Bangkok and Ko Samed
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Thursday morning, we slept in a bit and packed up our things. After brunch at Shamrock’s (yes, we loved that place,) and some Starbucks, we hopped in a taxi to the airport, where, after a short flight to Guangzhou and a bit of a layover, we found ourselves on an EgyptAir flight to Bangkok. At the Bangkok airport, we found Western toilets in every stall, paper towel at the sinks, and hundreds of choices for chocolate, beverages, and English language books and magazines at the book shops. We checked by the visa counter to make sure we’d understood properly, and were told “American? No need visa. Canadian? No need visa.” We loved this place! Passing through customs was quick and easy, everyone spoke English, the taxi stand knew where we were going, and the nicely air-conditioned soon had us checking into a neat and clean hotel room in the center of the city—at a cost of $57 USD for 3 people. The biggest clue to the fact that we were in an exotic foreign city was the fact that our taxi passed an elephant between the airport and the hotel!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Since Jared, my Australian friend from Beijing, was not arriving until Friday night, we didn’t want to knock out any of the big Bangkok sights without him, so John, Ethan, and I just set out to explore the city by foot a bit. At the Democratic Memorial, we were met by a man who, speaking excellent English, offered us a tour of several of the city’s sights for only 30Baht (9 cents) because it was a special day for Buddha, or so he said. We knew that this would surely end us up at some tourist-trap shops, where the driver would get a commission for bringing us in, but we consented. At the first Wat (temple,) we saw a fairly impressive golden Buddha, tiled with golden Italian glass, and we enjoyed the change of architecture. To observe the Thai style now, after many months of Chinese architecture, was welcome. The second Wat was less impressive, and as tourists, we were the only visitors. Locals were not offering any flowers or incense, and we started to figure out that this was not a special place, as we’d been told. We allowed ourselves to be dragged to a tailor shop (prices were much too high in comparison with our Beijing tailors,) a “Tourist Information Center” (where fortunately, we realized that the 800 Baht round-trip to Ko Samet he was offering us was way more than we would pay on our own at the bus station—about 400 Baht,) and one more tailor shop, where we spent long enough for our driver to get his commission slip. When he took us to the next Wat, it was closed for the afternoon, and we’d had enough. We paid the driver and sent him on his way. We hadn’t been taken to the Marble Temple, as we’d been promised, but we also hadn’t been stupid enough to spend money at any of the places we were taken, and we’d enjoyed the tour around the city in the “tuk-tuk,” a little 3-wheeled vehicle that gets tourists around town. We headed back to the hotel for a nap and awaited Jared’s arrival. When he finally arrived at the hotel, we headed out for dinner, drinks, and a little dancing, and found out that Bangkok is a city with a nightlife that could be enjoyed! Shops stay open late in the bar districts, and though many establishments close early by American standards, a few more stay open late enough to offer some late night choices. In order to get into one of the bars, where flip-flops were not allowed, Jared and I had to enter, remove my shoes, and take them outside to John, who had been wearing flip-flops and was not allowed to enter. The door staff saw the exchange, however, and made John check in his shoes, so that after he’d reached the dance floor and returned my shoes, he was now barefoot! Fortunately, we didn’t come across any broken glass!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
After breakfast, we set out to tour Bangkok’s most popular tourist attraction, the Golden Palace, an impressive demonstration of several architectural styles, and home of the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is actually a green jade sculpture, the clothing of which the King of Thailand himself changes 3 times a year in an elaborate ceremony. The Buddha has 3 golden changes of clothing—one each for the winter season, the rainy season, and the summer season. We saw him wearing his rainy season garb, and also learned that the 81-yr-old king is no longer able to ascend the Buddha’s throne to change the Buddha, so the changing ceremony is now performed by the Crown Prince.
Our Palace guide convinced us to go with her friend for a long boat tour of the canals, so when we left the Palace, we followed a small Thai man down to the pier, where we made him wait for us while we ate lunch—pad thai. The boat took us on a tour through the canals of the city, where poverty was juxtaposed with wealth. There seemed to be no divider between upper class and lower class; beautiful villas were placed right next to ratty shacks. The boat let us off at Wat Pho, where a large reclining Buddha is the attraction. After leisurely wandering the grounds, we went back to the hotel for a nap, after which we went to Telephone for dinner, had drinks at DJ Station (where a lip-synch show held some hilarious surprises,) and went dancing at G.O.D.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Sunday was a day to take it easy, and we did. We slept in and made our way down to Khao San Road, which is where many of the Western tourists find their hostels. Shopping, tattoos, and dreadlocks are the chief business of Khao San, and we took full advantage. I picked up t-shirts and some other little mementos, and Ethan got his first tattoo for 3000 Baht ($87.) After a nap, we ventured back to Khao San for dinner—pizza, dessert—real ice cream, and more shopping. The weekend in Bangkok had worn us out, and we were ready to begin our island adventure!
