May | 2010 | Around the World in 136 Days

Originally this post was going to cover our entire stay in Bangkok, but as I began I soon realized each day needed to be separated, as there was so much to say. With approximately 6.5 million people, three days was really not enough time to do the enormous city justice, but we certainly tried our best.

We were dropped off near the infamous “backpacker ghetto”, Khao San Road, around 5am, after another overnight bus ride (by this point I’d become surprisingly used to sleeping on a bus). Although we (Kevin) would normally opt to hoof it and find accommodation without paying for a taxi, neither of us was ready to try to navigate the city on our own so early in the morning (or at least one of us wasn’t). We picked one of the popular hostels from our Lonely Planet “Southeast Asia on a Shoestring” guidebook, Lamphu Tree House, and bargained with a rickshaw driver until we felt the price was right.

He stopped a few minutes later and directed us the rest of the way since the rickshaw couldn’t drive down the alley. We were hesitant, but finally got out and trusted that he wasn’t trying to pull a fast one on us, as we’d become so used to. Turns out we should have trusted our instinct. Although it seemed to be an accident, the driver had taken us to the Lamphu Tree House Boutique Hotel, starting at 1,500 Bhat (~$45 USD), well out of our price range. Although it was torture for me to walk away from the clean, inviting lobby, which was being set up for a delicious buffet breakfast, we set back out onto the street, making our way towards the budget hotels. (Kicking ourselves since now, a taxi ride later, we were walking farther than we would have when we originally got off the bus.)

Being so early in the morning, many of the places were full and didn’t know if they’d have rooms opening up later on or not (many backpackers, including us, wait until the day-of to let the hostel know whether they’ll be checking out). Instead of both of us walking miserably from door to door with our backpacks and other possessions (few, but heavy), I sat on a curb guarding our things while Kevin set out to find us a “home”.

Seeing signs like this reminded me I was far from home

As I sat and watched the morning unfold I tried to take in my surroundings and really appreciate where I was. Even two months into the trip, sometimes (most times) it still felt surreal that we were actually doing this. I was used to seeing places on a map and reading about them, but with every new destination I would find myself thinking, in disbelief, “We are in Thailand!”

While a rooster crowed in the distance and a rat scurried around the remains left by a food stall, I saw a monk walk by barefoot in his long orange robe, presumably on his “Morning Alms Round”. During this Buddhist ritual, monks walk around the neighborhood while local people “make merit” by offering them food. “In Buddhism, alms or almsgiving is the respect given by a lay Buddhist to a Buddhist monk… It is not charity as presumed by Western interpreters. It is closer to a symbolic connection to the spiritual and to show humbleness and respect in the presence of normal society” (from Wikipedia).

At the other end of the spectrum, I saw a “couple” making their way back to their hotel after a long night of partying. Unfortunately this couple consisted of a young Thai woman and an older foreign white man, representing the all-too-common sex tourism industry in Thailand.

After successfully securing accommodation and going for a short run (we were, after all, supposed to be well into our marathon training by this time), we set out for some ambitious sightseeing, with only a few hours sleep. Our first stop was to a monastery that we had read about in our guidebook, offering free Buddhist meditation classes. We may not seem like the zen, meditating type (and we really aren’t), but, you know… “when in Thailand..”

Following our short course in “Vipassana meditation” we hit some of the “must sees”, starting with the Grand Palace. Built in the 18th century to serve as the official residence for Thai Kings, it is a complex of buildings that literally glitter in the sun, as most are covered in tiny pieces of shimmering colored glass and glimmering gold. The Grand Palace is also home to the famous Emerald Buddha.

Our next stop was Wat Pho, boasting more than 1,000 Buddha images, including one of the largest single Buddha images: the reclining Buddha, measuring 46 meters long and 15 meters high!

With hundreds of wats (a Buddhist place of worship), a tourist could spend days in Bangkok just marveling at these amazing cultural and architectural buildings. But, of course, our time was limited, and that night we were heading to another cultural attraction: Muay Thai (“a hard martial art similar to kickboxing”).

Although we weren’t happy about the entrance fee of 1,000 bhat each (~$30 USD)–compared to just 200 bhat for Thais!–we decided this unique experience would be worth it. However, as far as I was concerned, the crowd yelling out their bets in Thai and communicating numbers with hand gestures was more exciting to watch than the fight. Not that the fights weren’t entertaining, but there were nine of them, and I can only watch guys kick, elbow, and knee each other in the stomach for so long.

First we sat right in the middle of the action, but soon realized this was not the place for foreigners. Around the other side of the ring were the dimly lit, sparsely populated seats where we found refuge from the intense screaming of the locals.

With signs in the hallway like the one below, it’s a wonder we even questioned where to sit…

Think this would fly at the United Center?

The picturesque beaches of Ko Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee), off the west coast of southern Thailand, certainly lived up to all the hype. I felt like I could swim forever in the crystal clear blue water, even inspiring me to sing songs from The Little Mermaid (no, Kevin didn’t join in). The island itself was OK, for being one big tourist shop. Although we’d read it was far less developed than the main tourist spots of Phuket and Ko Samui, the island had more than its fair share of tour agencies, souvenir stores, and restaurants (recently rebuilt after the devastating Boxing Day tsunami of 2004).

Kevin continued to eat Pad Thai for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we also enjoyed some delicious Thai Pancakes (thin dough spread on a grill and filled with sweets- our fave was bananas and chocolate) from our favorite vendor whom we affectionately referred to as the “You-hoo Lady”.

She would yell "you-hoo! you-hoo!" to get the attention of people walking by. It worked on us!

The one good aspect of so many tour companies was that we could shop around for the best price. After talking with nearly a dozen tour operators we booked our day-long snorkeling adventure to several nearby islands, including Maya Bay- the site for the movie The Beach starring Leo DiCaprio (and an entertaining, albeit unusual, book). I’m far from a snorkeling expert, but as far as I’m concerned it was some of the best in the world!

The best we could do without an underwater camera

We also made stops at a small “secluded” beach and “Monkey Island”, with dozens of monkeys who are not only not scared of people, but steal their food! It’s fun to see the monkeys close-up, but actually pretty sad because they are “tame” due to tourists feeding them. Then, many times they end up getting aggressive if you don’t give them food and may eventually have to be killed.

Aboard our "long boat" heading to a beach

We also took full advantage of the excess number of bars, each offering their own promotion—usually a free bucket during a specific 5-15 minute period throughout the night. We conveniently left each bar just in time to walk along the beach to the next one by the time their special began.

Of course each place had the ubiquitous Thai fire entertainment. The locals were absolutely amazing at fire limbo– one guy actually lit his cigarette with the fire while practically bent in half underneath the bar! (video on Flickr)