havecarryonwilltravel

Today is a day of transportation varieties. Flagged down a taxi and got a ride to the National Museum. It is not where we wanted to go but the taxi and tuk tuk drivers are not real familiar with the tourist sites of the city and it is where he thought we meant when we first got in. Our goal is the Royal Barge Museum and it is not far from where we got dropped, so we decided to not try and explain and just to get out and walk the rest of the way.

Royal Barges

Walking gives us a chance to walk a bridge over the river and again see the city from another perspective. It real hot again but the walk is only about ½ an hour. It is amazingly easy to find the route, not the usual case in a place where signage is often non-existent, and when it does exist it is often not in English. The destination was somewhat disappointing. The Royal Barges are being refurbished and the exhibit is closed until January 1. It seems that this is a well-guarded secret. As we are on our way out, a bicycle tour is on the way in, I try to tell them the museum is closed but they pay no attention and continue on their way.

After we cross the bridge back to the Bangkok side and walk along the riverside walk to the ferry dock we board a very crowded orange flag public ferry. We do our touring by river boat today. We are definitely moving with the tourists again. The ferry is a local ferry but it is cheap and an easy way to get from site of interest to site of interest. A good number of the people on board are tourists.   

View from Wat Arun’s heights

Our next stop is Wat Arun, one of Bangkok’s most impressive and famous landmarks. It is the only wat we visited in Bangkok that is climbable, it provides a panorama view of the city and helps to orient our previous walking routes.

Porcelain on Wat Arun

In search of a restaurant we did not find yesterday we take our next ferry to the Memorial Bridge dock and set out on foot along the road we think the place is on. Yesterday we walked the north ½ of Maha Chai Road and could not find the restaurant, so today we tread the south end and come up empty handed again. This searching is putting our lunch timing out a great deal and we do not find another place to eat until 2:30. We wander through the edge of Chinatown and finally spot the Shangri-La Restaurant, how can we turn it down. Chinese food for lunch, here we are in Thailand and we have only eaten at one Thai restaurant. We will try again to find one tonight.   

Orange Flag Ferry

Just as we get back on the river the ferry driver guns the motor to get around a larger barge type boat. The barge blocks the vision to the right and as we pass all of the passengers on the right side of the boat (starboard is the proper term I believe) gasp and duck. A long tail boat with an equally long nose is full throttle right towards us. The driver of the long tail hits reverse hard and misses us by a foot. I’m not really prepared of a swim in the river so I’m kind of glad he missed but it makes for a good story. Our river expedition ends at the intersection of the river and the skytrain. We get out of the boat, climb the stair and board the train. Off to the hotel for a needed rest.

The next mode of transport is the local bus. We hear there is a night bazaar near the Memorial Bridge and have been told bus number 73, which we catch across from the Lub D, goes right there. We climb aboard and immediately the ticket seller is down the bus aisle making sure everyone pays. I am impressed with her efficiency as she knows exactly who got on the bus at our stop and collects a mere 11 Baht bus fare from each person. The lady is dressed in a navy blue shirt, white shirt and navy suit jacket. She has heels on and her hair is done up nicely. She has a long metal tubular hand held money holder and ticket dispenser. Very efficient!

We wander the night bazaar and realize we are too early. The vendors are just setting up for the night. We head back into Chinatown the shopping stalls have shut it down for the evening. So it is time to go back to Siam Square near our hotel.

The final mode of transport for the day is a tuk tuk. We manage to hail one after getting turned down by a number of taxis. Murray haggles, all in fun, with the tuk tuk driver and they settle on a price. Off we go like a bat out of hell. Tuk tuks are much faster than cabs because they drive in and out of the traffic, take short cuts and sometimes even zoom down the wrong side of the street.

We have had a day of walking, boats, train, a taxi, a bus and a tuk tuk. Sorry, no helicopters or airplanes. I think we will get our fill of planes over the next day or so, as we are heading home. See you on the other side.

Decoration on Wat Arun

Bangkok is one of the better cities I have visited in the world. It is relatively clean. There is something happening at every street corner, the people are very friendly, and I have felt safe all the time on the street.

The pace here is slow, the walking pace that is, I walk fast and Debbie and I have had to adjust our walking speed by half. This is partially due to the heat and partially by the volume of pedestrians. Also the sidewalks are not in pristine condition and care must be taken to not trip or twist an ankle.

The traffic is a bit crazy but much more orderly than other Asian cities. The talking horn is non-existent here. The cars and motor bikes ebb and flow just as in other places but no one toots the horn. The drivers have their spidey sense engaged and there is rarely a conflict. Traffic lights actually mean something, the traffic stops when a red light appears and goes on green.

Every one is quite patient and pedestrians have some sort of right of way. Debbie and I have been mid street when someone will actually stop and give us a wave to continue. When we actually use a crosswalk the traffic stops in both directions and lets us pass. I do not think this is because we are obvious tourists, this happens when locals are poised at a crosswalk as well. Debbie still uses the old “latch onto a local and cross with them” technique, which works very well but if a local is not available it is easy to get curb to curb here.

Riding in a tuk tuk

Our first tuk tuk ride today. The fellow at the front desk said a taxi would be cheaper but we had to get into one of the three wheeled motor bikes and take an open air ride to Chinatown. Chinatown epitomizes what Asia is all about, crowded streets with open air stalls lining both sides of the road and taking up most of the sidewalk. The difference here is the sellers are not aggressive. Everyone waits for the customer to come to them.

