Have to say, LOVED Bangkok. It was dirty, smoggy, noisy, the sidewalks were cracked and uneven -- I know, sounds like West LA or something. But it was awesome and such a nice change of pace from Singapore; I felt like we were visiting Singa's hippy cousin up north. Highlights from the trip:
1. The food. There were street vendors everywhere selling delicious fried chicken, and we could buy these burritos (ohhh, the burritos) made by a guy from California at a stand on Sukhumvit Road (I hadn't had quality Mexican since I got to Singapore in November -- we had it twice in three days in Bangkok).
2. The hostel -- nicest hostel I've ever been to called Suk 11 (I highly highly recommend it for anyone going to Bagkok). It was cheap, clean, had a great crowd, there was TP in the bathroom (unheard of for a hostel) and it was decorated like a jungle hideaway. Indiana Jones would probably be out whipping snakes and rescuing women, and then would come down here for some pad thai and a beer.
3. The shopping. On Saturday, we stopped by a weekend market called Chatuchak Market -- 900 vendors, some people dress up in costume, play songs, make noises to attract customers. It's easy to get lost in there though, especially after you take an hour looking at the puppies for sale (it's also apparently a hotbed for exotic animal trade, but you didn't hear that from me). So Greg, our friend Angilee and I sit down to take a break, and a teenage Thai girl asks us if she can sketch us. We figure sure, what the hell, and then all of a sudden the girl and her art teacher are sketching individual portraits of all of us with bamboo dipped in ink.
They turned out well, but Greg's came out the best. Here are Greg and the teacher posing -- teacher poofed up his hair and put on big shades to play the part:
4. The people -- incredibly, genuinely friendly. Case in point: Greg and I were cranky, hungry and couldn't find a place to eat down south of the Chinatown area. We were standing on a street corner looking like we were about to explode, and a guy just came up to his and used hand gestures to find out what was wrong, and pointed us in the direction of a restaurant. In most places, I would expect him to ask for cash or we'd find out he was the owner of the restaurant, but no: he just thought we looked pissed and stopped to help. Wha??
5. There was great local music at a jazz club called Saxophone -- this four-piece band played rock/blues the night we were there, with a guy who looked like a Thai Chuck Berry with a big Panama Jack hat ripping some sick guitar on "Johnny Be Good"; also played Hendrix, Clapton, Allman Brothers, etc.
6. The Royal Palace. Lots of golden temples, a Buddha relic, men guarding the gates in colonial uniforms. A couple pics from our afternoon checking out the grounds:
7. The muay thai! Went to a local muay thai match, which is the "king's sport" -- boxing that involves kicking. Kicks to the head and ribs are fair game, and we saw enough of what looked like groin shots to wonder if they were wearing stainless-steel cups. We were there on a championship night, so tons of locals were out, all wearing their yellow polo shirts ("the king's shirt") and betting on the matches. We had to sit in the foreigners' section of the stadium, which had about 7 people in it. No matter, better views for us. The best part of the fights are the music and dancing that go along with them. Before every match, the fighters --wearing floral garlands around their necks -- do a traditional dance around the ring, sweeping their feet, bowing, bouncing around. It's a pretty big dichotomy watching them do that until the bell rings, and then they start kicking the crap out of each other. The music is played throughout the match, too, so a lot of times they fight in time to the beat. Such talented athletes, these muay thai men.
8. The baby elephant being paraded down our hostel's street. We're just walking home from the jazz club, looking for some fried chicken, when we run into these guys leading an elephant around. Tourists were paying them $$ to feed him peanuts or something equally cliched. I started clicking pics, then felt really bad for the baby elephant. Then I took more pics. Wasn't much else I could do.
Eight's considered a lucky number (Chinese New Year's coming up and all), so I'll end there. Bangkok rocked, Phuket was only "eh" -- "The Beach" it was not. Will write on that in a bit. I only have two words: "ladyboys" and "sexpats."
UPDATE: Here are all my photos from Bangkok and Phuket.
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