A crazy day in Bangkok and then the night train to Chang Mai

We are still dealing with a bit of jet lag. Our first full day in Bangkok, once we found our Budget room, was pretty low key. We looked around the shops but we didn't want to buy anything because we knew we were coming back and we don't want to carry anything yet. We found our first noodle lady and ordered chicken noodle stuff and a spring roll.



Noodle ladies, so many to chose from



Our first street dinner, in progress

Needless to say, it lived up to expectations. I wasn't so sure about the chicken she pulled out of the paper bag but that's livin' on the edge. With Air. We are still dealing with a bit of jet lag so our first full day was actually more like 3/4 since we went to bed at about 8pm. 1st day intestinal fortitude: good.

The sleep that night was brutal. Apparently, I am the one whining about the hard bed. I must have woken up 7 times, wondering what the mattress could possibly be made of. Not wood or cement because it had about 2 mm give when you stood on it. But not anything soft like foam or fabric. I even looked in the morning but whatever magical new flexible steel-like material was covered with vinyl. Plus, that fifth floor didn't seem too bad at first but I guess the 10 times up and down in bare feet was more than my poor calfs could stand. Both Val and I woke up with aching legs. I know, we have all gone to the gym and survived but this was unbelievable. Two days later it still is unbelievable, every step up or down is a new experience in muscle pull. But we carried on to our day. We spent an hour or so birdwatching the tree outside of our room. There is one little green bird out there that apparently does not exist but we did get a few new ones. Once we were left with only pigeons to look at we set off for breakfast. We went western for that meal. Val had eggs and I had french toast. We get more adventurous as the trip progresses.

Our plan for the day was to walk to the Grand Palace and see what all the fuss is about. So off we go, no real idea other than 'go left at the corner' of how to get there.



A lovely set of bridges to cross to get to the Grand Palace

Again, we had much advise from many helpful men. They all said the same thing. Grand Palace is closed, go see the Reclining Buddha. Stubborn as we are, we just kept heading to the GP, we made it to the wall that surrounds it when another helpful man arrived. He didn't seem to be selling anything, he also said the GP was closed for a ceremony (we think the king was changing the jade Buddha's clothes, a tri-annual event) but he said because it is a national day of something or other, we can view the King's new palace for free and there are all sorts of festivities going on there. It is all very confusing but we ended up in a tuktuk.
A mini car like thing that is world famous as the symbol of Thailand (plus a death defying ride).



Our tuktuk driver



Val hanging on for dear life

Mr. TukTuk took us to a tiny wat (temple) which we looked at and then off we went to the 'House of Fashion' were we could have a suit made to order right then and there. I now understand how a certain young friend of mine ended up with a suit. We both made it out suitless but I did give in and buy a couple of very small gifts for a couple folks. Off we went to another unmemorable Wat and then off to the jewelery factory.



Our first wat was not too impressive



But a zoom lens helps see the details



Wat number 2 - getting better



Bell on the roof



Buddha is watching you

I have to say so that we don't sound like total rubes, we knew this was going to happen, but we figured it was a small price to pay for hours of TukTuk ride. Anyway, we bought cheap 'trip rings', that's what I am calling them because we bought the same ring by chance. After that, Mr. TukTuk didn't even bother with another Wat, we went straight to another fashion house. Some poor girl arrived at the same time as us and whispered 'did you ask to come here? Why are we here, I wanted to go to BlahBlah Wat". We told her to go with it, she would get there eventually. After that stop, we told Mr. TukTuk to take us back to the Grand Palace since it should now be open. We forgot about the festivities at the new palace. We did ask as we were leaving, if in fact, the Grand Palace was closed in the morning and it was so it wasn't a total scam. I have to say, it was fun.

Then we spent an hour or two in the GP and temple of the jade Buddha. For those of you who have been, you will totally understand that any pictures we took will not do this place any justice. There is enough decoration to make your head explode. Everything is tiles, painted, carved, gilded, groomed beyond belief. I have inadequate pictures for future reference.