Ko Samed
Monday morning, we got up at 7, one of the earliest starts of our entire trip! 2 cabs were required to get the four of us and our luggage to the bus station, where 178 Baht ($5) got us on a bus to the coastal port town of Ban Phe, some 3 hours away. For another 50 ($1.50) Baht, a ferry there took us out to Ko Samed, a beautiful island, which we’d read was the least likely to be rainy in September, the end of Thailand’s rainy season. The island is preserved as a national park, so we paid another 200 Baht ($6) to get onto the island, where 1800 Baht ($52) per night put the four of us up in an air conditioned bungalow less than 100 yards from the beautiful white sand beach, with breakfast included. We spent the next 3 days on the island just eating, sleeping, drinking, walking, swimming, playing a little volleyball, and reading. I wore no watch, but did set my phone alarm to make sure we wouldn’t miss breakfast by 10am. The weather was rainy on some days, and we really only had sunshine for a few hours on Thursday, but we were seeking relaxation more than tanning, and we found it there at Jep’s Bungalows. The ocean was warm and inviting, and the bungalow was cozy for the little time we spent there. We ate most of our meals at Jep’s Restaurant, where the menu was filled with Indian, Western, and Thai choices.
When Friday dawned cloudy, we were relaxed enough to begin the journey home. After breakfast we packed up, took a taxi to the pier, a ferry to the mainland, and a bus back to Bangkok, where we stayed one night in a hotel before heading to the Bangkok airport. I’d spent some time on the computer during the week, making plans for next week—in North America! It’s hard to believe that my journey back to Bangkok will shortly be followed by a return to Beijing, and then a flight to Chicago! What a trip this has been—so rewarding and enriching. I’ll leave Asia full of an appreciation for its history, its people, its amazing feats of architecture, and so much more.
Thursday morning, we slept in a bit and packed up our things. After brunch at Shamrock’s (yes, we loved that place,) and some Starbucks, we hopped in a taxi to the airport, where, after a short flight to Guangzhou and a bit of a layover, we found ourselves on an EgyptAir flight to Bangkok. At the Bangkok airport, we found Western toilets in every stall, paper towel at the sinks, and hundreds of choices for chocolate, beverages, and English language books and magazines at the book shops. We checked by the visa counter to make sure we’d understood properly, and were told “American? No need visa. Canadian? No need visa.” We loved this place! Passing through customs was quick and easy, everyone spoke English, the taxi stand knew where we were going, and the nicely air-conditioned soon had us checking into a neat and clean hotel room in the center of the city—at a cost of $57 USD for 3 people. The biggest clue to the fact that we were in an exotic foreign city was the fact that our taxi passed an elephant between the airport and the hotel!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Since Jared, my Australian friend from Beijing, was not arriving until Friday night, we didn’t want to knock out any of the big Bangkok sights without him, so John, Ethan, and I just set out to explore the city by foot a bit. At the Democratic Memorial, we were met by a man who, speaking excellent English, offered us a tour of several of the city’s sights for only 30Baht (9 cents) because it was a special day for Buddha, or so he said. We knew that this would surely end us up at some tourist-trap shops, where the driver would get a commission for bringing us in, but we consented. At the first Wat (temple,) we saw a fairly impressive golden Buddha, tiled with golden Italian glass, and we enjoyed the change of architecture. To observe the Thai style now, after many months of Chinese architecture, was welcome. The second Wat was less impressive, and as tourists, we were the only visitors. Locals were not offering any flowers or incense, and we started to figure out that this was not a special place, as we’d been told. We allowed ourselves to be dragged to a tailor shop (prices were much too high in comparison with our Beijing tailors,) a “Tourist Information Center” (where fortunately, we realized that the 800 Baht round-trip to Ko Samet he was offering us was way more than we would pay on our own at the bus station—about 400 Baht,) and one more tailor shop, where we spent long enough for our driver to get his commission slip. When he took us to the next Wat, it was closed for the afternoon, and we’d had enough. We paid the driver and sent him on his way. We hadn’t been taken to the Marble Temple, as we’d been promised, but we also hadn’t been stupid enough to spend money at any of the places we were taken, and we’d enjoyed the tour around the city in the “tuk-tuk,” a little 3-wheeled vehicle that gets tourists around town. We headed back to