Traveling to Bangkok

A little over 20 hours ago I closed the garage door at my home in Redmond, caught a cab to the airport, and then jumped on a plane on my way to Bangkok. The first part of this journey was a 13 hour flight from Seattle to Taipei, Taiwan aboard EVA airlines. They had a pretty nice setup with two decent meals, a few cups of noodle soup, and a selection of 6 to 8 recent (and turned out to be quite crappy) movies on demand. At this point all announcements were begin made in English as well as Chinese (or at least what I thought was Chinese, after a while it all sounded the same and was just background noise). We landed in what I believe was Taipei and I had two hours to figure out where to go to find a flight to Bangkok, fortunately sings included the native tongue as well as English. It was interesting in that I had to go through security even though my gates were only 2 numbers apart and I was traveling on the same airlines in to Bangkok. I boarded the 4 hour flight from Taipei to Bangkok with no idea of what the current date and time was. While English was still present in the announcements, the accent was much thicker and harder to understand and I began trying to listen for “Bangkok” in the announcements. I was a little concerned when I was unable to pick it out, but after talking with a fellow passenger in the seat next to me it turns out that only the west refers to the city as Bangkok, the city name is actually “Krung Thep”, short for its full name “Krungthep Mahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathani Burirom-udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiya Witsanu Kamprasit”. I landed in Bangkok and worked my way through customs and immigration, I had my back pack as a carry on so I headed to find ground transportation.


My Dad has a friend / coworker, Dr. Ansusinha, who lives part of the year in Bangkok, part in Madison, WI, and part in Naples, FL. I was not sure where to stay but figured I needed someplace that could help out this English speaking American find his way around Bangkok. Dr. Ansusinha said the Shangri-la was both nicer and cheaper than the Mandarin Oriental (which is currently rated as the 3rd best hotel in the world), so with a quick game of Pictionary with a metered cab driver I was on my way.

A coup recently over threw the Thai government and declared martial law, thus the security at Shangri-la was tight.


For around $115 USD a night you got an amazing room that included fresh fruit each morning and a TV in the shower (I had no idea this woud be one of the few times I had hot water). Plus everyone was extreamly nice and very helpful.

View from my room.


The clock in the room said it was around 2ish, but my body said different, anyway I figured the best way to adjust to the 15 hour time difference was to just stay up, so I headed out to walk around town, now where the hell should I go?


To an American it would seem that once you have seen one street in Bangkok you have seen them all, as it took less than 10 minutes of walking before I had no idea where I was nor where the hotel was.






At least they have an upgraded electric system.


I was starting to get hungry as looked for a place to eat, I passed on this establishment.


As well as this one and any one that had a skinned rat hanging in it.


I also passed a school which was right smack in the middle of everything, and later found that all schools require uniforms, maybe its not too late for the states.




A few temples, again right in the middle of everything.




I than came across, which at the time, seemed like a sketchy individual, he was a Tuk Tuk driver. A Tuk Tuk is a moped attached to a bench that has a roll cage made out of a tin-foil like metal. This cab like vehicle is zippy and small enough to weave in and out of traffic to get you and up to three other people where you want to go. It’s called a Tuk Tuk because that’s the sound they make. Let me tell you, you have not lived until you have ridden a Tuk Tuk through the streets of Bangkok. After some negotiation he agreed to show me a few sites then take me back to the hotel which he said he knew where it was and it was no problem, that or he was giving me his mother’s receipt for Pad Thai. Anyway it was 200 Bhat (around $5) which I was later told was way too much.


Passenger view.


For another 300 Bhat I talked him in to letting me drive it around the block, heck you don’t need a license, proof of insurance, or even the ability to read, so I figured I was qualified. However I pulled out of the alley on to the main road and then right back in to the alley. It is way too crazy, people just drive where and how they want, or all the exhaust fumes have people light headed and confused. Plus everyone was on the wrong side of the road.


And now it was time for my first Bangkok lesson. These guys (Tuk Tuk drivers) get paid (or a commission) to bring you to certain retailers and places. We first stopped at a suit store where I was encouraged to get a custom suit, the price was right but I had no idea of the quality of the material and passed. We then went to see the sleeping Buddha.












At the time I thought this was pretty cool stuff, however the next night when I had dinner with Dr. Ansusinha and his wife it seemed that this was not the real sleeping Buddha and really just a way to get another 20 Bahts out of me. I did later on go to the real sleeping Buddha and there was no comparison, plus it was also free. On the way back to the hotel we passed this taxi driver on a moped, yea, you can call a cab and end up sitting behind someone on a moped holding on for dear life.


In fact it was pretty common to see this although it was a little uncommon to see them with helmets on. It was even pretty common to see a family of four all piled on to one moped, all helmet-less. It was good to get back to the hotel and I decided to stop at the hotel bar, finally a place that I knew my way around. A few Singha beers and I was off to bed. I had an early morning tomorrow as I was heading north to see the ruins of the previous capital, Ayutthaya.