A Taste of Thailand

This post is a few days delayed, but there is so much to say, it has taken me a while to find the time to dedicate to writing it all down. Luckily, my travel mates and I were smart enough to keep a journal together throughout our trip, with fresh stories every day, it is a really great collection of our different perspectives of the 9 days we spent in Thailand.

We arrived on Sunday after a 9 hour flight on Jetstar, an airline I plan on avoiding in the future (paying for drinks, not having enough mini entertainment systems and chairs so close together even my short legs had trouble moving.. really not my thing). We finally landed at Bangkok International Airport and moved quickly to baggage claim and customs, all the while staring wide eyed at the Thai sculptures decorating the terminal. From there a taxi to our hotel and we were ready to find some authentic Thai food for dinner before collapsing in bed. The area where the D’ma (pronounced Dee-Mah, or D-M-A or De-mah, depending on the Thai person we were talking to) Hotel is located is a small street near some local markets and lots of little local shops and food stands. We ended up at a nice looking place called Tom Yum’s and ate delicious Thai food.

The next morning, we woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel (Barrett set a croissant on fire, but they had awesome pineapple jam and noodles and tofu next to the pancakes – touristy and wonderful) and made our way to the Grand Palace, one of Bangkok’s most famous destinations. Getting there is not so simple though. Thailand is famous for its scams, especially with taxi and tuk-tuk drivers. On the way to the Grand Palace, we got caught in one of the most classic scams of all. Our ddriver agreed to take us to the Grand Palace for 100 baht (about $3 American) and as we hopped in he offered to take us to a gem factory “just to look, you no have to buy,” and when he found out it was our first day in Thailand, he took us to a tourist agency too! Guess what, he gets a commission if we make purchases at the gem factory or tourist agency, he even tried to convince us that the Palace wasn’t open until 11 (it opened at 8:30, our guide book said so). The tourist agency was a total waste of 10 minutes, but the gem factory was actually pretty cool. We saw workers polishing the stones and making jewellery and then they attempted to sell us about four hundred different rings and necklaces. We took a pass on making any purchases, but they had some nice souvenirs that we ended up going back for the next day! Finally, we made it to the Grand Palace.

It was about 85 degrees outside, sunny and humid – and the palace requires that your knees and shoulders be covered. We were a little warm. The Grand Palace is an active Buddhist temple, it is huge (grand..?), we kept thinking we’d seen it, but the entrance an other buildings are so massive and so beautiful that we could hardly believe that we hadn’t yet seen the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is gilded, mosaiced, mirrored, sparkling, intricate, breathtaking, sacred, expansive and generally humbling. I have never seen anything so massive and so beautiful.

This is one very, very small statue in the Grand Palace.

We have a bunch of photos, but they hardly do the area justice. Many of the most beautiful temples (including the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the world’s largest jade Buddha) do not permit photography. We walked around for a while, taking in the Guardian Giant statues and the small ponds with water lily pads and burning incense, and taking our shoes off to enter the different temples. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha was the most exquisite of all. It was filled with gold and jewels and a few guardian statues. The walls were covered with a mural of the Buddha’s life, and atop a high altar was the Buddha statue. It was beautiful. We sat there for at least 20 minutes, unable to take our eyes off of it. It is made of a solid rock of Jade, probably 2 or 3 feet tall and covered in a shawl of gold and jewels. We saw dozens of thai people enter and pray during our time there. Everyone is careful not to point their feet towards the Buddha, as the feet are the lowest and most unsacred part of the body (the head, obviously, is the highest and most sacred, making it improper to touch another person’s head). When we reached the Grand Palace itself, it was a magnificent white building and we saw the guards change. After that, it was time for more bottles of water and a new adventure.

We had read in the little corner of our lonely planet tourbook in a section called “freaky Thailand” that there is an amulet market near the Palace where you can purchase little treasures and Buddha images for necklaces or as souveniers. We walked the few blocks to where the market was, and with the guidance of a very zealous Thai man, found a few blocks where people sat with blankets on the sidewalk selling coins, amulets and small versions of the Buddha. It was a little creepy, and pretty unimpressive.

Near the D’ma we walked to a wholesale market and made friends with a woman who just wanted to hug us and sell us pewter flasks. She giggled a lot and was really working on her English, it was weird, but endearing…? The mall was MASSIVE, you can find almost anything there.. and we did. From knockoff handbags and wallets and sunglasses to sweatshirts, dresses and jewellery, this market had a lot of everything. And the most commonly heard phrase of the day “ohhh discount for you madam.” On the way home, we rode a Tuk-Tuk (the pictures are hilarious) its like a motorcycle with a cart for people to sit on in back. Our driver though we were funny…

Another Thai food dinner and we were exhausted, bedtime for the American girls.

Day two in Bangkok was another adventure. We had to meet up with our tour group in the afternoon, so we decided to explore Chinatown and do a little more shopping during the day. After a quick workout in the hotel gym without air conditioning, we attempted to get a regular metered taxi to Chinatown, scam-free. After several attempts in front of the hotel, we walked to the main road to hail a cab. We ask if it’s a ‘taxi meter’, he nods, so we hop in and ask to go to Chinatown. The driver just grumbled and shook his head as he begins to drive. We ask again, “Chinatown, ok?” Again, he grumbles. As slowly as possible we ask where he’s taking us, can we go to Chinatown, we show him a map… he continues grumbling and driving! We ask him to stop, please stop, let us out, please stop driving, stop… finally, we open the door in the middle of the road and spill out. Thank goodness there are three of us, and Barrett had the video camera on the entire time.

Chinatown was HUGE. There were signs in red and gold and alleys filled with stands and shops and smells so strong they could knock you over. The humidity in Thailand is so strong that scents linger longer than you expect.. its nice when the lady with the flowers walks by, its gross when the guy selling fish walks by. We attempted to follow a route that the tourbook recommended as a walking tour of Chinatown. Unfortunately there are no street signs there and we had no idea where we were, so we just wandered for an hour or two. Finally, it was too crowded, we were too overwhelmed and hot, and decided to head back towards the D’ma for a little wholesale retail therapy and snacks from the really nice vendors on the street (though we did pass on the fried crickets and other bugs in front of the Seven Eleven).

Two pairs on sunglasses and a few souvenirs of Bangkok later, we met Wan, our Intrepid Tours staff member at the hotel to go to the overnight train into the jungle!

As you can tell, the Thailand blogging is taking a while. I’ll type up our jungle adventures tomorrow (I hope!) but for now, enjoy Thailand in bits and pieces! And PICTURES, of course! There are three albums total, but here's the one all about Bangkok :)

Rach