Several Nights in Bangkok

Bangkok.

Man, Bangkok. Bangkok...is a lot. It's the capitol of Thailand and an enormous city, composed of over thirteen million people all told (more than twenty percent of the country's population) and covering over six hundred square miles, with a history that goes back six hundred years. So there's kind of a bit to take in. I'm gonna do this in categories, for the convenience of my battered memory.

Things are a little busy here

Food

Food is great. Just, like, sooooo great. We spent more time than I'm proud of on Khaosan Rd., the Bourbon street of Bangkok, because it has so many English language menus, but even there it's between one and two dollars for a plate. Lots of flat noodles and tofu, usually pan fried, and vegetarian food is eeeevvverywhere here.

Tofu Steak. Contradictive but delicious

Later on we branched out, wandering around Bangkok's Chinatown where we were staying and finding more great street food, still at the same price point. We even managed to go on a free walking tour of Chinatown street food. I felt a little awkward explaining that I don't eat meat, but after the rest of the group heard us talking with the guides it came out that five people in the group, four of us didn't want meat food, so that was pretty great. It turns out there is a specific type of Chinese Thai fusion food, which I'm pretty pissed that I can't get without being in Bangkok.

       

This is a bowl of fried fish stomach- mine had hard boiled eggs

Booze

This is actually the expensive part of Bangkok. Which is to say, not prohibitive, but not actually cheaper than American really. We stuck with Chang mostly, a domestic beer that weighs in at a healthy six percent. It's about 1.75$ for a 24 ounce at the seven eleven, and about 2.75$ at the bars. There are also a variety of local rums for about five bucks a pint at the sevies (seven eleven is everywhere I've been so far, and it's kind of brilliant), which range from technically drinkable to paint varnish.

Housing

We stayed at a place called Loftel 22, which is just great. There's a breakfast place/cafe/bar in the front, beds are 8$ a night, it's all open construction for five floors up, so the stairwell and hallways are open to the world, and it has a rooftop common area. A/C in room, new sheets every two days, free soap and shampoo in the showers. I would live here forever if they let me work in Thailand.

Transportation

Traffic is a horrific shit show. Not, like, the way people drive- traffic in SE asia is infamously free form, but the constant need to negotiate things like right of way and lane priority actually seems create more conscientious drivers, since you have to actually pay attention. There's just so fucking much of it. Buses are pointless- walking is faster. Tuk tuks (three wheeled mopeds with a bench seat in back) are super fun but, we eventually discovered, shockingly overpriced for white people- about six dollars for a few miles. Metered taxis, against all of my poor person reflexes, were easily the cheapest way to travel the roads- the meter runs per time and not per mile, so you still suffer for congestion, but the ride ends up being around seventy five cents per mile. There's also a sky train, which runs roughly the north south length of the city, with a variable fare that tops out at about 1.50$. This is great- fast, reliable, on time, not tooooo crowded even at peak hours-but a pain if you're not starting near a station.

Of course, there's always the ferry. Bangkok is split up the center by the Chaophraya river, which has a ferry service that is just fucking brilliant. There's a couple dozen stations, it costs less than 50 cents no matter the distance, and they give every one about ten seconds (not hyperbole- literally about ten seconds) at the dock to get off and on. The teenagers they hire to tie off to the peer will start just yelling at you if you don't hit the deck at a dead run and vault onto the boat. It's great. We rode that a lot.

The only way to travel

Medical care

Chris had to get a thing done with his tooth and we both needed one last vaccination, so we got a little glimpse into the world of Thai medical care, and it's pretty great. Both the clinics were actually way nicer than any medical building I've been in in the US, more than happy to see uninsured people, staffed by highly competent bilingual professionals, and cost about 1/6^th of comparable services in the states. Seriously, go to Bangkok if'n you needs the doctor.

Makes Oregon clinics look like Mississippi clinics

Etc.

So we spent most of our time around our hostel, located in the historically Chinese area/city's metal working district, which was awesome but...busy. We also saw a good bit of Khaosan and the downtown shopping districts.

Bangkok malls are as Bangkoky as everything else

The only time we managed to get out of the urban core was when we spent a Sunday out at one of the floating markets. Apparently a famous aspect of Bangkok, floating markets are centered around the canal systems that once gave Bangkok the nickname of "Venice of the East", but which are now primarily known as "long paved over". The closest one was one the southwest edge of town, at the end of the skytrain route and then another hour by cab. It was pretty worth it. 

If you look closely you can see the fat yellow lab that spends it's days staring across the canal at strangers with food

There was less floating then advertised, but there was hundreds and hundreds of food stalls that accepted pointed and confused grunts as a form of ordering. 

I am going to get so fat over here

After eight days we booked a bus for the magical land of Cambodia, and that was that. Bangkok is fascinating- larger and busier than New York, with as much street culture as New Orleans and the cultural fusion of Tokyo. I really liked it. And now, a long series of non-contextualized pictures of Bangkok.