The overnight VIP bus from Chiang Mai to Bangkok is anything but VIP. We see passengers on other buses passing us with blankets,trays,water, and night lights. Our smiling travel agent who booked this no doubt pocketed most of our fare and schlepped us on this backpacker delight. On the road Trish lays a bombshell and tells me she’s up for India. This coming from a woman who’s repulsed by Indian food, who has little stomach left for touts and child beggars, and who ran out of gas 3 countries ago. She was going for me. It’s a fine line between love and madness sometimes. I was so high I could’ve flapped my arms and flown the rest of the way to Bangkok!
Bangkok is either loved or loathed, and is inevitable if in Thailand. For us it was just rewards at the end of the road. It was also a place to plot an exit strategy and to hook up with the Elborns (more on them in a sec).
We check into our first splash out digs, the Pullman. Urbane, chic, hip, $100 nightly, 30m infinity pool, minimalist design as if it were made with us in mind. Italian sport cars and a vintage Mercedes convention flank the front. We’d heard some big headed Thai movie star had checked in. We probably mistook each other for a towel boy. Ever sleep in the clouds? We did for 6 nights. The Pullman is an absolute western bubble with thick layers of glass insulating you from the local pagans.
Kathi Elborn is a speech and language pathologist from my work. She and Ted her hubbie, and Mitchell (12yr), and Jackson (8) are on a 12 month, independent run. They make our travel look like a long weekend. Check out their superb blog at…
elbornfamilyodyssey.blogspot.com
Anyway we spend a couple of days together, mostly around the pool, but also took the boys to AVATAR in 3D, and promptly fell in love with them. How Kathi and Ted do it is beyond me. I could keep going forever, but with two boys? White flag flapping in my wind. Make no mistake about adventure travelling…the rewards are immense, but it ain’t pretty sometimes, and they’ve already stacked enough cache with any core backpacker.
We exchange travel stories, and pass on info re: SEAsia as they will re-trace much of our route as far as northern Vietnam, then into Laos. We missed them as soon as they left and wished we had more time.There was familiarity, comfort and comaraderie amongst us, the way old friends or road weary travellers get when they hook up. But we felt blessed we had this fortunate crossing of paths. Good people.
So for the next few days we hurriedly planned for India, and just as we were about to hit the enter button for our flights, we realized we didn’t have a visa. A trip to the embassy confirmed that it was a 5 working day wait (Indian time). That meant five more days in Bangkok, and missing a mid-January return, it wasn’t going to work. We were crushed, and no one more so than Trish, believe it or not. We quickly improvised and found a direct flight to Cairo with a layover, then a direct to NY, then 2 short bunny hops home.
It ain’t India. But Egypt is an acceptable consolation prize.
With a few days to kill, we dont’ especially feel compelled to do the tourist thing. Bangkok isn’t as horrid as many have said. Sure we didn’t do the lady boy cabarets, or ping pong shows and red light district. Something about sharing space in a club with white guys who’ve flown down to get their sexual jollies off isn’t a big draw for us. Though we’re reminded a bit of Hong Kong in that east and west, mod and old, rich and poor clash and co-exist intimately. It’s a city of very distinct areas and neighbourhoods side by side. So we baked in the winter humidity that would rank up with the worse Ottawa summer days.
I pull a rookie mistake and get my primary camera pinched on a road near the hotel. Locals would tell me gangs work to distract tourists then make off with anything not nailed to the concrete. If it had happened early in the trip I’d have been more upset. But we regroup and we take in a few sights:
Jim Thompson House and Museum is likely the finest small museum we’ve seen since China. Superb traditional Thai mansions replete with antiques and polished hardwood, it’s an oasis in a sea of concrete and endless traffic.
Perhaps not as subtle as the Forbidden City or Topkapi Palace, the Grand is a gold lover’s delight. Rich,flashy, showy and ornate. This like the other wats (temples) we’ve seen, present a grander ode to Buddha, reflect a much wealthier country, and a preserved history. Each buddhist country we’ve seen projects their spirituality differently. Vietnam is hardly a suppository of temples, and if anything, capitalism is their opiate. Cambodia has some fine temples, but fairly simple structures by comparision. Laos’ has great atmosphere if not flash, northern Thailand is a big jump in terms of intricacy, complexity and colour, and Bangkok continues this south east Asian trend.
(in all fairness the first three countries suffered devastating conflicts in the last 40years).
Ayuthaya was the former resplendent capital of Siam from the 14th to 18th century, until the Burmese came along and destroyed and pillaged it’s splendour, and melted off its gold. What’s left are some ruins in various states of crumbling. But it’s wonderfully devoid of the worse traffic we’ve ever seen–Bangkok and poking around old ruins turns our crank.
These pointy things are chedis aka stupas and are throughout SEAsia. Within are the ashes of entombed kings. Other temples have remains of prominent monks.
In Ayuthaya, the kings had an area set aside to watch wild elephants. Now the only thing wild are the locals who weren’t into the ruins, but let their hair hang loose and got into elephant rides at ridiculously expensive costs. Notice the chained leg.
We hit Chatuchak market on our last day for last minute handicrap and souvenir shopping. It’s reputed to be the largest in Asia–10,000 stalls, 200,000 visitors daily–the mother of all Asian markets—junk, collectibles, knock-offs ( I got Levis for $3), and everything else you can think of.
So with scant hours left in Asia, and a handful of days before we return to the cold, here are some out-takes previous bits not included;
Whoring and hoarding:
We’d hoard toilet paper, napkins, hotel toiletries and slippers, food from buffets (wrapped in shower caps), whatever. Mom would be proud. Our China experience included bare minimum hotels, so we just got into those habits.
We could be seen standing by cafes, high end hotels, anywhere…so we could whore away on free, unsecure WIFI.
We rarely paid for guided tours. Instead we’d freeload off others, wandering surreptitiously into their spheres of conversation.
Stereotypes broken:
Favourite Food in Bangkok:
This is THE CITY for street eats. Plates of noodles or rice or soup for $1-2, elaborately cut up fruit, curries, meat on a stick, whatever. I’d like to tell you it was all great. But in reality, it’s overblown. Pad thai for example, is a simple dish here….as are most of the above. Cooked quickly, simply and predictably. Usually with serious heat, otherwise it’s no better or no worse than restaurants. Where it wins out is in price,value and atmosphere.
We know we haven’t properly said good-bye to Asia, to all that was so utterly breathtaking, to that which captured our imaginations and fulfilled our dreams in every way. Everything is happening so fast. We were in Lao just yesterday it seemed. We’re saturated with stimulation and experiences—overloaded in fact. And at the same time things were maddening and incredulous.
