Bangkok

Getting the early train from Aranyaprathet meant getting up before 0600, but it also meant we were in Bangkok at lunchtime. The train is a railcar and is rather tatty, but cheap (The tuk-tuk ride to the station in Aranyaprathet cost slightly more than the train tickets for both of us). All seats are 3rd class, with fans and windows that open instead of air conditioning. It warmed up a bit whenever we stopped, but once we were moving again the breeze helped to make it bearable. We sat on the left as the sun was on the right, unfortunately our view was marred by the phone and power lines, however they did provide good resting places for the birds, like the storks and herons we saw.

The train is well used by locals along the way, getting on and off at various stops, some loaded down with all sorts of food and drink, from biscuits to spring onions, all of which were paraded up and down the train to sell. We wondered if some of them were on their way to or from a market. There were also school kids using the train to get to school. Some seats in the last car were reserved for monks. All up we stopped at 43 stations, some of which were just shelters by the railway line.

Once we had disembarked at Bangkok we bought tickets for the train to our next destination. Then we bought a sim card for Kraut’s phone so we could use the Grab App, which is a bit like Uber but better. This meant we could get a ride to our hostel. The hostel was nice, and the owner lovely.

Having settled in and taken a break we walked to Khaosan Road, which is close enough to walk to but far enough away to easily avoid. Kiwi wanted to show it to Kraut, but it had changed a lot since he was in Bangkok last. Khaosan used to be a bit dirty, a bit sleazy and was known for somewhere you could buy pretty much anything.

Now it looks like it has been gentrified. A lot of the buildings are new, and no longer look like firetraps. Where there used to be people selling fake ID’s, there is nothing. Where the travel agents, who could sell you a ticket to anywhere on any mode of transport, once worked out of phone box sized offices they now have proper office space. The bars, restaurants, massage parlours, etc are still there but seem somehow cleaner. Ten years ago there was one McDonalds, now there are two on Khaosan Road and one on the road parallel to it. There are now two Burger Kings nearby, three Boots the Chemists (used to be only one), as well as Starbucks, etc.

A big part of the problem is there are no longer any street vendors. The road looks empty without them. The whole place has lost its soul. From talking to the hostel owner it seems the government has cleaned it up, just like they have ‘cleaned up’ the street food, i.e. removed it completely. In short, Khaosan Road has been sanitised. It is a pity, but ‘progress’ is difficult to stop. However, on a positive note, it appears that New Joe’s Guesthouse is still there. This is a true Khaosan Road institution. It is good to get rid of the criminal element, the scammers, and guesthouses that are firetraps, but now Khaosan Road looks like any shopping street anywhere in the world.

We had lunch near Khaosan Road, at a Thai place, eschewing the various purveyors of western food. The food was ok, but the same thing can be found cheaper elsewhere, we only ate there because we were too hungry to go any further.

While wandering in the general vicinity of Khaosan Road we stopped to look at a map attached to a bus stop sign. As we were looking at it a local guy in a Germany football shirt showed us where we were and then suggested we go to China Town, using the river boats to get there. He showed us the route they take and told us the price, which immediately put us off. But he continued to tell us about it and recommended getting to the river by tuk-tuk, which would only cost 20 Baht (NZ$1). But we should only use the tuk-tuks painted a particular colour, and just as he said that a tuk-tuk of that colour pulled up beside us. We don’t know what scam was being attempted, though we suspect they were going to rip us off on boat tickets, but we politely said we might follow his suggestion the next day and then wandered off. Not everything in Bangkok has changed it would seem. To be fair, we met some other locals who were friendly and helpful. The next day we found out the correct prices of the river boats and our suspicions were confirmed.

Due to a few early starts recently, we decided to have a sleep in on Friday. This was a good idea, except it meant we then had to deal with high temperatures in Bangkok. But what is a little sweat? We started by heading to the Grand Palace. Despite being in Bangkok on three previous occasions, Kiwi had never been there, and neither had Kraut. But then Kraut hadn’t been in Thailand before.

On the way we stopped off at another temple we happened to pass. This was Wat Ratchabophit Sathitmahasimaram, and entry was free, so we had a look. It was nice, very colourful as the temples tend to be, and had some very nice wall decorations and elephants. After a look around we continued to the palace.

We had three false starts at the palace. Having trouble finding the entrance, we inadvertently tried to enter through three gates we shouldn’t have. Eventually, we found the signs pointing to the entrance, which was around the corner and over the road. So we crossed the road, joined the back of the queue, walked through the security screens which were ignored by the three bored-looking security personnel, and then recrossed the road to enter the compound. And there they were, the Chinese tour groups. Oh no. We managed to get some photos of the view before the ticket office and avoid losing an eye or two on badly controlled umbrellas by clever manoeuvering through the Chinese. Then it was off to the ticket office.

We were expecting the entrance fee to be 200 Baht and were a little nonpulssed to discover it had increased to 500 Baht NZ$25. 500 Baht! Each!? They must be kidding. We went into the air-conditioned cafe to ponder whether to pay that much. Other visitors rated the palace as good but not worth the money, especially given the hordes of people getting in the way. We figured that assessment was probably correct so left. It looked like Disneyland with all the people around and sounded like bedlam courtesy of the Chinese, who seem incapable of being quiet and not poking other people with their umbrellas.