We are on our way to a night market tonight. The Asiatique has a free shuttle boat from the skytrain line to the jetty adjacent to the market which is open 6pm to 11:30pm every night. SKIP IT. It is a very nice absolutely sterile place, an open air shopping mall with zero personality. Debbie had thought it might be the case but we thought we would go and see anyway. Although prepared we are disappointed anyway.

Three nights in Bangkok and our third night out.  Debbie makes two observations while we are walking the streets after dark.  One is the number of single women out after dark and the second is the fact no one carries their bag in front of them and most do not have it across their chest. As I mentioned above I have not felt threatened here and these two notings help to back up my ease.

We have one more full day in Bangkok and we will travel the river to some sights and visit another, hopefully more real, night market.

We thought we would start with the basic tourist stuff, spelled WAT, and see if we can get our bearings to wander the city tomorrow and the next day. At the suggestion of the hotel clerk we took the sky train to the river and then boarded a river boat to the dock closest to the Royal Palace.

There is a demonstration planned for today and the hotel guy thought the traffic would be tied up and the best way into town would be above street level and on the water. Neither of which is likely to be affected by the large crowds expected to gather to protest the new amnesty law being debated that would allow politicians from a previous government to come back from exile without punishment.

Decoration on the Royal Palace Temples

We found the tourists. Every tourist present in Bangkok is at the Royal Palace. I have a sneaking suspicion it is like this every day, much the same as the Forbidden City in Beijing. We should have learned from that experience and arrived right at opening. I think the crowds would have been less. The first 300M of the route has a person standing or moving on every square meter. There is a chance to divert from the obvious path and Debbie and I take the alternate route. It is much quieter and we can move along at our speed and take in the sites. This palace and its grounds are the center piece of Thailand’s monuments and it is easy to see why. The detail and ornateness is mind boggling. The Thai people have also understood that maintenance is very important to the life of this national monument. This is something that we will see all day long as we visit other wats.

There are very strict rules on what can be worn in the Royal Palace compound. Debbie had on long shorts but they were not long enough for the regulations. She had to borrow a sarong from the textile museum before we could proceed to the ticket booth. As I stood waiting, one lady had an argument with the guard because he said to her a scarf draped over her shoulders was not acceptable, she must obtain a shirt from the clothing distributor. I do not know why she thought arguing will change the situation; she is not going to win.

After departing an area far too crowded for our liking we create our own route that allows us to see some wats (temples) I had marked of interest in my pre-trip research. Every one we stopped at was very well maintained and extremely detailed. There is a lot of gold glittering but I think a good majority is paint not gold or gold leaf as is claimed in Myanmar. The places are for the most part active places of worship and they are very impressive indeed.

The oddest thing about today is the protest. Debbie and I had discussed that if we ran into any masses of humanity gathering on the street we would head in a different direction. Unfortunately, a couple of times when we head in the direction of this place or the next we have to cross an area where protesters are gathering. The first time it was an impromptu gathering right near the Royal Palace. We walk through the edge of the crowd at double time.  There are only a couple of hundred people and it all seemed rather peaceful.

The second time we cross paths with the gathering mass is passing by Democracy Square. We later find out this is the spot where the protest is to be. Again we skirt the edge of the group and double time it. Once passed we think we are in the clear and continue our journey to the new palace. The new palace is in an area where  a good lot of government buildings are. We cross a canal, on the other side is coils and coils of ribbon wire. It looks pretty scary. Just beyond the ribbon wire is a policeman peering over a tall concrete barrier. I thought this odd and assumed it was some sort of military establishment beyond and it required some sort of special protection. We walk the block and as we approach the next intersection there is more ribbon wire, more concrete barriers and an entire phalanx of police dressed in riot gear with shields propped on the concrete. The first intersection was scary but this is down right intimidating.

Each street we pass has the same setup. We realize if the protesters start to move this is the street they will follow, it is the government buildings they will head for and these guys dressed in blue are the ones here to protect them. We arrive at the corner we must turn on to get to the new palace and it is blocked by yet another wall of concrete and police. I ask one of the officers if the palace is down this road and he says yes, yes go ahead. Both of us thought it strange we should be let in behind police lines but in we go thinking if we put enough distance between the barrier and us we would be safe. The palace is closed on Mondays, which we did not realize and walked a long way for nothing.

So we walk in the direction opposite to the street of potential danger. The blocks are very long and it is not possible to see from one intersection to the other. As we get to the end of the block we start seeing more police vehicles. There is a barricade protecting the other end of the street in case a riot is started on the street parallel. Debbie and I realize we have just passed through a DMZ. Never been in one of those and as we did not know we were in one it wasn’t even scary.

Marble Temple

Our next destination, the marble temple, is also in another DMZ on the next street over. The wat is faced with imported Italian marble, quite beautiful and I would imagine quite expensive. We get there as soon as we can, rush through not giving it the time it deserves and again try to head in a direction not likely to be involved in any trouble. 

Wats till the end, with a little DMZ thrown in. We intend to take a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel but Debbie looks at the map and realizes we are within walking distance and we hoof it back to a room with AC and a spot to lay prone. There is one more wat to see and that should be it for the next two days.