72 Hours in Bangkok

Back in Singapore after my most recent trip, it took some time for my retrospective eyes to glaze over.  Glaze complete, I can know look back on my trip and hopefully be able to recount a little of what happened, show a few pictures and an entertaining story or two.  The first place I landed after taking off from Singapore’s Changi airport was on the tarmac at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.  I’ve become something of an expert on airports, despite flying for the first time in 2009.  Like Up In The Air, it’s passport out, no checked baggage, belt off and pockets empty as I approach security. 

After arriving, I took the public transport Skytrain, an above ground train running through the city.  It wasn’t until I was in the heart of Bangkok and close to my hostel that I first stepped into the city itself.  Travelling light, I had cut out my rain jacket and didn’t bother with an umbrella – of course I ended up walking to my hostel in the pouring rain of a tropical rainy season storm.  Anyhow, as I discovered over three days, Bangkok’s fearsome reputation has become illusory.  Instead, the sprawling metropolis is more of an international centre with all the luxuries to boot.  That’s not to say there isn’t a distinct Thai flavour running through the city with interesting things to see, but just that Bangkok isn’t the depraved and deadly capital one would be led to believe. 

I discovered the city at my own pace.  Some highlights were, in no particular order: the Grand Palace, Wat Po (a sprawling Buddhist temple with a massive and golden reclinging Buddha), Chatuchak Market (by some estimates, the largest outdoor market in the world) and Khao San Road (the filthy and fetching backpacker’s quarter).  I was able to keep it all pretty cheap, with an $18 room, less than $10 a day on food, and maybe $5-10 on transport and entrance fees.  At the end of the day, Bangkok was not what I was hoping for and it would be later in Cambodia that I would find the stories worth sharing and the lessons worth learning.

Above you have the iconic grit of Bangkok.  Below are two pictures of sights around the Grand Palace and its compound; firstly, the palace itself, then a nearby unexplained yet spectacular building.

       These dudes were all over the city.  Buddhist kingdom and all.

Bamboo for scaffolding on an old temple’s spire..  I wouldn’t go for a climb.

Here is a view from the Chao Phraya River, which bisects Bangkok and is busy with commuter ferry boats and shipping barges alike.

The two pictures above were taken near Chatuchak Market, a massive market with everything from clothes to wholesale to food and everything possible in between.  The first: a view from the Skytrain nearby of the fringes of the market (note the extreme amount of people).  The second: a finger-pickin’ son of a gun I happened across in the market.

Last, but not least.  A 75 cent Thai street omelette that became my dinner – fried eggs, rice, chili, grease: who knew?