Dear Family and Friends,
My last Saturday in Bangkok… during my last few days in Bangkok, my first thought upon blinking the sleep from my eyes was that “today is my last ____ in Bangkok and I want to ____.” Maybe our collective addiction to Starbucks would be lessoned if we all awoke with that sort of inspiration. Hmmm… then again probably not as my first thought upon the descent to the W House café was inevitably “how soon can I get that cuppa coffee?” Remarkably, despite the poverty, the confusion, the pollution, and the crowds, somewhere along the line I seemed to have lost a piece of my heart to the vigor, the smooth city transports (skytrain, subway), the gorgeous history, and the people (students, W House) of Bangkok. I truly didn’t want to stay… and yet as time drained away, I didn’t want to go. So yet here it was, my last weekend in Bangkok and I was greatly pleased to discover that my favorite traveling companion (a la Cambodia) was available on both weekend days to visit sites of Bangkok. We were well-matched traveling companions and it definitely helps to have similar ideas of what to see and how long we can endure them.
Bangkok has been referred to as the “Venice of the East” but I spent (let’s count ‘em) approximately 7 weeks in the city and I’ve now given up making sense of this statement and consider it a remnant of the past… if not just plain silly. Granted, Bangkok has the large Chao Phraya River which is vital to the city and in addition, several 19th century kings went out of their way to have a system of canals called the “Khlong” built to convey goods throughout the city. However, to me, the 21st century tourist, Bangkok doesn’t feel like a water-oriented city. All the more reason, perhaps, to avoid Damnoensaduak, a floating market which has deceased as a way of life; the remnants are now photographic fodder for tourists. Yet the image of gliding through a floating market proved irresistible and the tour ticket price wasn’t too high nor too low - but it quickly became apparent that the cost was higher than the tickets.
It is an unpleasant reality of Bangkok tourism that there are many shysters whose business is taking advantage of naïve tourists. Haunting cautionary tale: the Black Buddha (see 7/17). Another favorite scheme is to charge the tourists below cost for transportation and then collect commissions from shops. We were picked up by a minivan from the reputable hotel where we paid a tidy tour sum and yet still we were subjected to unnecessary stops. After an hour and a half drive to the outskirts of Bangkok, we first visited a palm sugar production “plant” – where the tourist tables and hawkers outnumbered the palm sugar producers with a 4/1 ratio. My friend and I visited the toilets. After our trip to the market, we were taken to a Cobra Farm and expected to pay 200 THB (~$5 – the price of 4 dinners at my favorite noodle place) to see cobras in cages and a cobra and a mongoose fight. Horrid. My friend and I and a nice Indian lady ended up at a smoky bar with tiny tinned coffees. Then we were taken to a “handcrafts” place where there were legitimate wood-carvers with chisels in hand carving out wood scenes. The handcraft place was a sterile air-conditioned nightmare where the majority of items were encased in plastic and no doubt if we had flipped them over, we would’ve read “Made in China” on the labels. Almost as revolting as cobras and mongooses. The final stop was a downtown Bangkok jewel show – at which my friend and I staged a revolt and we were quickly provided another van to return us to Siam Square – or better, W House.
Aggravation aside, the floating market was a great deal of fun. We were placed in and then driven around the Khlong in a yellow, long-tailed boat with a rather powerful engine. Houses floating and on stilts flashed by, residents walked the canal sidewalk, our wake watered potted plants bordering entryways. We passengers were sprayed a bit but my friend and I were utterly disgusted by the Singaporean couple in front of us that lit cigarettes and their smoke blew directly back into our faces (the man in front of me smoked 2 cigs in 10 minutes). Their cigarette butts ended up floating in the canal. Charming.
Happily, the market was charming. Another 150 THB and we were squeezed into a wooden boat oared by a middle-aged Thai woman wearing a straw hat. We were sitting ducks for souvenir floating market purchases – hats that looked calico prairie bonnets but doubled as fans, Thai characters on puppet strings, Buddha statuettes, spices, gold-and elephant silk purses. We found the fruit and flowers particularly appealing: ladies paddled around with wooden boats filled with bananas, some floated along while slicing melon or pineapple, another man had star fruit (rarely seen in Thailand, actually), green papayas and guavas, another lady had a boat filled with flowers. At one point, I paid 10 THB to try a Thai delicacy: Chinese black jelly on ice. It wasn’t horrible but I only consumed two inches of my cup. The traffic jams of tourist-heavy boats were true jams and our navigator cleverly maneuvered us out of one by going backward. The boat ride was over all to soon. My friend and I then walked the solid ground market perimeter market and at the end of our allotted time, my friend discovered cute cotton tops and bought a few – at a bargain (Western) and yet exorbitant price (Thai). I would’ve liked a similar top and matching skirt – the fabrics were gorgeous - but they would not fit. Apparently the enormous number of tourists visiting to Thailand are slim. My friend’s blouses were really darn pretty and she protested that while she may have paid too much, she had looked (and she had) and that they were unique. I assured her that they were very pretty and that she should be pleased. That worked. Sort-of.
After the commissioned stops, my friend and I were returned to W House, sweaty and irritable. When we walked through the doors, we were greeted with a “sawadeekah” from Noi at W House. She handed me “My Baby” (laptop) and a DHL envelope with a return address of Seoul, Korea. My Visa paperwork. It was definitely my last weekend in Bangkok.