So much gold







So many statues

And a million Buddhas



Fat Buddha



Skinny old Buddha



Young svelte Buddha



Spires and more spires

Spires everywhere


If it isn't gilded, it is so intricately detailed you have to do a close up. This entire building is covered with these tiny individually shaped and painted flowers

More detail than the brain can comprehend (I warned you this place was impossible to photograph)






A hand painted and gilded mural that ran hundreds of feet

It was so hot by now and we had to wear long pants and sleeves that we were dying. I have to say, the best part of the Palace was seeing the ridiculous pants and skirts they forced onto the poor unsuspecting shorts clad visitor. Many men in elephant print pants in varying shades of lavender and periwinkle. It was almost worth the heat stroke. Once we had seen pretty much all we could take we tried to leave. No easy feat, there is not signage and the paths are random and circular. We finally made it out but not before, in sight of the exit gate, we met Mr. Longboat. Clearly sun stoked and drunk on touristing, we agreed to a longboat tour of the canals. Again, it was fun and we saw parts of Bangkok that would have been completely inaccessible. Pictures forthwith.



Tours boat at dock



Blurry Val on the boat



Another, very similar boat



A house on the river



To be fair, there were lots of expensive houses too.



Monks at the river's edge.

Then back to the Khoa San Rd for a bite of dinner and to get our stuff. I bought a calamari plate that was so hot I could hardly eat it. Val tasted it and her whole face turned red. I had to follow it with half a pineapple and a beer before I could work my mouth properly. Note to self, ask to taste before buying food off of a wheeled buffet table in the middle of the road, especially if it is the exact same colour as hot chili paste. The Budget was storing our bags for us, so we picked up our stuff and hopped in a cab to the train station where we had booked the night train to Chang Mai for 7:30 PM.



hundreds of tourists waiting to leave Bangkok, there are not enough seats at the station



Leaving the Bangkok station



Waiting at the next station

Serious kudos to Missy here. She had advised us to get two bottom bunks across from each other as opposed to a bottom and top bunk. Brilliant for many reasons.
1. Bottom bunks seats face forward
2. bottom bunks have windows and more head room
3. who can climb the teeny tiny ladder to the top bunk with seized calfs



Forward facing top bunk seat

Only problem is that it was a full train so we had two other British girls in the top bunks. Proper tourist etiquette says one of us had to give up our forward facing seat to one of them so that they could sit together, oh well. We had dinner on the train, I had Red Curry with duck and some sort of chicken and cashew side dish and Val had some pork thing. It was OK but I will have to have red curry again since I am sure it can be better.



Val eating dinner on the train

Eventually a man came by and turned down our beds. By this time it was after 9 and I was pretty much beat. Intestinal fortitude that day: under consideration.



Ready for bed.

The train was so noisy. I kept thinking this must be what it is like to be a tiny person living in a wobbly wheeled shopping cart. There was screeching, banging, jolting, wire rattling. But surprisingly, we both slept pretty well. The bed was so much more comfortable that the Budget bed. We both woke up at about 6 AM (we are almost on Thai time).



Sunrise from the train window

They gave us breakfast of Rice soup, mine with prawns, Val's with chicken. It was yummy. The coffee was not. Then we bird watched from the train until we arrived in Chang Mai. A ride into town in what we think was some guys family minivan, and we wandered around for a bit, found the Rama Guesthouse (location unknown, I will only find my way back if Val stays near) and now have a room with earth made beds and only one flight up. Yeahhh. Only 6 bucks a night each. This time the big luxury was hot water instead of Air Conditioning. It is cooler here. Our hostess Lyn, is setting us up with all sorts of touristy things to do. Discount for us, shhhh, don't tell the other guests.

Tomorrow we are going to cooking school. I will save the rest of our plans for further action packed posts. intestinal fortitude today: under a practical nurses advise and medicinal care. Off to the night bazaar. Joanne.