Bangkok

A city of beguiling incongruities and overwhelming sensuality. Bangkok will scramble the senses of even the most well read traveler. A modern veneer of international brand names in blinking neon only partially disguises an encapsulation of all things Thai. As you emerge from the airport, the thick jasmine-scented air envelopes your body, the oceanic reverberation of distant traffic fills your ears, and you sense that Bangkok is a place that you will not easily forget.

We arrived just last Tuesday morning at 5.50am after a flight of about nine hours from Tullamarine. Some may be able to sleep on planes. I seldom can. Bangkok has a brand new international airport that just opened last year. It boasts the largest passenger terminal in the world. It was huge. It took us quite some time to walk from our arrival gate to our luggage caracal. We were met by our limousine driver who was holding a card with our name on it. 45 minutes later we were pulling into the entry of the Dream Hotel in Bangkok. We only stayed there a few minutes. We dumped our bags and headed straight out again – this time on our own.

We negotiated a ten minute walk to the nearest sky train station. Bangkok’s traffic is horrendous, and so the sky train that opened just five years ago is great. It whisks you anywhere in the city in the space of just a few minutes. We headed for a stop on the river and switched from train top ferry. We were heading for the grand palace of Bangkok. The King of Thailand no longer lives there, but the place is now Bangkok’s number one tourist attraction.

Thai people talk about their King constantly. His image is everywhere. Many Thai people wear bright yellow clothing to honor their king. Yellow signifies the fact that he is Monday born. Each day of the week has a different colour.

We left the palace and plucked up the courage to take a tuk tuk ride across town to Jim Thompson’s house. Jim was an American who came to live in Bangkok and started the silk industry. He vanished back in the 60’s, but his house remains as he left it and is open to the public. We did a tour and stayed to have lunch there at the café.

We celebrated our first day in Bangkok with a dinner cruise in an old rice barge on the river. It was amazing. We had the front table. We ate about ten different dishes of Thai food as we sailed down the river and were entertained by some Thai girls playing some traditional Thai music. It was a night to remember.

The following day (Wednesday) we took the first of our day trips. A mini bus picked us up at 6.20am and we set off to the floating markets. They are primarily a tourist attraction, but a heap of fun to experience. You are taken in long canoe around various canals lines with other boat all laden to the hilt with goods you can buy.

From the floating market our next stop was an elephant park where I managed to talk Jo into coming on an elephant ride with me. It was so much fun and even Jo thought it was ok. After our ride we watched an elephant show which was spectacular. It included a full on mock battle with gun fire and elephants in full battle gear. We also watched the elephant soccer world cup.

Thursday was our shopping day. We set out for Siam square where many of the great shopping malls are side by side. We eventually found Pantip Plaza which is a six floor shopping centre entirely dedicated to computers and software. It was mind boggling. I could have stayed there all day, but Jo started getting restless after a couple of hours!

Friday was our second day trip. Once again we were picked up at our hotel at 6.20am. This time our destination was the bridge over the River Kwai. Iat was a day I will never forget. We stopped firstly at an Australian war cemetery and then looked through a museum filled with photos and memorabilia from the war. We then transferred to a long boat and sailed up the River Kwai to the bridge, a tip of about 30 minutes. The scenery was breath taking. My camera was working over time.

He bridge was built by POW’s during the war and then bombed by the Americans. It has been reconstructed and remains open to day. We were able to walk across the bridge and gain an appreciation for the efforts of the men who worked on it during the war.

After walking across the bridge we boarded a train and traveled a section of the track known as the death railway. Again an amazing experience.

A major problem emerged on our trip back to Bangkok. It was Friday night. The traffic is unbelievable anytime, but especially bad on Friday nights. As we approached

Bangkok the traffic on the expressway came to a complete stand still. We sat there for 30 minutes without moving. Our driver told us that sometimes you can sit for four hours without moving. In any case he said that it would take several hours to travel the final 10 or 12 k’s. Our group then made a decision to abandon our mini bus in the middle of the expressway and walk to the nearest sky train station which was really quite close. It was quite a sight to see many passengers leaving their vehicles and walking down the expressway between all the stationary cars. We eventually got home at about 9.30 and collapsed into bed. It was a huge day and we were done in, but all the same we both agreed that we would never have missed the trip for anything.

Saturday today and we have just completed our final full day in Bangkok before we move onto Israel. We headed this morning for Chatuchak market. They say it’s the largest market in the world and if you saw it you would have trouble doubting the claim. Picture thousands of stalls, intense heat, incredible swarms of people and a host of different weird and wonderful smells. If you can handle all of that and can bargain hard you can come away with some amazing bargains. We lasted about three hours before the heat and oppressive atmosphere got all too much for us. We jumped in a air conditioned taxi and headed to the river for lunch before taking a ferry boat ride down the river to a sky train station.

I guess we both must have been very tired. We slept for about three hours before freshening up and heading out to celebrate our last night in Bangkok. We booked about a month ago for a meal at the ‘Bed Supper Club’ They serve a set menu chosen by the chef on the night. It is a complete surprise. You sit, or lay on beds instead of tables. You have a pile of pillow behind you and a small bed table for your food. Over the course of a couple of hours they bring you five different courses. The food was awesome and the experience quite a novelty. Rather expensive by Bangkok standards but we wanted to celebrate our last night here.

Tomorrow is Sunday. We plan to attend a church service in the morning before heading to the airport where we will fly direct to Israel. What awaits us there we are yet to find out. Bangkok has been amazing. It’s an incredible place and like the guide book says, it is a place you will not easily forget. It’s a place of bright yellow clothes, intense heat and traffic like you have never seen before. There are 10 million people and 4 million cars. Another trivia point for you: 68% of Bangkok’s population are female.