Bangkok and Chiang Mai

As soon as we arrived at the Bangkok airport, we felt relieved to see modern amenities like soap, toilet paper, and paper towels available in public washrooms again, something we hadn’t seen much of in the past month.  As Eug mentioned before, by this time his leg was as swollen as an elephant’s, and we were in desperate need of a comfortable place with four walls to sleep in.  Our tent on the island was not bad, but we are city people after all.  We were soon reassured by the sight of our spotless b and b.  We arrived at 6am and our considerate host Charn made us breakfast and directed us to a private hospital so Eug could get his fat leg looked at as soon as possible.  The hospital, complete with valet parking, looked like a five star hotel and the emergency nurses called the doctor right away.  The competent general surgeon showed up very quickly and took care of the wound.  From that day on, he saw through Eug’s progress with great care and attention.  We paid daily visits to the hospital for the 8 days that we were in Bangkok.  We didn’t plan to stay that long initially but we had to because of Eug’s infection.  That in turn, gave us a different perspective of Bangkok.  Usually people just fly into this city to transfer to other beach destinations in Thailand.  We were also just planning to transit through to Yangon in Myanmar.  However, having spent more time here, this city eventually grew on us.

For the first few days in Bangkok we didn’t do much sight-seeing.  We re-organized our itinerary after the doctor confirmed that Eug could not get stitched up so soon.  We decided to postpone our Myanmar visit until his leg was healthy enough.  Good thing we paid for full fare tickets so we could change the dates without having to pay a fee.  Our new itinerary was to head to Chiang Mai for a few days, then back to Bangkok to visit the doctor again before going to Myanmar.  We started sight-seeing in Bangkok when Eug felt better.  Our first sight was to see the golden Buddha in Wat Trimit.  As we were walking there, these 2 nice and talkative Thai moms came up to us and started chatting with us.  Long story short, we ended up taking a private boat ride with them on the Chao Phraya River and got scammed!  Sigh.  In hindsight it was pretty stupid of us not to have asked the price before we hopped on the boat.  We both assumed they were locals so they would know or get the local rate.  We must have been pretty exhausted mentally to let all our guard down.  At the same time, we didn’t want to think that everyone who tries to be friendly is up to no good either.  That’s a tough one.  We ended up having to pay the boatman (their partner in crime) $100 which was a lot considering the public boat is only $5 and renting the whole boat privately would have cost about $30.  We were even too tired to get really pissed at them, we were just really mad at ourselves.  We’ve been generally good at gauging locals, and for our 1 year trip this is the first time we got scammed so I guess it’s not that bad, especially since we’ve followed friendly locals many times in many different countries.

The next day we visited the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaeo, and Wat Pho where the enormous reclining Buddha lies.  It was my first time seeing Thai temples, and I found them impeccably well kept.  They looked brand spanking new!  Usually when we visit heritage sights we can tell which parts are restored and which have remained untouched since the beginning of time.  But all the temples here looked as if they were just built yesterday.  The golden blinged out exteriors and the clean and simple interiors of the temples were definitely unique to see.  We didn’t plan this but the weekend we were here just happened to be the King’s birthday.  There were various celebrations throughout the country and we managed to follow the crowd to the busiest area where people were lighting their own candles while jointly singing the royal anthem.  There were many fireworks and innumerable lanterns being released into the sky.  It was priceless to see people’s faces as they sent their lanterns floating off (check out the pictures we took in Flickr under Bangkok and Chiang Mai set).  We decided to follow suit and it turned out to be the most unforgettable experience.   Watching thousands of lanterns drifting across the evening sky above the temples was incredibly magical.  We later did walk long enough to see the lanterns burn out and fall to the floor.  Some were caught by pedestrians like us and some just landed on the rooftops or the ground.  I felt badly for whoever had to clean them up.  We also tried to tackle the countless street food vendors in hopes to try at least half of all the different Thai food on offer.  I’m glad to declare that we did a pretty decent job.  From chicken rice, curries, and pad thai, to wonton noodle soup, grilled pork neck salad, and street meat skewers, we were very satisfied after one week’s time. 

Up north In Chiang Mai, we visited the famous Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.  Besides the soothing ancient temple and a good view of the city, we really enjoyed the short blessing ritual performed by this elder monk.  We knelt in front of him as he dipped a miniature broomstick into a pot of water and flicked the stick so drops of water splashed our way as he chanted along.  He was skilled in making sure everyone got plenty of drops of water before he tied a white wrist band around each and everyone’s wrist.  Eug liked him a lot.  We also did a cooking course in Chiang Mai.  That was super fun!  We spent a day with Yui from A Lot of Thai cooking school.  She’s probably the friendliest person I’ve ever met.  She didn’t stop smiling at all the entire day we were with her.  She had the cooking school for a few years and among her students was Gordon Ramsey, the British celebrity chef that swears all the time.  He did a show with her too.  We learned to make pad thai, tom yam kung (hot and sour prawn soup), green and panaeng curry chicken, chicken with cashew, spring rolls, and mango sticky rice.  As you all know, I’m not a good cook at all, but I really liked what I made that day.  Yui’s class was awesome.

We had an amazing time in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  Chiang Mai is easily liked by most tourists because of its relaxed atmosphere, chill vibe, and cultural sites.  Bangkok, on the other hand, is a dynamic metropolis with a new and efficient metro, ancient temples, modern hotels and malls carrying international brands, and delicious food.  Bangkok unfortunately has the seedy image of being a sex tourist destination, but if you stay away from those sleazy neon-lit areas offering ping pong shows (if you don’t know, don’t ask), this city has a lot to offer.  There’s a vibrant social and arts scene, bustling food and shopping markets, and age-old buddhas in meditative temples.  What’s impressed us most so far (apart from those 2 scamming moms) is that Thailand really does live up to its moniker ‘The Land of Smiles’.  We’ll be heading to Myanmar for a bit, but after that we’ll return to Bangkok to continue our way to the south of Thailand where tropical beaches beckon.  Can’t wait!