Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand (2006)

We arrived in Bangkok in the afternoon, checked out the house of Jim Thompson who was an American ex-pat who resurrected the Thai silk industry and built remarkable Thai architectural houses with his wealth, and then we got some Thai massages with acupressure from women with extremely strong hands. We went for dinner at nearby Siam Square in the MBK, which is a shopping mall like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s 10 times as big as our typical US/UK mall and jam packed with people. The food selection was extensive and well-organized. There was a whole floor dedicated to individual food dishes—each “store” or restaurant served only 1 dish. The 5^th floor, our favorite, was similarly well-organized with each station stylishly arranged by cuisine: Thai, Japanese, Indian (by Chutney), Korean, Chinese (by Wok), Italian, Vegetarian, Steak, Desserts, Drinks, etc. We went with some nice Thai food and gooey gelato. The next night we returned for Korean pancakes, bulgogi, samosas and smoothies while listening to a jazz band and lounging on some chic sofas. On the way back to our hotel we stopped to watch some breakdancers busting some moves on the overpass walkway.

The next day we did Bangkok. We were dropped off at the Grand Palace where we were immediately accosted by a hawker who told us it was closed and that we should take a tuk-tuk (rickety 3-wheeled motorcycles with carriages) to somewhere else. We had read about the scam in Lonely Planet and headed in the opposite direction. First, we went to Wat Pho, which is the oldest (16^th century) and largest temple in Bangkok and houses the largest (50 ft) and possibly the sexiest reclining Buddha. Next, we ducked out of a brief downpour in a delicious smelling restaurant where we ordered classic Thai lunch with Chang Thai beer. We crossed the chocolate milk colored river to Wat Arun, a temple named after the Indian god of dawn. On our way back to the Grand Palace (carefully avoiding hawkers), we picked up some tropical fruits and these yummy waffle thingies with cream inside that they were baking on the street. Adjacent to the Grand Palace was the Temple of the Emerald Buddha -- both were stunning and beautifully built.

We finished the main attractions of Bangkok and were about to wander aimlessly towards the fake-goods markets when instead we allowed ourselves to get hawked by a guy who asked me if my mother is Chinese. Damn those guys are good. Anyway, we learned about yellow versus white license plate tuk-tuks (government vs. private) and the scoop on the scam. So we allowed ourselves to go along with the scam because we had nothing else better to do. Basically, the tuk-tuk guy would take us around to all our stops, but we had to spend some time at a couple of hard-sell suit and jewelry shops. The tuk-tuk drivers, in turn, received free gas. And, the scam with the suit shops is that they all show you the same catalog, and you pick something out but they don’t actually have it so you are persuaded to get something else “just as good.” I insisted at each shop that I would buy 3 suits if they had that exact fabric, which they never did, and I wouldn’t budge from my position, only to leave in a fit of feigned anger that they wouldn’t let me give them all of my money. Carmel and I couldn’t muster up an act for the jewelry store because it was so outrageously expensive that we kept snickering like immature school kids and the salespeople didn’t even try to talk with us. So we ended up seeing the sitting Buddha and the standing Buddha, but spent too much time in the scam stores to see the lying Buddha (of course, we did plenty of lying in its place). Finally, we walked around a fake-goods market where people kept trying to get us to see ping pong shows and banana shows. At first, I was excited about the ping pong show until I realized that it wouldn’t be, well, competitive.