Fear and Loathing in Bankok

ST Blog #1

FEAR and LOATHING IN BANGKOK

Please forgive the shameless thievery of Mr Thompson's title but it is just too fitting to ignore.

Our Airbus 380 is on final approach now and our 19 hour journey from Barcelona to Bangkok is soon to be at an end.  As we descend into the mega city below, I think back at how this trip almost didn't happen.

7 months ago we were in Singapore for our last night and had tickets to Bangkok the next day.  Fate stepped in for the wicked slap of reality.  Our big Asian adventure was not to be.  3 months in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia that had been planned for over a year, would have to wait.  We had to abandon our flights and book an emergency flight back to Barcelona to take care of a family emergency.  The slap was crisp and clear.  We had been so excited about this trip.  We talked about it almost every day for the last several months.  All of our planning and research was now on hold.  

Luckily, my wife Encarna found a great deal to fly back to Barcelona on a great airline.  Well, Qatar Airlines is actually a little surreal.  The planes are new and very well run.  The crew is well trained and the food, even in coach, was excellent.  But the plane was less than half full and the airport at Doha is like a ghost town.  As we pulled onto the ramp and taxied in, we could see almost every gate had a brand new shiny Qatar airlines jet parked there.  But there were no baggage handlers or fueling trucks anywhere in sight; no activity.  The gates are not even rolled up to the planes.  It is an entire fleet of multimillion dollar jets waiting for customers that are not coming. How many people are headed to Doha for business or pleasure I wondered.  Entering the terminal is equally surreal.  Tons of staff all clean, well dressed and ready to serve.  But the shiny new floors have few people walking on them.  Few electric carts transporting travelers to their flights.  The stores are all open but no shoppers inside.  The food courts are big, clean and also empty.  It's like some rich guy wanted his own airline and international airport to to play with, just to take his friends and family out when they want to go.  Excess like I had never seen.  This actually paid dividends in my case because I forgot my IPad in the seat pocket of our first plane.  I had to rush back to the plane, find it, sign for it then they put me in on of those empty carts and wished me off to my plane on time!  We caught our connection to Barcelona and were gone in about an hour.

Standby here while I sling you through a quick 7 months.

So we handled our family stuff in Barcelona, I made my commitment in Michigan for some boating.  Encarna flew in to meet me in Florida for a 50th Bday surprise party and we did our "little" motorcycle trip.  Then, Encarna went back to Spain for Christmas and I helped my Mom with double knee replacement.  I went to Cozumel for some work, Belize for some diving and flew back to Barcelona in hopes Encarna and I could continue our Asia adventure after 7 months of other stuff.  

And these stories are yet to be put into words.

There, that was fast…..

At the last minute Encarna found some super cheap round trip tickets to Singapore ($600).   Singapore is like the hub for Southeast Asia.  From there, it is easy to get almost anywhere.  It was a 5 am get outta bed to make our early flight out of Barcelona. Then a quick stop in Milan and 11 hours with Singapore airlines.  By the way, they rock!

Singapore's Changi international airport is an amazing place!  It has some of the most striking architecture I have ever seen.  It flows with green plants on the walls juxtaposed with shiny glass and stainless steel banisters and clear glass elevators.  The ceilings are huge and the artwork gathered around is all unique.  One of the key pieces of art is a hanging, moving array of hundreds of shiny teardrop shaped spheres suspended from the ceiling on tiny almost invisible cables.  They dance and move up and down in computerized synchronicity.  They travel up and down about 40 feet between the top and bottom floors of the main entryway of the terminal.  It is one of the first things you notice as you enter and it is almost impossible to keep moving past it without a long pause.  I bet a few travelers have missed their flights because of it.  It is truly mesmerizing.

Our connection to Thailand was easy to make and it was only a 90 minute flight north.  As we descended into Bangkok, the city sprawl was all around.  We were not overly excited about Bangkok but we did have a person we wanted to see while we were in town.    We wanted to see some of the sights and hoped that a local could guide us in the right direction.

From the Airport to our hotel was pretty easy.  Encarna found us a nice little hotel right next to the train station downtown for 1100 baht (about $38).  Turns out the train runs from the international airport every 15 minutes, costs less than $2, and takes about 30 minutes, so getting out of the airport was a breeze.  

Once we got checked in, it was only about 11:00 am but we were pretty tired.  The jet lag was part of it but mostly we had just been on the go for over 26 hours and we just needed a nap.  We contacted our local friend and agreed to hook up in the PM after some much needed sleep.  So far so good.

The nap was just what we needed and by 3:00 pm we were ready to see what there was to be seen.  Unfortunately, our friend was not feeling well and postponed our meetup til the next day.  No worries really.  We could make do on our own for the night and hook up mañana.  

We have always had a real love of Thai food so dinner was a high priority.  I glanced briefly at Google maps and got lay of the land.  Chinatown was right around the corner from us so we headed in that direction hoping to find food along the way.

First impressions were as to be expected.  It's a city, a big city. There are rare exceptions but you can't really squeeze 8 million humans into a small space and come out looking sheik. The truth is, like most cities, it was noisy and smelly and crowded.  Of course our choice of sightseeing was poor and it didn't help that it was Saturday night and the beginning of the Chinese new year.

When we got there, Chinatown was all a bustle! Humans in mass were all maneuvering for their space on the streets.  Vendors of goods and all manner of street meat were abundant. Tourists and locals all crammed into every crevice and corner.  The streets were packed with vehicles too.  Tuk tuks (3 wheel taxi scooters) were buzzing, cars were honking and big diesel trucks were spewing forth black clouds of exhaust all around us.  Just to add a little spice to the roads, there are just as many scooters as cars and they have absolutely no rules of conduct.  It is every wheel for themselves!  Walking on the street reminded me of New York. If you slow down, someone will run you down or knock into ya.  The difference in Bangkok is the stores and food carts all occupy the sidewalks too.  So in order to walk, you have to zigzag up and down the curbs and into alley ways just to find your space to move without risking personal injury.

Did I mention the smell?  As newbie farang (foreigners) the odors were particularly intense.  Scents wafted around from all sides.  Food carts with fried fish, and other street meats kept our heads turning. Perfumes from the markets mixed in with stank sewer water being splashed about as motos and pedestrians disturbed it.  Then there is an unhealthy mix of soap smells from the food carts' dirty dish buckets that were intricately mingled to the subtle hint of urine which occupies that especially dense stained corner in the alleys as well. Despite that, we were still hungry.

Finding food became our priority. Trouble is we were in Chinatown and we didn't want our first meal in Thailand to be Chinese food! Silly us! So our goal became that of escape from Chinatown.  I especially wanted out!  Encarna tolerates crowds and noise far better than I.  Ever since the riots in LA, crowds make me edgy.  I actually hate them and even a friendly crowd, like at a concert, makes me tense.  Luckily Encarna was ready to leave too so another glance at Google Maps to get us out of the ChinaTown madness was in order.

We ended up walking all the way back to our hotel but we found a little hole in the wall place with great fresh food.  It was sorta in a back alley and it appeared there were no "farang"  in sight, just what we were looking for.  We both had dinner for under $10 usd.  It was awesome and all worth it.

We slept like babies that night and were prepared to see all the sights the next day with our friend….

But that will have to wait for another time….

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