Bangkok by Day...

...because by the time for finish your daytime explorations you're too tired to see the nightlife!

January 5-8, 2010

Our travels to Thailand started on Tuesday night, because we live in the North our access to Tokyo, especially in the winter, is complicated. After Eric got home from work we drove to our friend Katie's house in Goshogowara and she drove us to a bus station (while dressed up in a Kimono) and from there we rode a bus for about an hour to Aomori Airport. We then flew to Tokyo Haneda Airport. We noticed a few funny things during this leg of our journey, for starters the taxi agents bowed to us after we pushed back, and then when we landed in Tokyo they had a giant swifter device to clean the outside of the airplanes. I really am convinced that we live in the cleanest country on the planet. Also we had a beautiful view of the moon on our flight, it was bright orange!! So we finally made it to Tokyo, now to get to Narita Airport. The domestic and international airports are separate in Tokyo, and unfortunately they are about an hour and a half apart. Our plan was to get our luggage and catch a direct bus to Narita and sleep in the airport while we waited for our morning departure. Upon arrival we learned that the buses stopped about an hour and a half before we got in, so then we planned to catch the train to the airport, we made it about halfway on the trains and ended up at Tokyo Station when all of the trains stopped. Tokyo station is in the middle of the business district so there isn't much open at 12:30 am, there also are not very many hotels around and the few that exist are very expensive. With no where to stay in the area, and no more buses or trains, and freezing temperatures outside we decided to bite the bullet and take a cab. Little did we know... the cab ride would turn out to be $308.00 AHHHHHHH!!! Not only was the cab ride double what we thought it would be... the international airport was closed!! The International airport in Tokyo closes over night?!?! The road into the airport was even closed! The cab driver went to the delivery area and a security guard called China Airlines to make sure we were on the flight manifest for the following day, once this was confirmed we were allowed into a small section of the airport with other stranded travelers. There was no food around, and when staying up all night you tend to get hungry, so at 3 am we ate some corn soup from the vending machine. Apparently airport security was concerned that people would misbehave because a guard sat duty all night and watched everyone sleep, although neither of us slept at all, which was probably a result of an adrenaline rush from watching the taxi meter! In the morning around 5 am they started examining the area, windows, doors, restroom stalls and fire extinguishers, and after we all passed the test we were allowed in the international departures area. It was very strange since no one was there yet! All of the lights we on but the airport was totally silent, even the escalators were off! So, slowly we watched the airport open and were finally able to get some breakfast, check-in, HAVE STARBUCKS :) and make our way to our gate. At 9 am we flew from Tokyo to Taipei where we had only a few minutes to spare and then flew to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok shortly after a very heavy rain, so things were a bit hectic. When I booked our hotel it advertised being about 20 minutes from the airport and a short walk from several museums downtown so we figured it wouldn't be too bad....well apparently they are taking their time updating the website because the airport moved 3 years ago... and it's actually and hour away. So now the roads are flooded and it's rush hour, the 4 lane highway had 6 lanes of traffic.... welcome to Thailand!! None-the-less, we found our hotel, got dinner and went to bed. We were so exhausted from our long, and interesting, journey!

Thursday was our first actual day in Thailand and finally a day to relax!! We left our hotel right after breakfast and headed out for the day. We had plans to meet up with our friend Genevieve (from Japan) later that evening after she finished a conference so we made our way to her side of Bangkok, which is where we thought we were staying. We didn't really know where to go or what we wanted to do, but we knew of Siam Square and knew it was fairly central so we took a cab there. We hung around there for a bit, but it is mostly shopping so we continued on. In downtown Bangkok they have a skytrain that covers the essential areas of downtown, so we decided to explore via the skytrain. We accidentally got off at the wrong stop, but it was meant to be. Right near the exit to the station there is an awesome art museum that we enjoyed for quite some time! They had several intriguing exhibits but one of interest to us was the exhibition of the Japanese mind done by a culmination of Japanese and Thai artists. Here is one painting that was on the wall:
We eventually made our way to the Sala Daeng Station which was near where we would be meeting Genny. If you ever have time to kill in Bangkok, this is a great area to be. We set out in search of lunch, the first place we saw was McDonald's, and although Ronald looked quite inviting in his Thai manors, we passed. Instead we went across the street to Patti's Fiesta!!! We figured since we would be eating Thai food all week with the family, and we don't have the opportunity eat Mexican food out, now was a good chance. The salsa was delicious, and so was the guacamole. My bean Chimmichanga was pretty delicious! Eric got enchiladas, and unfortunately the sauce was made from ketchup and spaghetti sauce, but we still enjoyed a great meal! After that we walked around a little more and then had 1 hour to kill before meeting up with Genny... 1 hour to kill and what to do... A MASSAGE of course! For those of you who don't know, Thailand is very famous for their incredible and cheap massages. Trying to find a massage parlor in Bangkok is a little bit like trying to find a McDonald's or a Starbucks in Phoenix... just take a second and look and you'll find it. So we enjoyed a fabulous 1 hour foot and leg massage for the crazy price of 200 baht ($6) and then we caught a cab and made our way to Genny's hotel. She was quite relieved to see us as she had a long few days at the international schools conference. But she was also ready to celebrate, because her trip to Thailand paid off! She got a job teaching for the international schools system at a school in Taiwan! Now instead of being an assistant language teacher, she is the primary teacher! She will have a 1st/2nd grade combo class with a total of 8 students! We are very very excited for her! So we had a drink to celebrate! Then we went to the night market in Bangkok. Warning, if you ever go to the night market in Bangkok be cautious with your wallet. And no, I don't mean beware of pick-pocketers... I mean don't spend everything you brought with you. It's a danger zone. Everything is so cheap and there is so much great stuff!!

