking up out of the water. We visited an orchid garden and two temples. The tour was pretty cheap, cheaper than an entry to a famous temple.

After the tour ride we all got a traditional Thai massage. It was funny because Ko said he felt worse after the massage than before. His guy went a little rough on him. I remember the guy holding Ko’s legs and arms, putting his feet on Ko’s back and then arching him in the air. It looked uncomfortable for him.

We visited Kao Sam Rd next. This is where many foreigners go when they first get to the city. There are many cheap hotels and many pubs and bars. We had dinner and walked around. It was really crowded. I had an ice cream cone. Did you ever dip your french fries in ice cream? A foreigner was eating some fried bugs he bought from a street vendor. He gave me one and I ate it with my ice cream. Can’t remember what kind of a bug it was. There was this girl was eating fried scorpion too.

That night Metha and I went to see Thai boxing. It was 1,000 ($25) Baht for a foreinger and 200 ($5) for Thai citizens. A little much but I wanted to see it. The main event was interesting. The fight after the main event was good too. There was a Westerner and Thai fighting each other. The Westerner was pretty agressive. He had some skills but wasn’t as traditional in his way of fighting. The Thai boxer got pretty angry at times but was also pretty cocky. The crowd got hyped during this fight. It looked as if the Westerner should have one but the judges said the Thai boxer did. Maybe because the Westerner was a little unorthodox. Not as near as unorthodox as the next Westerner would be. He fought an older Thai boxer that was overweight and out of shape. Basically, after like 20 seconds the white guy did a Mike Tyson and knocked the other guy out quick. Next match was a fight between kids. It was time to go home.

DAY 2 (Mon 1/30): This day we did a lot of walking. My feet hurt a lot after this. I wore sandals for many days after this trip. Where did we do all the walking? Around shopping malls. Siam Center, Paragon Mall (the biggest in Southeast Asia which is still unfinished), Siam Square and MBK Center. All these places are quite close to each other. The first two are very modern shopping malls. Paragon being quite nice inside. Metha and I enjoyed playing a video game called Eye Catcher. You have to find 5 differences between two pictures. As you get farther the it gets harder and time passes more quickly. Siam Square is a group of buildings spread out over a block or so. Lots of shopping and entertainment in a more market type feel. Luckily, everything is on the first floor. MBK is many floors of shopping. Inside it’s all a big market and you have to bargain of course. I got a North Face waist pack for $4.50, which I would end up using for the rest of the trip. I didn’t like bargaining when I first got to Asia, but you have to or you won’t get your money’s worth.

The shopping went from lunchtime to dinnertime. That night Ko took us to a good seafood restaurant in a canteen area so it was reasonably priced. Afterwards we had to walk quite far to get back to the car. We were lost and walking and trying to find our way. We came to a street that had some activity. We had a Thai dessert very similar to 刨冰 (baobing) called kong-wan or sweet thing. Oh, before we had the dessert I had my first encounter with a live elephant right in front of me. On the street, right in front of me. I fed him but I was scared he might wild out, like a horse may kick you if you get behind him.

DAY 3 (Tues 1/31): This day was even harder to get started than Sunday. Especially after that long day of walking. Ko took us into the city and just Metha and I would explore the city that day. We saw the Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha, Wat Pho Temple and Wat Jan (Temple of Dawn). Walking around the Grand Palace. Inside the Grand Palace there are some buildings that took like a year or two to build (don’t remember the exact the number), but the decorations outside the building took like 9 years or so. Great detail. Metha says he likes to sleep so much because his buddha is the reclining buddha. The one we saw at Wat Pho was huge. We took a tuk-tuk to a place next to river and had lunch. We then took a boat to Wat Jan (Temple of Dawn). Wat in Thai means temple. A strong faith and a strong respect for their King are embedded parts of Thai people. I read somewhere that Thailand is the land of smiles. I would agree with that.

That night we met Ko and Metha’s colleague and friend Pui for dinner and drinks at Suan Lum Night Bazaar. There’s a beer garden there and we had a good time.

I realized I’m lucky in a way. So many people in the world want to study English as a second language in hopes to be successful one day. To get ahead in this world so to say. I grew up where it is easier to get those things many call success. On the other side, there’s happiness in a simple life in whatever country you are in. It’s like my cousin Jake said, it’s wherever you came from and wherever you want to go. It’s all relative.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28th, 2006 at 11:22 pm and is filed under Travels, Thailand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.