Appreciating "The Race"

Watching the many seasons of "The Amazing Race," I laugh at some of the clueless contestants who get lost, turned around, saddled with bad taxi drivers and think to myself, "what idiots they are.  How difficult is it to just look at a map and figure it out?"  I mean, you can plant me somewhere in a city with a map and I can generally figure out how to get from Point A to Point B.  Amazing Racers, I now have more sympathy for you (except for the ugly American bickering couples).  Now I'm not talking about pulling off difficulties like finding clues in rolled up bales of hay, or rappelling down the side of a skyscraper, or shoveling manure to cover potatoes while dressed like a bubushka.  No.  I'm talking about finding something two blocks away!

My day started with a plan.  I had read about a market called Or Tor Kor, which I had read was something to see it with all its exotic food stalls.  I did manage to find it but with great difficulty despite the directions that said just exit the subway and you are in it.  That's if you exited the right way.  Not the way I exited.  Not only are the exits far apart, they are on opposite sides of major highways.  Took the Skytrain and subway.  Once there, it was a fascinating open market with spices, fishes, meats, produce, baked goods, etc.  This was obviously a market for locals as nothing was in English and no one seemed to know any.  I was the only non-Thai there.  And the place was huge.

Skytrain station

Vendor

Or Tor Kor Market

Next, it was on to see the Victory Monument in the city, which is not much on the monument scale of, oh, say the Arc de Triomphe or the Washington Monument.  It's in the middle of a traffic roundabout that you can't possibly cross and is roped off anyway.

Market around Victory Monument

Lots o' traffic

From there, the plan was to head to the Jim Thompson House, an American who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry.  He was also an architect and his house is a major attraction.  If you can find it.  Or find someone who can direct you.  Or take a taxi and sit for who knows how long in traffic.  Struck out on all three attempts.  So instead, I ended up at the Siam Center, the major shopping area of Bangkok.  Now, there is "going to the mall."  And then there is "going to the mall."  Or three or four.  Yes, there are at least three major shopping malls right next door to each other.  And these are mega-malls with about six stories each.  And packed.  Yes, they love to shop here.

A lot of retail!

A taste of Halloween

Mall Art

Pavilion between malls

High-end mall

Kids costume fashion (post-Halloween)

One thing I found quite funny is I was in a store and they were playing hard-core rap.  We're talking the "f" word, the "n" word, killing, beating.  And all the while the clerks just smile at you. I was so tempted to ask if they even knew what the words were in the song.  But I'm guessing not.

After, some street food and being adventurous.  A lot of things being put into a noodle bowl, some of which I had no idea what they were.  But what the heck.

And to cap off the evening, I went to the rooftop bar of the Banyan Tree Hotel, 61 stories high.  It's an outdoor rooftop restaurant and bar where you look out the night sky at all of Bangkok.  Beer not cheap but you can't beat the experience.  Once I found it.

Thai'd and Towed Part 2

Read Part 1 below first...

Now when Mr. Coke first parked his taxi, I kinda wanted to ask him if he was sure it was okay to park there.  In a city where there are about a billion cars, when you park in an area where no other car is parked and an area designated for taxis and you then remove your taxi sign on the top of the cab, I'd wonder if it was okay.  But I didn't say anything because I thought he might misinterpret it as I was looking for Thai prostitutes or something.  So it came as less a surprise to me than to him to find the car gone.  Towed away.  He kept saying, "police no good."

We walked to the area where it was towed.  Not too far away where some procession was going on...

Mr. Coke spotted the cab and it had the ticket on it to pay for its release.  700 bahts.  Which is 300 more than I was paying him.  So he paid to take me around the city, but was still polite about it.  Just "police no good."  

Impound

Mr. Coke trying to get cab released

The police took their sweet time finally removing the boot from the cab and Mr. Coke kept apologizing to me for the time it took.  I felt bad that this was costing him money but this was his doing.  He took me next to the Golden Mount and another small shrine in the city before taking me to a Thai seafood restaurant, where I treated for his drink and food, all considering he had a bad day.  Me?  I got to see a few places it would have taken me a long time to figure out how to find.  For 400 bahts.  Not a bad first day.

Tuk-tuk

Street cleaner

Golden Mount

Mr. Coke hits the gong.  "Police no good."

View from Golden Mount

Thai Seafood Restaurant

Thai'd and Towed Part 1

So here's a few tips for the uninitiated in Bangkok culture.  First, don't wing it.  Unlike most cities I've visited where I pick a point where there is something I want to see and take it from there, this is not a good idea in Bangkok.  It's not anything close to a walkable city.  It is so huge and vast that what may seem close on a map is pretty far away.  It's hot and humid (and this is the "cool season").  Add to the fact that you never seem to know what street you are on (and neither does anyone else, it seems), plus it being nearly impossible to cross driveways, let alone streets, and you get a pedestrian free-for-all.

Second, if you are going to hire a taxi driver to be your all-day guide, it's a good idea to make sure his English vocabulary consists more than "good," "happy," "massage," and "toilet."

Third, you will not get very far very quickly in a taxi on the streets of Bangkok with traffic jams and drivers that basically do whatever they want.  Los Angeles, I have seen your future and your future is Bangkok.

And most important, make sure that when the taxi driver parks his taxi, he is fairly certain that it will still be there when you both get back.  That's right.  Make sure it doesn't get towed away.  Which it did.  Gone.

Let's start at the beginning.  Got to Bangkok between 1 and 2AM.  Took a taxi to the hotel.  This is what $60 a night in Bangkok gets you:

Oh, and throw in wifi (not great, but serviceable) and free breakfast (and I mean full-on breakfast).  Not bad for $60 a night.

I got ready to start the day, thinking of heading to the Grand Palace.  I asked the front desk about tours of the area and next thing I know, I've hired one of the taxis to show me around for the day for 400 bahts (about 14 bucks).  For the entire day.  Even if he ditched me half way through, it was worth driving around in an air conditioned vehicle to get the lay of the land.  Two issues with that statement.  Most of the day is sitting in traffic and there is no way to get the lay of the land.  But the driver, Mr. Coke...yes, Mr. Coke...was very friendly and told me where we would go, first being the Grand Palace.  That was after I was able to convince him I did not need him to drive me to Chiang Mai, that I already had a train ticket ("You need train ticket?"  "No, I have train ticket." "We stop train station for ticket." "No, I have train ticket.  All okay.").

Mr Coke!

And then we went back to the taxi.  Or so we thought...

The Journey Thus Far

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