the hotel for a nap and awaited Jared’s arrival. When he finally arrived at the hotel, we headed out for dinner, drinks, and a little dancing, and found out that Bangkok is a city with a nightlife that could be enjoyed! Shops stay open late in the bar districts, and though many establishments close early by American standards, a few more stay open late enough to offer some late night choices. In order to get into one of the bars, where flip-flops were not allowed, Jared and I had to enter, remove my shoes, and take them outside to John, who had been wearing flip-flops and was not allowed to enter. The door staff saw the exchange, however, and made John check in his shoes, so that after he’d reached the dance floor and returned my shoes, he was now barefoot! Fortunately, we didn’t come across any broken glass!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
After breakfast, we set out to tour Bangkok’s most popular tourist attraction, the Golden Palace, an impressive demonstration of several architectural styles, and home of the Emerald Buddha. The Emerald Buddha is actually a green jade sculpture, the clothing of which the King of Thailand himself changes 3 times a year in an elaborate ceremony. The Buddha has 3 golden changes of clothing—one each for the winter season, the rainy season, and the summer season. We saw him wearing his rainy season garb, and also learned that the 81-yr-old king is no longer able to ascend the Buddha’s throne to change the Buddha, so the changing ceremony is now performed by the Crown Prince.
Our Palace guide convinced us to go with her friend for a long boat tour of the canals, so when we left the Palace, we followed a small Thai man down to the pier, where we made him wait for us while we ate lunch—pad thai. The boat took us on a tour through the canals of the city, where poverty was juxtaposed with wealth. There seemed to be no divider between upper class and lower class; beautiful villas were placed right next to ratty shacks. The boat let us off at Wat Pho, where a large reclining Buddha is the attraction. After leisurely wandering the grounds, we went back to the hotel for a nap, after which we went to Telephone for dinner, had drinks at DJ Station (where a lip-synch show held some hilarious surprises,) and went dancing at G.O.D.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Sunday was a day to take it easy, and we did. We slept in and made our way down to Khao San Road, which is where many of the Western tourists find their hostels. Shopping, tattoos, and dreadlocks are the chief business of Khao San, and we took full advantage. I picked up t-shirts and some other little mementos, and Ethan got his first tattoo for 3000 Baht ($87.) After a nap, we ventured back to Khao San for dinner—pizza, dessert—real ice cream, and more shopping. The weekend in Bangkok had worn us out, and we were ready to begin our island adventure!
Ko Samed
Monday morning, we got up at 7, one of the earliest starts of our entire trip! 2 cabs were required to get the four of us and our luggage to the bus station, where 178 Baht ($5) got us on a bus to the coastal port town of Ban Phe, some 3 hours away. For another 50 ($1.50) Baht, a ferry there took us out to Ko Samed, a beautiful island, which we’d read was the least likely to be rainy in September, the end of Thailand’s rainy season. The island is preserved as a national park, so we paid another 200 Baht ($6) to get onto the island, where 1800 Baht ($52) per night put the four of us up in an air conditioned bungalow less than 100 yards from the beautiful white sand beach, with breakfast included. We spent the next 3 days on the island just eating, sleeping, drinking, walking, swimming, playing a little volleyball, and reading. I wore no watch, but did set my phone alarm to make sure we wouldn’t miss breakfast by 10am. The weather was rainy on some days, and we really only had sunshine for a few hours on Thursday, but we were seeking relaxation more than tanning, and we found it there at Jep’s Bungalows. The ocean was warm and inviting, and the bungalow was cozy for the little time we spent there. We ate most of our meals at Jep’s Restaurant, where the menu was filled with Indian, Western, and Thai choices.
When Friday dawned cloudy, we were relaxed enough to begin the journey home. After breakfast we packed up, took a taxi to the pier, a ferry to the mainland, and a bus back to Bangkok, where we stayed one night in a hotel before heading to the Bangkok airport. I’d spent some time on the computer during the week, making plans for next week—in North America! It’s hard to believe that my journey back to Bangkok will shortly be followed by a return to Beijing, and then a flight to Chicago! What a trip this has been—so rewarding and enriching. I’ll leave Asia full of an appreciation for its history, its people, its amazing feats of architecture, and so much more.
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