This was our first major trip out of Hong Kong (Macau had only been a day trip). We had no idea what would be in store. What we found was sunny heat, liveliness and the smiles of a humble people - the Thai.
To describe our exact summary of events is to write a small essay, so I will do my best to be more succinct but not just list the sequence of our travels.
Our trip began Mar 29th in the early morning with a off-meter taxi ride to Hong Kong airport. The off-meter rides are a discounted method of getting to the airport and back. You just need to phone a guy named Denis. Flight from the airport went well. We were all itching with excitement to get on out and exploring in Bangkok!
Our first location was Khaosan Road - a bustling little area that is informally dedicated to Thailand's backpacking community. It was a bit of a culture shock to see so many young white Europeans! The retro rock music playing on some unseen stereo made me think that I had be whisked away to a 70s hippie experience. The second sensation that literally hit us was the blistering heat: it was bright sun and 37C when we stepped out of our A/C taxi. I instantly regretted wearing two shirts and shoes. I quickly learned to wear a light coloured t-shirt and sandals.
Khaosan Road was our first experience with the food stands that really define Asia. Hong Kong's food stands are become scarce due to regulation, and most of them are larger and built into actual building stalls. The food stands of Thailand are so small (about the size of an ice-cream freezer you see in the corner store) that there is often only enough room on top for the wok and some sauces to the side.
Khaosan Road!
Padthai for 35 Baht - 1.1 CAD!
Melody is happy here :)
Our other major activities were a temple where we met a local who chatted to us for about 20 minutes about how to get a cheap boat ride around the Chao Phraya River and about being careful of our items on the charter buses. He told us not to stow our bags in the underneath area because bus employees often snoop down there to look through your things and take valuables like passports, money and jewelry.As per his advice, we took an amazing boat trip around this Chao Phraya for 400 Baht, as opposed to the tourist standard of 1000 Baht. To get to the pier, he waved a driver and negotiated a 10 baht ride for the 4 us in Thailand's transit of choice - the Tuktuk. These magical little vehicles are small, speedy little devils that outmaneuver cars with ease and are completely open to the air, save for a small canopy.
The boat ride showed us some of the older parts outside Bangkok where many of the houses were practically wood cottages. Some of them had fallen into disrepair. The boat itself was quite safe, and appears to be an unusual modification involving what is either a motorcycle or small car engine. Looking back, it could possibly be a tuktuk engine!
Tuktuk!
Odd engine placed into the back of a 30 ft boat.
The gang
Feeding catfish
Melody and Grace
After this lovely sightseeing tour we went again by tuktuk to find the large Golden Buddha statue. While there we looked in some smaller neighborhood area and also met some local kiddies.
That is Pepsi in a glass bottle
Local kids marvelling at Grace's camera
Giant Buddha!
As our original plans were to find a overnight bus to Chiang Mai, we had pretty much arrived at the end of our day plans in Thailand. As per our local pal's suggestion, we went looking an international tourist centre where we found out that all the trains were booked. We got the last few seats for an overnight bus, and breathed a sigh of relief. We wandered around the nearby market, found some food, and boarded our overnight bus to the next portion of our trip - Chiang Mai!
Street dinner
Bus!
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