to
APRIL 18, 2003
Thailand
Shari and I left for the airport about 1:15 PM and we didn't get there to drop the car until just before 5 PM. We took the car rental shuttle over to the airport terminal and thought we would have a lot of time to wait until our 7:45 flight, but the baggage check-in took forever, so we only had a short time to get some food and then go back to the gate. The flight left just about on time and as usual it was a full flight - 14 hours sitting up again in a plane.
I read, slept and ate (alot) - one dinner during the flight from Auckland to Brisbane, Australia (3 hours) and then a second dinner and a breakfast on the flight from Brisbane to Bangkok. We arrived right on time - 5 AM Bangkok time, got out bags pretty quickly and went right through the "nothing to declare" line at customs. We booked a canal tour for the next day (4.5 hours for $10 each) then got in line for a taxi and were at our hotel by 6:30 AM.
Thailand is wonderful! It will be difficult for me to describe what I've seen and how this place makes me feel because I don't even understand why it touches me so deeply, but it does. Bangkok is hot, crowded, very dirty, unbelievably inexpensive and the palaces and temples are mixed in with some pretty seedy, run down places, but I think it is the Thai peeple that I like so much. They are gentle, polite and happy, and I like being around them.
Our hotel, the Viengtai is great! It is a real hotel (no hostel) with all the comforts of a hoel. We have a big, air-conditioned room with 2 double beds, a TV, a small refrigertor and a good size bathroom. They gave us shampoo and conditioner and lots of towels (you have to bring your own towels in a hostel). It is so nice to have a full size towel versus my little pack towel that I've been using. There is an outside swimming pool on the 3rd floor and a nice restaurant on the 1st floor. We have all this luxury (including a full breakfast buffet) for 500 Thai Bahts ($12) each, per night. The curtent exchange is about 42-50 Thai Bahts per US dollar.
We are staying in a section of Bangkok called Banglampu. It is the old section of the city and it is not at all like the business section of Bangkok, which is very modern and clean, and is like most any other big city. Most of Banglampu is run down, petty dirty and crowded, but it has a charm all its own.
We took a nap for a couple of hours after we settled in the room and then we went out to explore the city about 11 AM. We came to Bangkok at a very interesting time. It is the Thai New Year. The Thai government officially proclaims April 13-15 as holidays so the people can return to their hometowns to celebrtate the Songkran Festival which marks the beginning of the Thai New Year. Even though many people leave the city to celebrate the festival, there are still loads of people celebrating here, because the schools and businesses are closed. They also close some streets to traffic and there were great crowds of people walking everywhere. Street vendors were also everywhere selling all kinds of food - Thai soups, noodle dishes, omelets, Pad Thai, dumplings, pork and chicken on skewers, fruit juice drinks and lots more. My kind of festival and I tried lots of different dishes.
One of the big parts at the festival is splashing water on each other and spreading a light colored mud on faces and hair and clothes. The kids had a great time (especially the teenagers) with their pails of water and mud and their water guns. It was great fun to walk in the midst of it all. Some kids put mud on our faces as they walked by us and others squirted us with water, but they were always gentle with their hands on our faces and never soaked us with the water. They sure did soak each other though, and got covered in mud. They were riding through the streets in the backs of trucks and would throw big pails of water at each other. Music was playing everywhere and it was great to be part of the celebration.
We walked over to check out the area with some temples that we want to visit and then came back to our hotel. I was drenched with sweat (it was probably in the mid-90s) and I needed to get into an air-conditioned room. We watched a movie on tv and then went back out to see more celebrating about 7 PM. It was more crowded, the music was louder and there was mud and water all over the streets (and the people). We sat at a street vendor place and had dinner and enjoyed the noise and sights. I had a Thai noodle dinner with chicken in it, and a Sinhga beer for 85 Baht (about US$2). Amazing!
HOME PAGE
HOME PAGE
NEW ZEALAND
JOURNAL