Thailand – Bangkok 1

Siem Reap to Bangkok Thailand Day 33 (March-3)

two hour flight

We arrived in Bangkok, and Vana’s cousin, Jocelyn, and her husband pick us up (Vana: Is it nice to have families around!). Coming from Vietnam/Laos/Cambodia, our first impression is that Bangkok seems so clean. The cleanliness is probably similar to San Francisco or New York. For Kevin, the street food is a lot more doable, because there are a lot less flies and garbage around the food (We haven’t heard anyone got sick eating street food here).

Vana’s cousin Jocelyn & her husband

our room

our room is facing a nearby temple

We stay at the Lamphu House, and lucked out to get a really nice room in a good hotel within our budget. We are on a lively side street around the Wat (temple) from Khao San road (a famous backpacker district). There are foreigners everywhere, and almost anything you could want is within 100 meters and is cheap; ATM, minimart (there’s 7Eleven at every street corner in Thailand), pharmacy, laundry, internet, restaurant, taxi, travel agent, fruit smoothie, Pad Thai, BBQ snacks, massage, hair/nail/facial, tattoo, hotels, and shopping. What is really astonishing is that in the same 100 meters, you have multiple choices of vendors for all these service.

Khao San Road – the famous backpacker district

Khao San Road is a like Tokyo + New York + Hollywood + Paris + Miami + + Venice beach all on one block. It’s freaking crazy. But I LOVE it!

Khao San at night

I already made friend with the fruit shake lady outside of our hotel. She makes the best shake that make my skin silky smooth

Khao San road is packed with even more of the same, with an alcoholic beverage never more than 20 meters away. Tasty to wash that beer down with some fried worms, cockroach, or scorpions (They eat bugs for snacks. Don’t you know?).

anyone wants to try some bugs? let me know. I’ll bring some back.

grass hopper

cricket

scorpions

bamboo worm

There is no shortage of bars on Khao San road. Wash that beer down with some fried worms, cockroach, or scorpions.

We are not brave enough to try the fried bugs. So Jocelyn and her husband treat us to a beautiful Thai dinner along the river. Yum!

CLICK HERE to see pictures from this day.

Bangkok Thailand Day 34 and 35 (March-4 and March 5)

We spent a few days to catch up on email, blog, pay our bills, sleep in, do laundry, and eat street food. Bangkok is a steamy sweat box, and we spend the afternoons napping through the afternoon heat.

We are disappointed to find that nobody will change our left over Vietnamese Dong and Lao Kip into Thai Baht (money).

We buy a basic Nokia GSM phone in the MBK market for $30 including charger, sim card, and 200 pre-pay minutes. I find the black and white games included are killer, and the voice quality is excellent.

Bangkok Thailand Day 36 (March-6)

This morning we take a day tour to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. We got the idea from seeing “Bangkok Dangerous” (Nicholas Cage movie) on the plane to Singapore. I guess it must be in a James Bond movie also, because the tour guide mentions something about it.

Apparently, a group of Chinese arrived 75 years ago, and missing a piece of home (Suzhou perhaps), decided to build a canal village for better Feng Shui. Today, they have a daily market from 5:30-7:30AM, with women buying and selling fish, vegetables, and other staples boat to boat. At 9AM, the tourists arrive and are paddled around on boats to buy souvenirs and take pictures. Anyways, we still enjoy it. I spot a huge lizard on the way in, almost looked like a crocodile. We eat some boat cooked noodles for lunch, and enjoy the shade.

in front of every boat, there’s some kind of offering

busy market

fruit boat

shops

doesn’t matter how hot the weather is, locals are always covered from head to toe to avoid sunburn (not many use sunblock lotion as it’s very expensive for them)

CLICK HERE to see more floating market pictures.

In the evening, we taxi to the 5-star Asia Hotel to see Calypso Cabaret show (lady-boy show). Although the costume and set changes are impressive, the show is a bit random for our taste. The star of the show does a couple of solo numbers and is really funny, with wild crazy faces. I particularly like the crazy Japanese Geisha, who made a Japanese young man in the front row very embarrassed.

The “lady boy” thing is very foreign to us, as the various combinations of sex and dress break down gender lines. At the end of the show, the actors encourage the audience to take picture with them, and we are just as uncomfortable as everyone else.

taking pictures with the lady-boys. Does exactly feel like at home.

She is the funniest of all. Kevin likes her! 🙂

CLICK HERE to see more lady-boy show. (Yes, they are all boys, or used to be)

See you next post!