Approaching The Finish Line...and Beyond!: #5. One Night in Bangkok...(or 3)

Bangkok Day 1

Just in case you need some motivation for this post, play the video below for some background music. Don't get too caught up in the lyrics...

http://youtu.be/R9cNtrrCP0E

The crazy thing about this song is that it came on the radio four months ago when Chris and I were returning our rental car to the Lisbon airport at the end of our Portugal trip (our last vacation). It was one of life's bizarre, yet appropriate, coincidences.

We arrived in Bangkok on Saturday (July 12) night late, and just as our waitress the previous night said (she was Chinese but spoke near perfect English having attended Arizona State), we were in for a treat. I've been to Thailand before (it's been 10 years) and her comment is no lie. We literally landed in the airport, made it through passport control, collected our bags, were whisked away to our hotel by a hotel shuttle, and in our room within an hour of landing. Service is at a premium in Bangkok. The room was almost entirely purple (we stayed at the Lilac Hotel), but when you have a drink waiting for you at check-in (at midnight) and the minibar is declared up for grabs (meaning free) the color of the room doesn't seem to matter.

Better get used to purple...

The good service continued in the morning with breakfast and when we tried to leave our table we had to wait for the warm towel treatment (that came with an apology for being 'so busy'). The cab we ordered at midnight the 'night' before was ready 20 minutes before we were.

but never pink!

Wow, what a great place to be! We made it to our hotel/long term stay location (see post #4) within 30 minutes

View from the pink cab

and the superb treatment only continued. As I said before, the room/apartment was definitely what we were hoping it to be and seeing the hospital where the kids are to be born from the balcony made things seem right.

Room 2505

With a view!

After taking a 5-minute walk to the hospital

This is the bridge we have to cross to get on the other side of the massive, bustling street we 'live' on

This way to Luke and Clare

and looking for a supermarket (we actually stumbled upon a 3-floor golfing equipment/supplies mall...literally, every store was golf stuff), we decided to check out Bangkok the best way possible, by taking the Chao Phraya River taxi. We took the Bangkok Sky Train (BTS...which was relatively new the last time I visited)

Here's our closest BTS stop...

and here's a happy BTS customer!

to the ferry. To compare prices and quality between this and Chicago's 'L', the BTS is considered pricey in Thailand, a ride to a typical station is around 28 baht. There are approximately 32 baht to the dollar. You do the math. Oh yeah, and it's efficient. And clean.

The river taxi runs up and down the Chao Phraya river which is adjacent to many of the cities tourist attractions.

The rookie taking it all in

Riding the river taxi like a pro

The river taxi is cheap (40 baht) and is a great way to take in the city. You can see high rises

Mostly hotels along the river I think

various temples

Older style Bangkok temple

Newer style Bangkok temple

and can even get a glimpse of how some people live along the river.

River home

We took it quite a bit north as far as the Rama Bridge

Named for Rama VII...the 7th 'reigning' king

and then (no surprise) took a break to have a cocktail

Guess who ordered wine?!?

where they had much needed misting fans before heading back south.

Bangkok is filled with Buddhist temples, but my favorite is Wat (which means 'temple') Arun, known as the 'Temple of Dawn'.

Taxi to the Temple

Wat Arun is a temple on the west bank of the Chao Phraya river that looks like a missile.

Wat Arun

I like this temple because the temple grounds are pretty awesome,

Two guards aren't enough for this temple

and you can actually climb this temple

Things are looking up

while taking in great panoramic views of the east bank.

The Grand Palace from Wat Arun

War Arun doesn't look like anything special from afar, but the detail is impressive when you are up close.

Views of Wat Arun Complex

Looks 'bedazzled'

These montsers are strong

It's really a bunch of flowers and tiles

There are also Buddhas to be seen,

Pick a Buddha, any Buddha

and, of course, elephants.

Trunks up

We spent a nice hour or so walking the grounds of Wat Arun.

Photographer got on her knees for this one

Then, the rains came and never left until at least midnight (our bedtime). Tis the rainy season after all.
For dinner we headed to a nothing special Thai restaurant (which means it is every bit as good if not better than Thai food back home). I enjoyed my first of what will be many bowls of Tom Yum soup

It's just better here

for the next month plus. We took a look around at some of the markets before settling into a bar for a few drinks before heading home to call it a night.

Bangkok Day 2

Our second day in Bangkok was more about business. We spent the morning sifting through emails and making sure we had everything set for our upcoming travel (to Cambodia) and future stay at Hotel Urbana (when returning to Thailand).

After a lost passport scare (he left it in the back pocket of a pair of shorts he 'checked'...I found it after he tore out to the previous nights' stops...way too much drama!), we headed out to find the IVF clinic where our doctor meets our surrogate for appointments

Very busy place...hope everyone is having as much luck as us

and made a short trip to spot out the US Embassy where we will have to visit as we attempt to exit the country in the upcoming weeks. Both are so close to our place. We initially took the skytrain and walked (about a 1 hour adventure) and later found out we could take a taxi (for about $2) that would take about 3-5 minutes to get there. Typical.

We decided to have a 'low key' evening and check out our 'neighborhood' a bit more. As stated in a previous blog, we have quite a few 7/11's...most likely closer to 7 within a couple blocks, but that is still a lot! I read somewhere that Bangkok itself has about one-third of the number of 7/11's as the entire United States. We are actually staying very close to the 'business' area of Bangkok. There are many high rise office spaces all around us. We are also in the 'embassy' area of the city, with many countries even closer than the US embassy. Truth be told, we are also near one of the 'red light' districts in town. We have been invited to many 'shows' on our walks around. The names of the clubs are too naughty to type here. The 'gay area' is also not too far. In all, we like the neighborhood. I think it's interesting how all kinds of things co-exist in one area. On one block you can find nice restaurants and bars, street side food stalls,

So proud of him for ordering meat on a stick! Next up, insects!!

businesses of all kinds,

Stuff!

3-5 7/11's, stray dogs, owned dogs, motorcycles, tuk-tuks, bicycles, and people of all kinds. Oh yeah, and even elephants.

Keeping guard over the bustling streets of Bangkok

It's really an intriguing city.

One thing that will definitely take getting used to is how BUSY Bangkok (and this is true of many large Asian cities) feels. Roadways are massive with several lanes of traffic going in both directions. There are only certain areas to cross these roadways. This picture gives a good glimpse of how busy things look on a typical Bangkok main street (think Ashland Ave. in Chicago).

Here you have the street below and people walking parallel to street to get to place to cross street...then, above is the skytrain (public transport)

But, just when things seem a little too busy, there's always a friendly bar (they have great happy hours here!) to calm things down. And, while wine is not cheap,