Day 3 - Tuesday, February 15 - Bangkok

Sorry for the ones who wake up eagerly awaiting the adventures of Marc in Thailand. There was no blog entry yesterday. As soon as I leave Bangkok, they will be a little more spaced out so I'm weaning you now. Don't get spoiled by daily entries.

Woke at my usual time.....about 5:30AM. Did the same morning routine. I planned my day and re-planned the rest of the trip. I'm now going to stay in Bangkok a few more days and take some day trips from here. We'll see how long that plan lasts.

Finally showered.....did I tell you that the water insn't HOT. I may have left that part out the other day. It actually feels good to take a cool shower in the AM. It's cool, not ice cold. Ran out of the lodge without breakfast and made my way through the market across from the Lodge to the other end to get to the river. I won't even begin to tell you all the stuff I saw. Most people wouldn't believe me. I will say though, I'm not sure what people do with half this stuff they buy. Cook it? Eat it? Feed it to their animals? Not sure!

The water taxi is the most enjoyable way to get around. It's quick, convenient, and you don't deal with the RIDICULOUS traffic on the streets. At night, when the water taxi isn't running, it's sometimes easier to stay around the Lodge than deal with the cabs and Tuk Tuk's. Oh wait, a new word. A Tuk Tuk is a 3 wheeled little vehicle that spews out gross fumes but can weave in and out of the traffic to sometimes get you there quicker than a taxi can. You also have to deal with the Tuk Tuk scam of getting in and having the driver try to take you to a completely different place than you requested. In broken english, they try to convince you that you must go to some shopping place to buy silk, a new custom-made suit, or local crafts. If you buy something at these stores, they get a commission. I know, it sounds retarded but it's true and people fall for it all the time. When they offer this "great deal", you have to just say, "NO, I want to go HERE (and point to the map).

Anyhoo, took the water taxi down to another big market that people say to visit. Yup, another huge market with alleys and alleys, and streets and streets of food, both live and dead, vegetables, eggs, live chickens, caracases of animals hanging on hooks, and of course the hundreds of dogs and cats who wander the streets and markets aimlessly looking for a home that may be better than the one they currently have. I left the market and made my way to Chinatown. It wasn't too easy to find, but after a few wrong turns, there it was. I opened the Lonely Planet (a travel book for those who aren't familiar) and procceded to take myself on their recommended foot tour. NUTS! MAYHEM I tell you. Once again, I had some idea of what it was like due to The Amazing Race but walking and living it are much different than seeing it on your couch cheering on your favorite team. Thin little alleys and streets lined with the usual but this time, in Chinese fare. Some of the alleys / streets are filled with food and some just filled with more Hello Kitty shit than you can possibly imagine!!!

I finally did it. I ate off the street vendors carts and now I'm hooked. I realized one very important thing - The best and worst thing about eating off these carts is that you really have no idea what it is that you are eating and 99% of the vedors don't speak english to tell you. I bought 3 skewers of fried things. 1 seemed to be chicken, 1 seemed to be pork (?) and one was a mystery. I had one bit of that one and threw it away. I was afraid it might have been something nasty that I walked by in one of the markets earlier. I walked further and met up with 2 other people who looked like they too were taking themselves on the Lonely Planet Walking Tour of Chinatown. It was Brad and Annie of Australia. Two youngens traveling through Asia prior to settling in London for a year to find some work. We walked around for a while until the end of the "tour". We tried to find this little Indian sect of town but we were unsuccessful. Somehow, after walking for about an hour, we ended up back in Chinatown. We went to a Chinese Restaurant but it was too expensive so we left. Lunch would have cost us about $10 US each and that wasn't in their budget and certainly would have put a dent in my daily one as well. We got up from the table and left. Walked more and finally ended up at the river. I put them on a water taxi (they hadn't experienced them yet and had no idea how to get to where they were going) and I decided to head a little further south to The Peninsula Hotel.

Coincidentally, my aunt and uncle got to Bangkok yesterday prior to leaving on a Cruise on Thursday. I landed at the Pier which is across the river from the Peninsula. I was going to take a "crossing" boat taxi but was told the Peninsula has their own boats to transport across the river. The Peninsula boats are much nicer than the normal ones. I went to the lobby, went to the pool, went to the restaurants thinking maybe I would run into my aunt and uncle but they weren't anywhere to be found. I called their room but to no avail. I left a note and hopefully, they'll be able to reach me before they leave. I'm not sure if this "world phone" I have is working. I also don't know if the Lodge has the capability to take a message if someone calls for me.

