It's Kili Time - AGAIN!
10 years ago
Three days into the trip, and fatigue has been a constant companion. I'm not sure how much that is due to the lingering effects of jetlag, but it's a given that most of it is due to just being in Bangkok- a bustling, hyperkinetic, and energy-taxing city if there ever was one. Traffic jams are a constant, walking down the street is a full-contact sport, and there are people and activity everywhere- no where else does the phrase "teeming masses" apply more than here.
Because of all this, I'm especially grateful for my lodging situation with my cousin Seth on the outskirts of the city. The housing development we're in looks more Florida than Thailand- there's a man-made lake, luxury cars parked in most driveways, and its SO quiet, which is wonderful after spending the day being auditorily assaulted by motorcycle engines and car horns. I have my own big room, private Western style bathroom (no squat toilets! toilet paper!), and the use of Seth's maid and personal driver. I'm fully aware that I'm being spoiled rotten- passing fellow Western tourists today in the city, I kinda felt bad for them and their hostel lodgings- but I like to think that this is karma for whatever future shady hostels/campsites I'll be in during the next few months. But for now, I'm thoroughly enjoying the amazing meals, getting my laundry done, and having my own ride into Bangkok whenever I feel like going sightseeing.
Seth's maid Maam, and half of this morning's ridiculous breakfast.Soon to come: two great lattés and a plate of heart-shaped waffles.
As for the sightseeing- I'm still trying to figure this place out, but the best description I can come up with is that Bangkok is a dense modern city built on top of a modest old one. The 'on top' part is especially apt, as traces of "Old Bangkok" are few and far between. I couldn't help but laugh when Seth's driver, as we were driving into the city yesterday, pointed out a pretty old wraught-iron building and made special note that it was old. How old? I asked. "Oh, fifty, sixty years!" was his sincere response. Lest I think that this was an isolated case, today he pointed out two more old buildings both built around the same time as the previous one, and he gave special mention to a hundred-year old train station as being especially historic. I guess that in a city where change is a constant, "oldness" is a relative concept.
However, not everything is shiny and new in Bangkok, and I've spent my time here visiting some of the relatively more ancient sites. First on Wednesday's agenda was the Royal Palace and the Phra Kaew Temple, both in the same complex, and built around the time of the city's founding in the mid 18th century. The site was basically a fantasyland of Thai architecture- spires shooting up to the sky, gold gables and roof decorations, everything a little too oversized, which the pictures below show well.
What the pictures don't capture is just how seriously people here take the monarchy, which is kinda impossible to overstate. The King and Queen's pictures are all over Bangkok, on buildings, on billboards in the medians, on money, and it's illegal to insult or show disrespect towards the royal family. Knowing the history of Thailand though, it's hard to blame the Thais- the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand's name until the 1930s) was the only country in the area to resist European colonization and maintain its monarchy. If I were Thai, I'd be proud of that heritage, too.
Wat Phra Kaew, all blinged out.
Me, with the Royal Palace in the background.Another thing that Thais take seriously is their religion, Buddhism, and I got to see just to what extent they do at my next stop, Wat Pho. (Wat means temple, fyi.) The temple is large and rambling, but what makes it special is its Buddha statue, which is EMORMOUS. We're talking 40 feet high and probably 100 feet long, painted in gold, and looking like it's about to break through the building where it's housed. It's almost too big to appreciate, and certainly too big to capture in a photo- below was about the best I could do- but it's definitely a sight to be seen.
The massive Wat Pho Buddha- it's even bigger than it looks here.
Yesterday, I got a sense of some of Bangkok's neighborhoods by taking walks through Chinatown and Silom, a business and tourism district. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed or floored by either area- Chinatwon was just massive outdoor shopping bazaar, and my Lonely Planet guide failed to inform me that nothing AT ALL happens in Silom between 5am and 10pm. Maybe if I was from Kansas and had never seen a city before I would have been impressed, but in my case, it was a wasted couple of hours.
Bangkok, or Bejing?
The days wasn't a total wash, through. On a whim, I dropped into the Queen Saovabha Snake Farm, expected some dry exhibits on snakes in Thailand. Instead, I was BLOWN AWAY- there were about 100 different types of snakes on display and a really cool museum with exhibits on snake venom, first aid, and snake biology (with videos that made getting bitten by snake even seem fun). Coolest of all, though, was the snake show. The handlers brought out abot 10 different types of snakes, threw them on the ground in front of a small audience, and prodded them with sticks, as we watched them get POed and try to attack them. PETA probably wouldn't approve, but it was a great show- totally unexpected, and definitely made my day.
Cobra abuse?
I'm not really sure how I feel about Bangkok as a city. I came in with big expectations, given its reputation as the backpacker mecca of Southeast Asia, but I'm not really seeing what all the fuss is about. There's cool stuff to see, for sure, but apart from a few things, I haven't seen anything that has made me fall in love with the place. Maybe I'm not the target audience for the city's debauchery, or maybe I'm just missing something. In any case, I have one more day left- I'll be visiting some museums- and then it's onto Laos. Looking forward to the peace and quiet.
The massive Wat Pho Buddha- it's even bigger than it looks here.Yesterday, I got a sense of some of Bangkok's neighborhoods by taking walks through Chinatown and Silom, a business and tourism district. Honestly, I wasn't too impressed or floored by either area- Chinatwon was just massive outdoor shopping bazaar, and my Lonely Planet guide failed to inform me that nothing AT ALL happens in Silom between 5am and 10pm. Maybe if I was from Kansas and had never seen a city before I would have been impressed, but in my case, it was a wasted couple of hours.
Bangkok, or Bejing?The days wasn't a total wash, through. On a whim, I dropped into the Queen Saovabha Snake Farm, expected some dry exhibits on snakes in Thailand. Instead, I was BLOWN AWAY- there were about 100 different types of snakes on display and a really cool museum with exhibits on snake venom, first aid, and snake biology (with videos that made getting bitten by snake even seem fun). Coolest of all, though, was the snake show. The handlers brought out abot 10 different types of snakes, threw them on the ground in front of a small audience, and prodded them with sticks, as we watched them get POed and try to attack them. PETA probably wouldn't approve, but it was a great show- totally unexpected, and definitely made my day.
Cobra abuse?I'm not really sure how I feel about Bangkok as a city. I came in with big expectations, given its reputation as the backpacker mecca of Southeast Asia, but I'm not really seeing what all the fuss is about. There's cool stuff to see, for sure, but apart from a few things, I haven't seen anything that has made me fall in love with the place. Maybe I'm not the target audience for the city's debauchery, or maybe I'm just missing something. In any case, I have one more day left- I'll be visiting some museums- and then it's onto Laos. Looking forward to the peace and quiet.
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