Back to Bangkok: Part 2

During my five bonus days in Bangkok, I did more than just browse malls and munch brunches. I was also a good tourist, and spent some of my time exploring parts of the city I had not yet made it to. Bangkok is so big that there is always more to see, but I am determined to see as much of it as I am able to on this trip.

My initial trip started out, as most trips in the historic old part of Bangkok do, by river.

The Rama VIII Bridge.

Well I briefly stopped on the way for some excellent iced coffee. It cost only 30B (£0.60) and is one of the best I’ve had in Thailand.

Best coffee in Bangkok.

My plan was to explore the parts of Banglamphu (the area north of the Royal Palace, around Khao San Road) that I had not managed to reach. I had attempted to explore this area the last time I was in Bangkok, but a tropical downpour left me stranded at the pier and forced to return home. 

Not this time. The sun was shining. I was hyped up on caffeine. I was ready for exploring. 

Strolling north from the pier at Phra Arthit, I first stumbled upon Pom Pra Sumen, one of the original fortresses built at the time of the founding of the city. It had deteriorated and been restored several times, and now stood unused in a small park by the Chao Phraya, but (from a distance) looked elegant and imposing.

Seemed almost European in style.

There was explanatory signage accompanying the sight, but much of the sense was lost in poor translation, so all I was able to gleam is that it dates from the city's foundation in the late 18th century.

Turning away from the river's banks, I soon find myself on a dusty, quiet road that seemed familiar to me.

Seems so familiar, yet so alien.

I soon realised that I was walking along Khao San Road, the epicentre of the backpacker ghetto that squats at the centre of Banglamphu district. But this was not the Khao San Rd. that I knew; there were few stalls or shops open, and fewer tourists.

I had realised that Bangkok felt quieter on that day than on others, and rightly attributed it to the Buddhist holiday of Vesak, which celebrates the Buddha's Birthday. It however had not been so noticeable before now.


It was only when I saw this sign that I understood what had happened.

This spelt death to Khao San!

Without copious and cheap alcohol, Khao San held no appeal to the bro-tanned teenagers and Superdry-soled Twats-on-tour, and so they had deserted it for other roads and other bars.


I actually found Khao San quite pleasant without the hoards and stalls. The shopkeepers and streetsellers were far less pushy, perhaps having given up on making money that today, and I could browse the remaining stalls at my relative ease. Tiring of the heat, I ended up skulking off for a massage, which for Khao San was surprisingly good.


Oh, if only I could go back to the days when I could afford massages! Damn you expensive, broken phone!


Feeling relaxed and cool, but also sleepy and lazy, I opted against seeing more of Banglamphu, and promised I'd return tomorrow to do and see more.



...



The next day, having spent a lazy morning in the MBK centre and nearby malls accompanied by Nick, I headed out to see something new. First on my list was Pratunam Market, a fabric and fashion marker, which through my wanderings had ended up nearby. 


I had no real expectations of what I was going to find. 


I found a lot of clothes, cramped alleyways, and busy intersections. 

Yet one more beautifully-chaotic Thai market.

So like any other Thai market really...

I wanted all of these shirts, if only for the inevitable compliments Kitty would give me :D

I had learnt from previous experience that no clothing in a South East Asian market will fit me (because in Asia I am Goliath), we headed onwards back to Banglamphu via the khlong ferry. 


Any excuse for the khlong ferry.

Somehow the little speed boat makes Bangkok's disgusting canals almost romantic.

Alighting at the final stop near the Golden Mount, we headed in search of something I had meticulously put four stars next to in my notes on Bangkok; the Mahakan Fort Community. Originally the community had established itself on the narrow sliver of land between the old city walls of royal Ratanakosin and the encompassing khlong that acted as the city's moat. The city had grown around them, but the inhabitants had retained their identity and traditions, and someone had funded informative signage to explain the history and culture of the area.