So we decided to visit Wat Arun. To do so we had to walk to the river and find the correct pier. Initially, we found ourselves at the tourist boat pier, where we were offered different tours on the river and canals. None of them interested us enough to cough up the ridiculous fares, so we retreated and walked further down the river to the correct pier. There we paid 4 Baht each for the ride across the river. The river resembled a busy road, there were different types and sizes of boats going in both directions, all at different speeds.

Having reached the other side we wandered into the temple grounds. The entrance fee? 50 Baht. Seemed fair, so in we went. Wat Arun means Temple of Dawn, The temple is rather impressive to look at with its towers. Like a lot of things, it is better at sunrise or sunset, but we were there in the middle of the day. It was hot. But we pressed on and had a wander around.

There were lots of Buddhas (some apparently donated by people in memory of family members who had died), stone carved characters and animals, sculptures of elephants, and of course the temple itself. The main spire is rather tall (no-one can agree on how tall) and is covered with porcelain tiles. We wandered around for quite a while. At one point to see a Buddha in a building we had to remove our shoes, which proved to be a problem as getting from where we left our shoes to the interior meant walking across very hot concrete. But we managed it without blistering our feet. The temple, from what we could tell, is a combination of Buddhism and Hinduism, there are symbols from both religions. This appears to be a common theme among the temples. We looked it up and found out that Buddhism is an offshoot of Hinduism.

After looking around we got the boat back across the river and had lunch at a pier side restaurant patronised mostly by locals. This was a good opportunity to watch the river traffic, have a break from the heat, and rest our weary feet. Having recovered somewhat we continued on our walk. Along the way, we saw a park and decided it would provide some shelter from the sun so we strolled in. It had a band rotunda, a pond with a fountain that wasn’t working (a common theme on our travels), and a stupa.

Back on the street, we headed to the Golden Mount (Wat Saket). this is another temple, but this one is built on a man-made hill. Getting to the top means following a path that circles the hill like a spiral staircase. There are several bells along the way, which some people insist on ringing even though doing so shatters the relative calm and tranquillity of the place. The view from the top was not very exciting but the golden stupa was nice.

From there we headed back towards our hostel. We were hot, sweaty, and tired. We did stop at a cafe for cold drinks on the way, soaking up the air-conditioned air as well. But we had to leave eventually and it only took half a minute for all the good to be undone. It was a relief to get back to our room. A cold shower and air-conditioning soon had us feeling better. One of the sadder things we saw during the day were the signs at temples warning against various scams.

Later we had dinner at the local restaurant. This was on the corner of the street, and we walked past the kitchen to get there. The kitchen is on the footpath. But the food was good, even if the entertainment, karaoke, wasn’t up to the same standard.

Saturday was hard work. Once again we got up at a leisurely time and, after breakfast, went for a walk. We didn’t have a destination in mind, though we did think we might visit one of the big shopping malls. As it turned out we walked to Khaosan Road where we took a photo or two to put on this blog and then continued walking. Passing yet another temple, without going in, we continued aimlessly.

Finding ourselves in China Town was a minor surprise, but we had a superficial look around before deciding we needed to sit down with a cold drink in an air-conditioned space. We walked for another kilometre or two before finding a Starbucks. This was not really what we wanted, but we had just walked probably the only two-kilometre stretch of road in Bangkok which didn’t have at least one cafe. We ordered some iced drinks and sat down to enjoy them and the air-conditioning. We were there long enough for the air-conditioning to penetrate deeply. Once we started feeling cold we returned to the stifling heat and humidity. It took some time for it to make us feel uncomfortable due to the air-conditioning’s lasting effect.

Deciding that Kiwi was overdue a haircut we found a barber. Kiwi splashed out on a shave too and nearly fell asleep in the barber chair. The fans in the barbershop were also pleasant to sit under. The next stop was at a cafe, Kraut needed coffee. Then it was to the main railway station, Hua Lamphong, to if there was anywhere we could eat before boarding the train. There was, but no where we wanted to eat. So we got a Grab back to the hostel where we had a pizza delivered. Then we showered and changed into clothes that didn’t smell as awful as our sweat-soaked attire did.

While wandering around Bangkok we walked down Silversmith street, where all the silversmiths have shops, and also down Carpentry/Joinery/Anything-Else-Including-Souvenirs-Made-Out-Of-Wood Street. Here we saw carpenters using the footpath as a workshop, and smelled the delightful perfumes of glues and lacquers. There was also Buddha street, where one could buy statues in all sizes of Buddha along with all the other paraphernalia to do with Buddhism. This included candles as tall as us. In China Town, we walked down Goldsmith Street, Tailor Street, and Leather Goods Street. These aren’t the street names, just what we called them.

Once we were ready we used Grab to get back to the station to board our overnight train for Chiang Mai. We chose the overnight train as it is a 13-hour journey and we weren’t sure we wanted to spend that long sitting on a train, regardless of the scenery. We also read that the last part of the journey is the best for scenery and we would be able to see that in the morning.

Fun fact: the correct Thai name for Bangkok is Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit

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