Date: Monday May 5, 2008Location: All over Bangkok (backstreets, alleyways, markets, boats, temples - you name it, we were there)
Not being satisfied with only walking around Bangkok on our last day, I talked Elspeth into signing up for a 1/2 day bike tour of the city. I'd found this Dutch bike tour company that advertised a bike/boat tour of the 'real' Bangkok. It started ridiculously early (7am?) and we found ourselves on bikes with a Dutch couple, who looked super comfortable on their bikes but who looked in not-so-friendly moods.
We set off, jetting across a BUSY street in downtown Bangkok and immediately turning into an alleyway where it was little wider than the bikes. Now, the website had said the bike ride was fine for the young and old but I started to wonder if that meant young and old "we ride bikes before we can walk" Dutch tourists. I hadn't ridden a bike properly before coming to Thailand in years (I think since Steph and I practiced before going to Amsterdam...ha!). The previous bike rides on the Intrepid tour had been pretty relaxed - I could even take pictures while riding. So finding myself peddling hard through a market with guys deepfrying meat on one side of me and women chopping fish up on the other side of me was a little overwhelming. We peddled through markets, residential neighbourhoods, temple grounds, over bridges, and across skinny walkways with canals on either side.
(I can't remember what the purpose of this statue was...I think I took the photo because of the tiara!)
We stopped at a temple to see a big-ish Buddha and take a rest, and then we rode onto a random, non-identified, rickety pier where a boat was waiting for us. Our bikes where packed in the back and we were zooming off down the canals.
It was really cool to see the houses perched on the canals. I have no idea how some of them are actually standing. We stopped at another pier and got back on the bikes...now we were on the other side of the major river in Bangkok and in areas apparently rarely visited by tourists. We rode down streets lined with stores, restaurants, people selling produce, recycling depots, etc...It was fascinating but I didn't get too close of a look as I was still nervous about falling off my bike (which turned out to have a brake that decided to be difficult).
(the sign says, 'Long live our beloved King')
(Our guide's bike fell into this green sludge when she was talking to us. Yuck)
(At temple number 2 or 3 we lit some incense and then gold leafed a bit of a Buddha. Cool)
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant right beside a canal. The couple that was with us didn't even try to hide their disgust. I dug in. The food was delicious. That fried rice was flavourful and there was an omelet, soup and various vegetable dishes to add to it. Yum.
We took our last boat ride back across the main river and right off the pier we found ourselves in a large room full of women sitting on the floor with huge piles of red chillies surrounding them. I think they were picking off the stems or something and then sorting them and preparing them for sale. It was an amazing sight. I smiled, said hi, took a quick photo and then we were off. It was a little while after this that I had to slow down, to avoid getting hit by a car, only to find myself and the Dutch guy separated from the rest of the group. We looked down streets but we couldn't find the other 3 anywhere. I decided that it was too hot to try to find them so I just stopped and waited. 10 minutes later our guide appeared. I guess someone finally looked back and noticed we weren't there...
Looking back, I can't believe I survived that bike tour. It's amazing to think I rode all over Bangkok and through the back alleys and streets! I recommend it to anyone wanting to do something a little different than the usual temple/street sights. After biking for the morning, I really wanted a shower and a nap but we had more of Bangkok to see. So we said goodbye to our guide and walked back toward the river, where we caught the river 'bus' and headed towards the temple of the reclining Buddha.
(Wat Arun - the Temple of Dawn)
Wat Pho's (The Temple of the Reclining Buddha) Buddha was very impressive. He's 46m long and 15m high with gold plating on his body and mother of pearl on his eyes and feet. The feet are the most interesting as they have 108 auspicious scenes decorating them.
(You have no idea how hard it was to get all three of us in this picture)
After visiting the big guy, we headed next door to the Grand Palace, but not before discovering that we had no idea where the entrance was, and having to walk around 3/4 of the palace in the burning sun to find it.
The Grand Palace's famous emerald Buddha is actually a small statue made out of jade. It is dressed in gold clothes three times a year by the king and...well...was kind of hard to see. We chilled in the main room for a while (by a fan) and people watched.
After walking around the grounds for a bit we decided we'd seen enough gold and that returning to the hotel to write some postcards would be a better idea. We had a quick fight about where the boat pier was and spent the rest of our time in Bangkok eating chips (my body was dying for salt) and writing a ton of postcards in the hotel lobby.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30PM so at around 5PM we hailed a taxi and we sped off to the airport. It was not a relaxing ride. I prayed that I had pronounced the name of the airport correctly (there are two airports in Bangkok...and the international one's name isn't pronounced anything like the way it's written). In addition to this stress, we had to deal with our driver's insane driving. I wasn't quite sure we were going to make it with all of the weaving, braking and speeding.
A little dazed, we arrived at the correct airport in record time. It was too early to check in so we ate some mango sticky rice (I had to get in one last mango), Elz bought a stuffed elephant, who she christened 'Bu' (short for rambutan, the fruit) and I perused the Boots pharmacy. After checking in we wandered through the duty free and finally ate dinner at a sports bar (yummy burger...).
At about 10:30 we went through security, found our gate and waited in our own private waiting area (the Japanese people on our flight were mysteriously ushered into a different area) until we made it popular and it filled up with people returning to Nagoya. We said goodbye to gorgeous, wonderful Thailand and I promptly fell asleep, only to wake up when the guy in front of me whipped his blind up at 5AM.
What an amazing trip. I must return. Next time I'll explore the south. Thailand, I never thought I'd fall in love with you so much!
