1/13 Getting Reacquainted with Krung Thep

Krung Thep is the Thai name for Bangkok and means city of angels.  With 12 million people, traffic a constant, the cacophony of motor scooters, Tuk Tuks, street hawkers and Skytrains, angels aren’t the first thing you’d think of when you enter Bangkok.  More like a general craziness that streams constantly in all directions.  A polite craziness though, one where people tend to respect others and have this lovely sort of etiquette and a whole host of traditional customs (like “wai-ing” to each other – hands pressed together and a small bow) that make the craziness bearable and the people and culture endearing.

The first glimpse we get of this is the traffic from the airport – it is intense, everyone switching lanes, inching ahead, going fast, slow, ahhh! But it’s like a ballet where all the drivers just expect the others to cut in front, change lanes, ride in the middle of lanes.  No one gets angry, no horns are blared – its all just, well, the way it is!  The ride takes us over an hour, but finally we arrive at the Bangkok Loft Inn.  It’s a cute boutique hotel in a mostly residential/retail area west of the Chao Phraya river and away from the tourist areas. 

We are greeted warmly by the morning staff, even though our room (understandably) is not ready (heck, it’s barely 8am!).  We grab a map, get our bearings and head out into the neighborhood.  Just a few blocks away there is a bustling food market, and even though we’re stuffed from our plane food, the tantalizing sights and sounds start our stomachs rumbling.  It’s packed with early morning shoppers, buying food for the day, and we happily wander along through the alleyways and market areas taking it all in.

We continue on around, checking out the closed shops and everything else within our area.  Just getting a feel for it all.  By 10, our room is ready and we head up to get organized, splash water on our face and get ready for a full on Bangkok day.

Back out on the street, we grab a Tuk-Tuk to Wat Arun, after being told we couldn’t walk – it looks so close on the map, but after the Tuk Tuk took 20 minutes to get there, winding in and out of little lanes and huge super boulevards, we figured we made the right decision (heck, it only cost 80 baht – about $2.40 – and we gave the guy a little tip because we thought his Tuk-Tuk was a little sick and needed help!).

FYI – this is what a Tuk Tuk looks like:

The Wat, commonly known as the Temple of Dawn because the dawn light reflects off it’s surface, is incredible.  It is huge – it’s main structure rising in a pyramid type design high into the sky. And all covered in ceramic. Ceramic flowers, tiles and symbols as well as bas relief carvings on every level.  You can climb the main structure, which we did to the 2nd level, but it’s pretty steep climbing with only a hand rail – and we quit after #2 – I’m sure the view from the top would be great – but we valued our safety more than a photo opp!  Not that we didn’t have plenty of photo opps as you can see from below!

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After meandering around the Wat and the grounds, we began to get a little hungry and decided to head across the river to Wat Pho where we knew there were a selection of restaurants. We jumped the ferry crossing boat – 3 baht each (that’s like 10 cents US) – and crossed the river in a jiffy. Deja vu!  Just like 3 years ago – same market outside, same great roasted bananas (yum) – everything!  Even the same restaurants. We chose the Rub ar roon (again) and sat outside sipping on water and beer (horrors!) and snacking on spring rolls, fried chicken wings and other delicacies.  Unfortunately they no longer have the pork omelet (this is the first place we ever had it and loved it), sigh…some things change I suppose!

Fully sated, we head back to our hotel, hopping the  packed ferry boat down the river to Central pier.  It’s here, on the river, where you can really see the juxtaposition that is Bangkok – the old, the new, the well built, the hovels – all cuddled up together like this giant patchwork quilt.  All seemingly incongruent, but fluidly fitting together at the same time.  It’s just….well…Bangkok!

Off the river, we head to the  skytrain to take us back to Wong Wian Yai, our home base neighborhood for the next few days.  All this transportation is so cheap too – the ferry is 15 baht (50 cents) and the skytrain 30 baht ($1).  It’s really incredible how all these systems run on such incredible inexpensive fares.

Back at the hotel, we relax, hang out, get cleaned up and then head out into the night to forage for dinner.  This is street food city over here – not a restaurant in sight – just tons of little carts and plastic tables and chairs.  We peruse the offerings, but everywhere is so packed, we know we won’t get a seat. So we head to the “restaurant” across the street from the hotel.  Getting there alone is a challenge as crossing the street isn’t as easy as it sounds – but we follow some locals and make it across unscathed.

The restaurant turns out to be just like street food – they just happen to have tables under roof (oh, and a TV too)! 

And those table are surrounded with street food carts that serve some of the food they are offering on the menu. They specialize in seafood though – so we order it up!  Mixed seafood salad (cold with an excellent spicy sauce), Squid salad (warm with a very spicy sauce) and – yes – a pork Omelet (perfectly done!).  Wash it all down with 2 large Chiang beers (yep, I’m drinking beer – no choice in the matter around here, sadly) and a bottle of water.  All for a mere 272 baht or approximately $8.60.  No kidding.  It’s sick.  Truly sick.  We laugh, sort of sadly, that the whole darn meal cost $4 less than one glass of crappy wine at the Savannah airport.  How can that be? 

However it works, it works.  We head off the 7/11 for beer supplies and then back to the hotel (the 7/11 is right next to a pedestrian bridge over the avenue – thank you!!!  so we don’t have to take our lives in our hands to cross the street back!) to rest up for tomorrow – the weekend market!