Thailand: The City of Angels

Our trip to Thailand was just too big to fit into one post.  I decided to divide it into separate posts based on the city we were in. 

The girls and I left Korea and its 20 degree weather last Saturday morning.  They were too cute and so excited to go see daddy.  Before we knew it, we were on the plane heading south.  The flight was uneventful, though I will say traveling on a budget airline is about the same anywhere you are in the world.  We landed in Bangkok around 2 pm local, gathered our bags, and headed off to find Ronnie, who had arrived about 30 minutes before us from Udon Thani.  After a quick snack and a wonderful fruit smoothie, we hailed a cab and got on our way to the hotel.

Zipping through town, I just stared out the windows.  Everywhere I looked was a study in contrasts: small shacks in the shadows of tall apartment buildings; tuk-tuks running beside traditional taxis; small family farms followed by large fields.  In researching Bangkok, I found that its known as Krung Thep for short, or City of Angels.  It's a fairly large city with about 9 million people. 

Once we arrived at our hotel, we were checked in and promptly escorted to our room.  The girls had a lot of energy to get out of them, as we had been traveling since they woke up, so we decided to let them go swimming before dinner.  We all threw on our suits and headed for the pool.   The Marriott has a great layout, with a nice big pool and beautiful gardens surrounding it.  I couldn't get over how green everything was already.  Oh, and yes, I had to go put my toes in the grass and smell all the flowers.   Soon enough it was time to find some supper and head to bed.

Left: view of the river from the hotel; Right: view from our room

As we thought they would be, the girls were up bright and early on Sunday morning.  We discussed going on a tour to the floating markets, but decided we would just find our own way that day.  Good thing too!  While exploring the dock after breakfast, we struck up a conversation with the hotel guard.  The hotel had a river shuttle to a downtown area that we could take, but he asked what we were wanting to do.  When we told him we wanted to just walk around Bangkok and see some sights, he suggested we hire a longtail for a few hours and tour the canals.  We agreed wholeheartedly.  He set it up for us while we headed to the room and got everything ready to go.  Within the hour we were on our way.

Our Longtail

Our longtail took us on a two hour tour through the canals in Bangkok, to a Snake Farm/Petting Zoo, and then dropped us off near the Grand Palace.  We were on our way to the Grand Palace when stopped by a guy saying it was "closed."  Yeah, we got taken by the Bangkok tourist scam, but we went to look at a local Buddhist temple, rather than the large overly tourist temples and got to see a back alley cock fighting group.  Worth the 60 Baht ($2) for me!  I just wish I got a good picture of the cock fighting.  

By the time we decided we were fed up  finished with our alternative tour, it was time to get some lunch.  We decided to eat off the carts near the Grand Palace.  Our meal was fantastic!  The girls got chicken on a stick and Ronnie and I got various curries.  So yummy, and all for under $5.  We headed to the Grand Palace but conscious of the time, we decided to not go in with hundreds of our closest tourist friends.  Instead, we walked around near the grounds and just enjoyed the market.

Left - Holly and Sarah at the Grand Palace; Right - Holly's favorite cart - the fruit cart!

And before we knew it, it was time to hail a cab and head for the airport.  Our stay in Bangkok was about 24 hours, a little too quick but enough time to see some fun things.  Next up: Chiang Mai!

How exciting.. . a pink and a purple seat!