Trying Hard to Enjoy Bangkok

It's actually quite easy, logistically, to come to Thailand and not visit Bangkok. And truth be told, we did consider it. The place is a hot and polluted megalopolis, and considering the recent political unrest, we couldn't be blamed for giving it a miss. But somehow it felt like cheating - it's the social and cultural hub of the country. And since our train to the south leaves from Bangkok's Hua Lamphong station on Wednesday night, now we don't have much of a choice. So it was a quick one-hour flight down to the capital.

Really? What do I need a priest for on a Bangkok Air flight? A doctor, maybe. A aircraft mechanic, sure. But a monk? In this place an orange robe gets you to the front of the line every time.

Well, since we're on the subject of sign humor, I did find this one quite good.

We do try to save money where we can, so it was public transport from the airport - I don't think I've ever been on a bus so old that the floor was made of wood. But for 15 cents per person, who cares?

But to really travel around Bangkok, I recommend the waterways. Both the Chao Phraya river (big) as well as the khlongs (small) have boats shuttling Bangkokians (or is it Bangkokers, or Bangkokites?) around the city.

The boats are invariably loud, but somehow more enjoyable than other modes of transport. Jeezus, will somebody please let that poor monk sit down!

It's time to disembark the boat to start one of only a couple of scheduled temple tours. We have purposefully limited ourselves to seeing only two of the many Wats in the city. The kids don't really need more than that to understand that Buddhism dominates Thai society and, frankly, the temples (after awhile) can be rather boring.

And the funny thing is that they all claim to have a part of Buddha enshrined within. I mean, really? Buddha must have been a monster - based on the number of temples I've been to in China and Thailand it seems he was the proud owner at least 500 teeth.

Thankfully, this one made no such claim. This is Wat Arun, a very beautiful landmark on the riverside in Bangkok.

We chose to visit this one because it did not charge an exorbitant entry fee, and you are allowed to ascend the steep staircases to get a view from the top - a much more enjoyable adventure for the kids (not so much for Shirley, who understandably stayed at the bottom)

And there we have the view shot. Will somebody get those bloody tourists out of my travel photo!!

We debated whether we needed to pack the umbrella, since we all have thin rainshells. Totally forgot it would be more useful for the relentless sun. I think today it was about 35 degrees. And when it gets this hot and you've got a temple under your belt, where do you go?

The mall !! But only one with a shrine in front of it - so I guess technically we have two temples under our belt already. After a quick prayer and an offering to the God of Discounts, we escaped the heat.

We didn't feel too guilty, because we made the kids hang out in a book store.

Now of course the kids wanted bubble tea (it seems to be all over Asia), but what the hell is this? For an extra 5 baht you get Collagen - it's bubble tea for the rich housewife, and gives your skin a full and smooth appearance. Good lord, what's next?

Racked with guilt over hiding from the heat in a Bangkok shopping mall, we braved the humid outdoors and hopped on another boat. This does look quite picturesque, but the canal is most certainly disgusting.

Bangkok's moniker of "Venice of the Orient" has long passed its 'best before' date. It would only hold true if all 250,000 Venetians simultaneously shit into the Grand Canal.....during a garbage strike. Then maybe I would agree.

We climbed up the Golden Mount for one more cultural experience. This was also enjoyable for the kids, as the long climb up was punctuated by numerous temple bells/gongs which they could ring. Well, we're actually not sure if they were supposed to ring them, but our kids certainly announced their arrival.

"If my dad makes me visit one more temple, I think I'm going to jump!"

For a moment (a very brief moment), it felt like we were not in the sweltering and smoggy metropolis of Bangkok.

Did somebody say protests? After a quick walk back in the direction of our guesthouse, we accidentally found ourselves in one of the demonstration spots. Can't say I was too alarmed, though, and this participant was clearly too busy checking his e-mail to worry about toppling the government.

Although there was a high security presence, and they did check our backpacks, the demonstration site we ended up in looked more like a festival - lots of vendors selling snack food and t-shirts. Overall, I think the public unrest has been fairly good for the local economy. I can't say I was too worried about our personal safety... 

...until we zigged when we should have zagged

Nothing like a few overturned vehicles and demolished heavy machinery to remind you that people have lost their lives during the past couple of weeks. Heavy police presence and a tense atmosphere on this block, so we hightailed it out of there and headed back in the other direction.

Bangkok has been okay, but we won't be sad to leave. Two nights here will definitely be enough. So tomorrow we will head on the overnight train down to the south and the beaches of Ko Phangan - I'll post in a couple of days.