I went back to the pool and plopped down for a minute to baske in the afternoon sun and enjoy the life of the rich and famous who see Bangkok a completely different way than I am. It's a beautiful hotel right on the river and the service is great. I could tell just from the way the concierge treated me upon asking for a piece of paper. The hotel guests were of a different class than the ones staying at the Shanti Lodge. I'm not sure if I stood out in my sweat soaked shirt, a day pack on my back, and my flip-flops but you know me, I didn't really care. From that point, I went back across the river and checked out that part of town. Directly across from the Peninsula is the Oriental Hotel. Apparently, it too, it beautiful and a place to see or stay when I land back in Bangkok for a few days at the end. One small problem......THEY WOULDN'T LET ME IN DRESSED THE WAY I WAS! SCREW THEM - If I decide to stay NICE when I come back, it's The Peninsula for me.

Boarded a water taxi back north to the Lodge. It took about 25 minutes or so and I walked back through the market and back to the Lodge. Plopped down, had a fresh squeezed Watermelom juice and read a little.

I came back to the Lodge and realized, for now, I'm just as happy in a Backpacker's "guesthouse" as I am at a fancy hotel. Everyone is coming back from their day, having a cool beverage *|(have I mentioned that it is REALLY hot here), reading their reading books, their travel books planning their next stop, writing in their journals (whether it be in pen and ink or typing at a computer), and ordering up dinner for those who like to eat at the Lodge.

I'm going to eat at a little outdoor beer garden / restaurant that I stumbled across on the way to the water taxi called Beer Buree.

OK, so I walked back through the market which was about 98% empty. When I say "market" in all these writings, please remember that they aren't true markets like we know of with 4 walls and a door that open and close at a certain time rather flea market types of markets. For those who have traveled to foreign countries, please excuse the hand holding that I must do for those who haven't. There were a few "booths" still open but not really sure who they were selling to. There were some ladies husking corn for the morning, some others who were scaling some fish, and a few kids that wre cutting the stems off of thousands and thousands of peppers, some red and some green. The buckets of live fish, eel, and snakes were all covered up and the meats were taken off their spikes. All in all, The market was barren aside from the strays.

The Beer Buree was pretty good. Although somewhat pricey, the beer was ice cold, the spicy mango salad (not sure where the mango's were) wasn't too spicy, and the Prawn Pad Thai was tasty. Good thing I didn't eat a proper lunch today cause dinner set me back 249 baht ($6.50 US).

I muddled back through the market and back to the lodge and decided to get a taxi to Patpong. Patpong and the Patpong Night Market is apparently a must when visiting Bangkok. For more info, go to:

http://www.thailand.com/travel/nightlife/nightlife_bangkok_patpong.htm

and

http://www.epinions.com/content_3910639748

The cab dropped me off on a eaterie and shop lined street and in his best of English told me that this was where the action was. Seemed kind of lame to me but being here for 3 days now, I had a feeling there was more. As I walked down the street, it was the first glimpse I had of the West. Haagen Dazs, Burger King, Dunkin Donut's (we dont even have Dunkin Donuts in LA) and even a Foot Lockeresque type of store selling the latest in Nike, Adidas, and Asics. On the sidewalks were street vendors selling more of the same and at this point I had no idea what was real and what was imitation. I stopped in for a "brief" ONE HOUR Thai Foot Massage. It was my first one since I'm here and it certainly wont be the last. Foot massage, reflexology, and then a brief hand and shoulder massage for 250 baht. Are you getting the hang of the money yet. That whole hour cost me $6.50 US.

It was now time to find the real excitement of Patpong and after a slip into the next alley I came across, it wasn't hard. In typical Bangkok fashion, the alley's are where the excitement is. First the night market - see the link above. Stalls and stalls and stalls of locals selling CRAP. This time, it's not fruit, vegetables, and animals. This market is Flea Market type of stuff. You want t-shirts, watches, sunglasses, Chanel, Gucci, Rolex, it's here. They try to lure you to their stall any way possible. They even go so far as to tug on your shirt and yank at you. That was the part that annoyed me the most but it was the same sweat filled, but now dried shirt I had worn all day so it should have bothered them more than me.

I made it through the lanes and lanes of that crap without buying a thing.

Next alley over, the atmosphere changed quite a bit. NEON! SEX! NEON! SEX! GIRLS! SEX! BOYS! SEX! LIVE SEX SHOWS! It was sensory overload and I knew I had reached Patpong. Patpong 1 and Patpong 2 are the 2 alleys that have exactly what you are looking for no matter what in fact, it is, that you are looking for. Once again, the proprietors or the goons that work for them try to lure you in to see a sex show and drink. They will not take no for an answer. They will follow you continuing to ask you to come in until you either do, or they have drifted too far form their front door that it's time to work on the next victim. For those of you who are waiting for details, just know that I behaved myself and looked but didn't touch. When in Cuba, do like the Cubans, when in Thailand, refrain!

A few hours later it was time to head back to the lodge. It was after 1AM, a sign that I was finally on local time, and needed a shower (yes, Pilar, I showered before I went to bed to get all the sweat off - boy was I salty!!). I read a little and passed out prety quickly.

Not sure what tomorrow has in store, but it may be a mellow day in Bangkok. I've been running, seeing, and sweating for 3 days straight in this intense heat and I need a little break.

Until we meet again.....