Walking through the arches of the city walls into the community felt like stepping back in time. It felt almost village-like, despite the presence of a four-lane carriageway roaring past it just behind the white-washed walls. The area was a knot of alley-ways, leading off at odd angles to dead-ends and communal courtyards shrouded in laundry. What was most astonishing was that the local people smiled and said 'Sa wat dii krap/ka' as you walked by, showing a friendliness and warmth I had not seen anywhere else in the city centre.

I went to the MFC and all I got were these crappy photos.

Sadly, despite all these welcoming faces and picturesquely dilapidated wooden houses, I only took pictures of some of the animals I encountered upon first walking through the wall arches. Perhaps I was too busy soaking up the atmosphere, or perhaps because Nick was taking so many photos I subconsciously thought I didn't need to. Either way, few photos were taken, for which I am sorry.


Our next target was the Sao Ching Cha (more on that in a moment) and I chose a route down a street which my map has labelled as 'Temple Supplies', just to see what was for sale. Seemingly, it was books, crimson robes, and Buddhas.


So many Buddhas.

At the end of the road, encircled by a roundabout, was Sao Ching Cha, which is essentially an imposingly-tall Chinese-style arch. Until the early-20th century, a long swing was attached to the top of the structure, and Buddhist devotees would attempt to swing as high as they could to demonstrate the strength of their faith. 

Obviously swinging from something so high led to high number of fatalities, so the tradition stopped, but the swing frame remains as a stark symbol of Buddhist devotion.


Sitting across from Sao Ching Cha is the sprawling Wat Suthat, a sprawling monastery complex once patronised by kings, as evidenced by the grand scale of the sanctuary and sim. 

Paintings of demons inside the sim.

As ever, under the eaves of the sanctuary walls there sat lines of Buddha, their bronze bodies gleaming in the dusky light.


As ever, I took photos of said Buddhas.

Tiring by now, and with plans to meet with Niko fast approaching, I left Nick and strolled through leafy Ratanakosin towards Tha Thien river ferry pier, and I end this blog how I started it: on the Chao Phraya river.

DSP


PS: Apologies for the formatting on this one; at some point whilst writing this the font style changed, and I've been unable to restore it correctly. So, this entry may look a little strange... :/

Bangkok: Golden treasures via dirty canals

I feel one serious downside to travelling long-term (I am choosing conveniently to believe that anything over 100 days counts as long-term) is that you feel much less pressure to ‘see’ everything, and have much less reason to drag your sweating, lazy self out of bed and onto the stiflingly-hot streets. I am already feeling like this after just a few days, which made me glad that my travel buddy Philip felt slightly more urgency, as he had only 2 days left of his travels, and wanted to see as much as possible of Bangkok. I moaned at the time when he dragged me out of the aircon, but I am secretly quite glad (and it gave me leverage the following day when he was lazy and I was feeling more energetic).

So feeling motivated to accompany my brilliant yet also brilliantly-useless-at-directions travel buddy, we set off reasonably early to cover a few odd sights around town that Philip still wanted to see. Stop No.1 was of course 7/11 for the first icy cold bottle of water of the day, and for plasters for my toes which had not yet resigned themselves to the fate of flip-flops for the next 3 months. Stop No.2 was Wat Traimit.

I love seeing monks acting like tourists - but where do they keep their phone?

Modern but still quite pretty.

Whilst not by any means ugly, the temple has a distinctly modern feel with marble floors and parking spaces, and would not normally have been somewhere I would want to visit when there are many more atmospheric options in the city. However, this wat  has a rather valuable tourist sight in the form of a solid gold Buddha image worth around $250,000,000. Originally encased in a clay shell, most likely to protect it from thieves or bandits, it was only discovered when the image was being moved by crane and accidentally dropped, cracking the clay shell and revealing the treasure beneath. For once, Thailand’s ‘Safety First Seventh’ approach actually paid off!

That is one expensive statue.

It is a strange feeling looking at something so relatively small, and realising this is more wealth than I will ever own in not just one lifetime, but two hundred or more lifetimes.

