Bangkok Luck

A good way to summarize Bangkok was luck. now not everything seemed lucky at first, and in fact before the trip even started i was having serious doubts, but in the end it was fantastic. I was only there for 3 full days and i feel as though i did more than most could do in a week. In such a short amount of time I felt like I did Bangkok well, and a lot of it has to do with luck.

Before leaving, maybe even a week before, problems started arising. I booked the flight myself and sent the flight info to everyone who wanted to come. George who goes to HKU bought his ticket, but the other 3 waited too long, and the flight we were on got booked full. When we found it, it was almost too late. One person backed out, and Grace was on the verge as well, but Nima bit the bullet and booked a flight on Thursday morning, missing all his classes and Grace decided to do the same, despite the fact she had an exam in a week. We were all set, and Nima and Grace flew out Thursday morning while i waiting to leave late Thursday night, when another hick up came up.

Thursday welcomed a stage 8 typhoon into Hong Kong. The whole school was shut down and so was public transportation, so i started to say my prayers hoping that i would be able to make it to the airport and fly out of the city once the storm was gone. I got to the airport fine, but my flight was delayed....

and then George called and said he wasn't coming.

So, sitting alone in the airport, waiting for my flight which may or may not be canceled at any time, i waited. I read a lot too. I Finished my book that was AMAZING, and luckily found the sequel in a bookstore. I'm reading the series called a song of ice and fire. Its a spectacular read. Here's some info on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire


Eventually my flight left around 4-5am in the morning. When i landed in Thailand however, I was SO happy. the trains were running by the time i got there, and the sun was up. I eventually got to my hotel with little delay, and was quickly greeted by friendly people who knew exactly who i was and apologized about the storm haha.

 My room was a suite that i found at a unimaginable price online, and i only had to pay a total of 88 dollars for 4 nights (although i was only able to sleep in it for 3) in this giant suite room with a living room, big bedroom, walk in closet, kitchen, the works. I'm not sure why i wasn't that tired, but i was so eager to start the day and adventure. I met up with nima and grace in the lobby and we headed out for Khao San Road.

Khao San road is one of my favorite streets I have ever been on. it is so alive and amazing, full of street vendors, crazy cheap tourist shops, restaurants, bars, pubs, and everything else. we walked around for a long time sampling street food, all of which was very tasty, and enjoyed the lucky sunny blue sky above us. we found a travel agency and signed up for an amazing tour the next day which i will talk about later. we continued to walk around for a bit before a sketch women came up to us.

Now you are told not to accept anything that anyone does for you in bangkok, as mostly everything is a scam, but this woman was genuine. she said we looked lost, and that she could help us. she hailed a tuk tuk, one of these things,



and told the driver to take us to a list of places that she pointed out on a map. she said it was going to be only 30 baht each for the whole day, which is 1 USD, so we were like ok even if they scam us five times that much it is still worth is, so we jumped in.

The driver took us EVERYWHERE. we saw almost every significant temple and holy place in the city, all while he waited around for us to be finished with whatever we were looking at. he was simply amazing, and the places he took us to were even more amazing.

During the tour, we were dropped off in front of a temple that was only open to the public during ONE DAY out of the entire year. apparently we were in Thailand during a national holiday, one of which celebrates tourism in some ways, so everything was free for us and open. In this temple we met a school teacher who gave us a card to a tailor, one of the only ones that is government regulated, and told me to go there today and fast before they close because they have some holiday promotion going on and we can get suits for much, much cheaper.

We did as he suggested and took the bit of luck and ran with it. The tuk tuk driver took us there and we met two men, John and Jack who sat us down and we made a deal. 2 suit jackets, pants, 4 shirts and 5 ties for 300 USD, all custom made to out picking and fitted. it was splendid, and when we picked them up on our last day they were absolutely awesome.

