Beginnings in Bangkok

After a ten hour flight, a three hour layover in Tokyo where I met some dragons, and a seven hour flight, I arrived in Bangkok last night.

These guys were just walking around the Tokyo airport.

It was midnight so I took a taxi to my hostel. I arrived around 1 AM Bangkok time, checked in, then tried to go to sleep. Unfortunately, I had trouble sleeping due to jetlag. Around 10 AM, I got all my stuff together, and headed down to the hostel lobby. I asked the woman at the counter what I should do for my first day in Bangkok and she recommended checking out the Grand Palace. She gave me a map and told me to go to the pier where I could take a ferry. I amazingly was able to find the pier with little trouble and boarded the ferry, which was a long colorful boat with an exposed motor that looked pretty makeshift. We took off and immediately encountered choppy waters. The front of the boat jumped as it hit waves. After about fifteen minutes, we disembarked.

A photo from our shaky ferry ride.

 Not wanting to push my luck further with my bad sense of direction, I teamed up with a British couple named Jack and Kim who were also heading to the Palace. We were able to make it to the Palace with the help of directions from several heavily-armed but friendly guards. When we get there, Jack and Kim were told that they weren’t dressed properly and needed to go to the dressing room to borrow clothes that would cover their shoulders and legs. Without knowing it, I had dressed properly so I went off on my own.

The Grand Palace is not one palace but actually a series of buildings and structures. All of them are beautifully built and decorated. The most impressive one is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Photos are not allowed inside and I watched a rogue photographer get dragged by his camera strap by a guard and forced to delete the photos.

The Grand Palace is a huge tourist destination. But in addition to the people with selfie sticks, ice cream stands, and school groups, there were also Buddhists there offering incense and kneeling to pray before the various altars and statues.

After spending some time at the Grand Palace, I walked to Khao San Road. Khao San is the center of the backpacking scene in Bangkok. It’s a street filled with food stands, massage parlors, and stands selling knockoff clothes. It's kind of an unpleasant place. I walked around there for a while and got a plate of mediocre pad thai before deciding to head back to the hostel. It was very hot and I had done a lot of walking already so I decided to hire a tuk-tuk (a motorbike rickshaw). I haggled a price with a tuk-tuk driver but he said that since I was just one person, I should just hire a motorbike instead. I was led to a motorbike driver who handed me a helmet. I sat on the motorbike behind him and held on for my life. The driver drove like a maniac but we made it to the hostel in one piece.

I’m back at the hostel now just resting and checking email and stuff but intend to go down to the hostel lobby soon to get a dinner recommendation and perhaps try to make some friends to dine with.

Until next time,

Noah

I don't normally take selfies but this guy looked so friendly.