Seeing Sights and Sweat in Bangkok

Wat Pho in Bangkok

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Near Wat Arun

My first full day in Thailand began with an ominous start. As a lifelong electric razor user, I woke up to the frightening realization that my razor’s battery had died and I had left my charger several thousand miles away. Now almost three days since my last shave, a nasty beard was coming fast, promising to ruin every photo I starred in for the entire trip and terrify family in Taiwan. So I decided to make the dramatic decision to use the razor and shaving cream provided by the hotel. As inexperienced as I am in this area, it is no surprise that it did not turn out well. By the time I finished off the tube of shaving cream I had a misshapen goatee, a nasty patchy neck beard, three cuts on my chin, and a bloody finger. I decided that was enough for one day, and it was time for breakfast.

After a leisurely meal of coffees and pastries in the hotel café, we packed up and headed out. It was around 10 am, and the heat was already excessive. We took a short walk to the train station and rode that a few stops to the river, where we then picked up a ticket for the “tourist boat”. Boat rides on the river are actually a common mode of public transportation in Bangkok, although the tourist version of the boat has a more limited route to maximize stops at tourist locations.

We knocked out a few of our top destinations, Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) and Wat Pho (translation not available). Very cool architecture, highlighted by the Reclining Buddha which was impressively gigantic. Unfortunately the Grand Palace was not open at the time we arrived so we had to skip out on what is considered the top attraction in Bangkok. A little disappointing, but we didn’t mind too much since we were already drenched in sweat and were supposed to be back to the hotel to check out by 2pm. So back to the tourist boat we went.

Except we didn’t get on the tourist boat.

Instead, somehow we instead joined a French tour group on their private boat. As the passengers without baguettes in hand, we were quickly revealed as imposters. Although we don’t speak French, we believe the tour guide announced that a special stop would have to be made to rid the outsiders. 

One man proposed to Stephanie, while most others just turned and laughed. Before long we were dropped off at a different pier, further away from the direction we wanted to head. It took a bit of waiting, but we did eventually locate the tourist boat, relieved to be with our kind once again.

Guilty smile after sneaking on to a private boat tour

We got back to the hotel around 2pm, and since our flight wasn’t until 7:30, we dropped off our bags with the front desk while we checked out. After a nice lunch, we returned to the hotel to cool off at the pool. I hung out outside to dry off while Steph used the hotel steam room. We each cleaned off with a spa shower sometime before heading to the airport around 5:15.

It was an occasionally frightening drive without seatbelts as our driver weaved in and out of traffic through lanes that didn’t exist. He also dropped us off at the wrong terminal, but eventually we made our way to our gate safe and sound. I had a terrible pastry at Bread Talk in the airport before an uneventful flight on Air Asia. It was only a little over an hour to land in Chiang Mai, our second Thai city in as many days.

We checked in to the DusitD2 Chiang Mai hotel, which seemed like a fun trendy place, at around 9 pm. We quickly dropped off our bags and headed out in search for food. The surrounding area was in stark contrast to the chaos of Bangkok, and only a block away we found the Night Market which seemed like a fun spot to hang out. There was a stage with cover bands playing American tunes, and then 20-30 food stands and bars, with lots of open seating. Definitely seemed to be a tourist gathering place, as I commented there were more white people at this event than most I had been to in Los Angeles. We hung for a little while trying some food, listening to some tunes, and sipping some mediocre local beer. After that Steph got herself a foot massage while I headed back to the hotel to start this blog. 

Night Market in Chiang Mai