Part 2

Before we left back to our hotel to get clean and showered for the night to come, we decided to pay for a unique cleaning experience. In Thailand they have these giant tanks full of little fish that come up to you and eat all the dead skin off of anything you dunk into the water. its mostly used for feet but you can put your hands in there as well. The immediate sensation was one of the strangest i have ever felt, and i couldn't stop laughing for a full min. the closest i can say it felt like was a mix between being tickled and electrocuted at the same time without the pain. it was a great experience, and very affordable.

That night we showered up and headed back to Khao San road for dinner, beer and hookah. We didn't stay out too late though, as the next day was going to be a big one. 

Day 2
The next morning we woke up really early to be on a van at 7am. we quickly showered and packed and ate a quick complementary breakfast (an amazing buffet actually) and then hoped in a van that drove us 2 hours outside of Bangkok. 

Our first destination was a cemetery and museum in dedication to the POWs during World War II that were captured by Japanese soldiers and forced to build a railroad through Thailand for their reserves. Many people died, and it was interesting to read about the incident in the museum. The weather remained beautiful, and we soon hoped back in the van to go to an actual part of the railroad, a part that was rebuilt after it was destroyed and used today. We were on the bridge when an actual train came, which was really fun, and many people waved out the windows and the train moved past us, inches from us while we stood on the bridge.

The next location was lunch at this bamboo floating restaurant on a river somewhere. It was so beautiful and the food was pretty good too. The breeze was so relaxing, and the view was pretty. After lunch we hoped onto a bamboo raft and drifted down the river for about twenty minutes before we were dropped off to ride elephants! We hung out with some monkeys before hand, and then got on top of the biggest elephant they had. The little baby elephant was also walking alongside us. The creatures are so big and beautiful, but it was sort of sad seeing them like a life like that. I'm very thankful i got to experience it.

After the elephant ride, We headed to a waterfall, spring area, but we couldn't stay long. It would have been a blast to be able to swim around, but we couldn't as we had to get back on the bus and go see the highlight of the day, the Tiger Temple! the ride there was another 30 mins, but when we got there i was in heaven

Baby tigers, teenage tigers, and fully grown giant tigers were scattered all around us. A giant fat bear also greeted us, as did deer and other cattle who grazed freely in the temple grounds. I wanted to take one back with me so badly it hurt. Saying goodbye was hard, but it was an experience i would never forget!

The ride back was a crazy 3 hours, and it made me realize how far out of Bangkok we were, but it gave me time to nap. That night we did the same thing. got ready to go out, went to the crazy Khao San Rd. ate dinner and partied. 

Day 3

The next day we took another bus to the floating market about an hour and a half outside of Bangkok. Its this big market where you get in long boats and shops along the shore try to sell you stuff. The first part of it was obviously a huge tourist trap, but in the end it was a very beautiful place and we had a ton of fun running around haggling with everyone. I've never been to a place where i've low balled vendors so much and gotten away with it. I found this beautiful wooden box the shape of a tree stump about the size of my head, and was quoted at 1400 Bhat, a little more than 45 dollars. I offered them 200 and eventually got it, which was only about 6 dollars. Grace and Nima got similar deals. The vendors were not happy with us but we were very happy ourselves

Later our tour guide showed us around the area, and put us in a second boat that took us down these beautiful canals and vegetation. We eventually got to this really cool area that was half hotel half restaurant, half cobra show. The show was pricey so we decided against it, but walked around instead which was just as much fun. We got back afternoon, went back to the tailors to get fitted a second time, and Grac went home to catch her flight back to Hong Kong. Nima and I decided to go lay out by the pool, then go to another busy part of Bangkok for dinner and entertainment. We eventually found a buffet all u can eat sushi place for only about 13 USD and then saw a scary movie called Apollo 18. it was a good last night

Day 4

The last day we didn't do much. We woke up late and headed to the tailor to pick up our suits. The tailor was late by about 40 min and by then i was cutting it very close to my flight. Not to mention the traffic was HORRIBLE. we weren't moving, and i started to panic. Luckily we had a fearless cab driver who got me to the train and helped me barely make my flight. 

Overall, Bangkok was FANTASTIC. such an amazing place that I can't wait to see again. I'm lucky I got to go.