Cheers! --Laura
My last Saturday in Bangkok… during my last few days in Bangkok, my first thought upon blinking the sleep from my eyes was that “today is my last ____ in Bangkok and I want to ____.” Maybe our collective addiction to Starbucks would be lessoned if we all awoke with that sort of inspiration. Hmmm… then again probably not as my first thought upon the descent to the W House café was inevitably “how soon can I get that cuppa coffee?” Remarkably, despite the poverty, the confusion, the pollution, and the crowds, somewhere along the line I seemed to have lost a piece of my heart to the vigor, the smooth city transports (skytrain, subway), the gorgeous history, and the people (students, W House) of Bangkok. I truly didn’t want to stay… and yet as time drained away, I didn’t want to go. So yet here it was, my last weekend in Bangkok and I was greatly pleased to discover that my favorite traveling companion (a la Cambodia) was available on both weekend days to visit sites of Bangkok. We were well-matched traveling companions and it definitely helps to have similar ideas of what to see and how long we can endure them.
Bangkok has been referred to as the “Venice of the East” but I spent (let’s count ‘em) approximately 7 weeks in the city and I’ve now given up making sense of this statement and consider it a remnant of the past… if not just plain silly. Granted, Bangkok has the large Chao Phraya River which is vital to the city and in addition, several 19th century kings went out of their way to have a system of canals called the “Khlong” built to convey goods throughout the city. However, to me, the 21st century tourist, Bangkok doesn’t feel like a water-oriented city. All the more reason, perhaps, to avoid Damnoensaduak, a floating market which has deceased as a way of life; the remnants are now photographic fodder for tourists. Yet the image of gliding through a floating market proved irresistible and the tour ticket price wasn’t too high nor too low - but it quickly became apparent that the cost was higher than the tickets.
It is an unpleasant reality of Bangkok tourism that there are many shysters whose business is taking advantage of naïve tourists. Haunting cautionary tale: the Black Buddha (see 7/17). Another favorite scheme is to charge the tourists below cost for transportation and then collect commissions from shops. We were picked up by a minivan from the reputable hotel where we paid a tidy tour sum and yet still we were subjected to unnecessary stops. After an hour and a half drive to the outskirts of Bangkok, we first visited a palm sugar production “plant” – where the tourist tables and hawkers outnumbered the palm sugar producers with a 4/1 ratio. My friend and I visited the toilets. After our trip to the market, we were taken to a Cobra Farm and expected to pay 200 THB (~$5 – the price of 4 dinners at my favorite noodle place) to see cobras in cages and a cobra and a mongoose fight. Horrid. My friend and I and a nice Indian lady ended up at a smoky bar with tiny tinned coffees. Then we were taken to a “handcrafts” place where there were legitimate wood-carvers with chisels in hand carving out wood scenes. The handcraft place was a sterile air-conditioned nightmare where the majority of items were encased in plastic and no doubt if we had flipped them over, we would’ve read “Made in China” on the labels. Almost as revolting as cobras and mongooses. The final stop was a downtown Bangkok jewel show – at which my friend and I staged a revolt and we were quickly provided another van to return us to Siam Square – or better, W House.
Aggravation aside, the floating market was a great deal of fun. We were placed in and then driven around the Khlong in a yellow, long-tailed boat with a rather powerful engine. Houses floating and on stilts flashed by, residents walked the canal sidewalk, our wake watered potted plants bordering entryways. We passengers were sprayed a bit but my friend and I were utterly disgusted by the Singaporean couple in front of us that lit cigarettes and their smoke blew directly back into our faces (the man in front of me smoked 2 cigs in 10 minutes). Their cigarette butts ended up floating in the canal. Charming.
Happily, the market was charming. Another 150 THB and we were squeezed into a wooden boat oared by a middle-aged Thai woman wearing a straw hat. We were sitting ducks for souvenir floating market purchases – hats that looked calico prairie bonnets but doubled as fans, Thai characters on puppet strings, Buddha statuettes, spices, gold-and elephant silk purses. We found the fruit and flowers particularly appealing: ladies paddled around with wooden boats filled with bananas, some floated along while slicing melon or pineapple, another man had star fruit (rarely seen in Thailand, actually), green papayas and guavas, another lady had a boat filled with flowers. At one point, I paid 10 THB to try a Thai delicacy: Chinese black jelly on ice. It wasn’t horrible but I only consumed two inches of my cup. The traffic jams of tourist-heavy boats were true jams and our navigator cleverly maneuvered us out of one by going backward. The boat ride was over all to soon. My friend and I then walked the solid ground market perimeter market and at the end of our allotted time, my friend discovered cute cotton tops and bought a few – at a bargain (Western) and yet exorbitant price (Thai). I would’ve liked a similar top and matching skirt – the fabrics were gorgeous - but they would not fit. Apparently the enormous number of tourists visiting to Thailand are slim. My friend’s blouses were really darn pretty and she protested that while she may have paid too much, she had looked (and she had) and that they were unique. I assured her that they were very pretty and that she should be pleased. That worked. Sort-of.
After the commissioned stops, my friend and I were returned to W House, sweaty and irritable. When we walked through the doors, we were greeted with a “sawadeekah” from Noi at W House. She handed me “My Baby” (laptop) and a DHL envelope with a return address of Seoul, Korea. My Visa paperwork. It was definitely my last weekend in Bangkok.
Cheers! --Laura
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