...I felt incredibly poor.

...I bought some street snacks to make myself feel better.

...I felt even poorer.

...Street food was delicious.

After spending perhaps too long in front of a fan pretending to put our shoes back on (I had to put on new plasters, and felt it was important for my blisters to do a really slow, thorough job), we hopped on the Metro/BTS to Siam, which is Bangkok’s main commercial area.

Bangkok's crazy traffic.

Before coming to Bangkok, I had never given much thought to the phrase ‘back-to-back shopping malls’, especially coming from a small town with only one mall (however did I cope!). But in Siam, the malls really are back-to-back, wedged side-to-side, jammed in every available block of space. The main reason is of course a enclosed shopping centre can be air-conditioned, whereas traditional shopping streets cannot. So Siam’s BTS station has signs for at least 6 malls which are directly connected to the Skytrain station, and there remains only small gaps between them which you dash across to reach more air-conditioned bliss.

After a pit-stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for some ice tea (my justification for the western brand this time is that I needed to break a 1000B note, and did not want to bother the lady selling coconuts on the street with such an arduous task) and a chance happening upon some harem pants that actually fit me, we bravely braved the blistering heat to head towards the towering Golden Mount.

This excursion offered the opportunity to try another of Bangkok’s more unusual public transport options; the khlong (canal) boat, which travels along one of the many waterways within the city. The piers for the boat are tucked down tiny, torturous alleys, which have become obscured behind shopping malls and modern raised highways. It was safe to say I was fairly excited at seeing Bangkok from a different perspective aboard what I saw as the dodo of the city’s public transport.

It all looked so calm at the pier stop.

The calm before the approaching storm.

It was slightly less serene onboard.

A great way to see the city.

Despite the driver’s obviously suicidal state of mind, the canal boat was an exhilarating way of catching a glimpse into the lives of the canal bank’s inhabitants, and only 9B (£0.18) each way.

Looming above the canal boat’s final stop is the Golden Mount, an elegant (obviously golden, everything in Bangkok is gold) temple perched atop an artificial mound swathed in green jungle. It was very easy to find, though less easy to find the path that led to the summit.

Apologies for the telephone lines here, they are very difficult to get around here.

Mary Poppins' crash sight.

At the summit of the hill, atop the temple building, was a huge golden tiled, bell shaped stupa that tapered elegantly into the sky, and was surrounded by far-reaching views of the sprawling city.

Sounds nice eh?

What I have not mentioned is that it was so hot by this point in the mid-afternoon that my bare feet were burning on the temple floor, and my phone overheated and turned itself off, much to my disgust, ‘for my safety’. So for much of our time in the temple, we were stood inside by a window looking out over the city where we discovered there was a through breeze. I did however manage to obtain a few reasonable photos.

If it's B&W, you know it's because I'm hiding a miserable sky ;)

There was a bells theme here...

The final tourist attraction that Philip wanted to see was neighbouring Wat Saket, so we wandered over towards where we thought it was situated.

I’m still not sure what we looked around was Wat Saket, as at times it felt like it was a convention centre or license office. It was pretty though.

I feel this says a lot about Buddhism...

After all this cultural, sweaty tourism, we headed back by canal boat to Siam for some much needed hanging-around-in-aircon-mall time. We stumbled upon a huge tourist souvenir section, which saved us a souvenir shopping trip to Khao San Road (the backpacker ghetto). Whilst I would usually prefer to buy more locally, there is little option to do that in Khao San or anywhere else in the city, and I’d take a shopping centre anyday over the hassle and stress and ‘Sir, you want suit? You want suit! BUY SUIT!!!!’ of Khao San.

And I definitely didn’t go back to Dunkin’ Donuts for more ice tea - definitely didn’t do that.

Evening consisted of napping, eating, photo editing and sleeping early.

Tomorrow - markets and couchsexing couchsurfing.

DSP