At about 9pm it was now time to head to the airport to meet Kellie! I have been really anxious for Kellie and Genny to meet, so Genny came along for the ride! We found Kellie, had lots and lots of hugs all around, and got in another cab and headed back to our hotel. We all ate dinner together at the delicious and cheap hotel restaurant (by cheap I mean dinner and a drink is $5-6) and then made our plans for the morning and Genevieve went back to her hotel to sleep.

Friday we had planned to meet up with Genevieve at the skytrain station at 9:30, but traffic happened and we finally showed up at 10:15 and just as I had expected, Genevieve waited for us! We all bought our day pass on the train and then headed to the dock of the Chao Phraya river. We had looked into several tours in a long tailed speed boat along the river but figured we could probably hire a driver on our own for the half the cost... and we did just that! We discussed the things we really wanted to do, and the things we wanted to skip, planned out our private customized tour and were on our way! Our first stop was a very famous temple in Bangkok, Wat Arun (The Temple of Dawn). The temple gets it's name because a prior King named Taksin passed the temple while on the river at dawn and vowed to restore it. It is now covered with fragments of porcelain dishes as decoration. We hiked up as high as we were allowed and took a close up look at the interesting architecture and decor and of course enjoyed the view of the river. We then got back on our boat and made it through a small lock to rise us up to the higher portion of the river. We passed through small neighborhoods and eventually back towards a small tourist stop, a traditional Thai house made entirely from Teak Wood. It reminded me of an elaborate version of the Swiss Family Robinson.We also took a walk through their wet garden and saw some incredible lotus flowers and orchids and lots of banana trees. They showed us a traditional Thai dance, and Eric got a free lesson! He reminded me so much of my Dad when we went to Hawaii the 1st or 2nd time and they got him to Hula while cracking open a coconut :)
We also saw a Thai boxing demonstration, not quite authentic, but we got the idea and took some fun pictures with the boxers!

Then we got back on our boat and passed through another network of neighborhoods, through the locks and back down onto the main part of the river where we saw the intertwining of old and new architecture, it was really intriguing!

I'm convinced that in Thailand an opportunity to make a sale is never missed! Even while in on the river where we thought we were free from storefronts, one came right up to us! We had hoped to see the floating markets as it is a very famous part of Bangkok, but they aren't open Friday mornings so we missed out. We made our way back to the docks and our 3 hour tour was complete.

We then walked through the textiles district and did a little shopping, mostly window shopping. Thailand is also famous for it's custom made silk clothing and suits. We saw countless stores advertising custom suits ready in 24 hours, some even in 12 short hours. These custom made suits were only about $150 USD for a suit and often a shirt and tie. It's rather incredible. From here we made our way to China Town. Eric, Genny and I really wanted to see it, and Kellie was able to show us what was authentic, and what wasn't, and she got lots of practice reading signs and such. There was lots of street food, and some of it was quite authentic... like deep fried seahorse on a stick, we passed.

The 4 of us then crammed into a 2 person TukTuk (in rush-hour) and made our way back to the area we started. We explored the night market again so Kellie could experience it, and of course we got roped into buying more stuff! (portions of our house is now nicely decorated with lots of random Thai items) At this point we were all starved and exhausted and we quickly found a place to eat, we basically went to the first place we saw. It turned out to be fantastic. It was absolutely delicious and very cool and comfortable and our service was impeccable... all for the price of $10 a person. In the middle of dinner a Roger Miller song came on... and we took it as a sure sign we ate at the right place. Roger Miller is a long time favorite of my Dad's and I have many memories at various ages singing along with him in the truck.

This is our appetizer from dinner: Thai style lettuce/leaf wraps!

After almost 12 hours of exploring Bangkok we were pretty beat, even after our incredible dinner... so there was only 1 thing left to do... get a Massage! We had such a great experience at the massage place last night we headed back there and enjoyed a full hour of relaxation and repair to our poor tired feet!

It was now time to say our "goodbyes/ see you laters" to Genny as we were headed to the airport in the AM to meet up with our parents!!