I left this post (and others) hanging… almost finished, even… a couple years ago. I really wanted to get to it. It has remained on my list, tabled indefinitely due to the creepings of post-travel everyday life that seem to prevent the travel writing edge I have while actually traveling. But recently (um, relatively speaking), a close family member asked for recommendations in Thailand, and I’m once again inspired! So, here we go, Thailand – the last stop on our world tour!
“Saa waa dee kaaaaah!” The hostess drew the last syllable through her nose, breathily extending it as long as possible in a sign of the utmost respect. I repeated this greeting back to her, mimicking her respectful ending to a tee and causing Brian to giggle at the nasally effect. He lightly hit me as we were shown to our tables. “Wow. That was rude,” was plain as day on his face. It wasn’t, though. It was a perfectly normal Thai exchange that only sounded rude because the initial greeting still sounded funny to us. We hadn’t been long in Thailand at this point, and the language, the words but especially the ever-changing intonations, were still completely baffling and still gave us the giggles.
This place was swanky – a rooftop bar overlooking the Bangkok skyline – white chairs and tables alit with the glow of colored lights, the perfect setting for a music video. We had clearly come several hours too early to catch the height of the action, though. We were in a place where the best evening action we typically caught was a sunset. And it was glorious from this view. We and every other group who clearly missed the memo that the party doesn’t begin until well after dark sparsely populated the outer rim of tables catching a great view of the city lights as Bangkok descended into darkness. Our lap of pictures complete, we turned toward the menu and crossed our fingers. So far, Thailand with all its incredible, edible delights had not been kind to our systems. Unfortunately, this would be a trend that continued for our first three weeks of Thai travel, culminating in the epoch “ditch the hostel in favor of a nicer hotel room” bout of food poisoning, and finally ending for good when we began taking Pepto Bismol before every single meal (Thanks, Jenny!).
So perhaps we shouldn’t have gotten the green papaya salad. But we were early into discovering our Thai tummy troubles. And it was delicious, as well as the perfect culinary companion to the stifling evening heat. This super chic rooftop bar was one of Joy’s recommendations. We tried to follow all of Joy’s recommendations. It was her Bangkok we were experiencing, after all. And, even now, two years later, we can’t imagine a Bangkok experience without Joy. Who’s Joy? Oh, my manners! Joy owns and runs the hostel we stayed at in Bangkok, far from the touristy center. And Joy takes great care of each traveler’s experience. Joy tells us where to go, when to go there, and what to order if food’s involved… and food is almost always involved. Joy’s advice when visiting Bangkok is this:
“The Grand Palace, the temples, they will always be here. But your favorite noodle man may not.” Go for the food. Explore the markets. Find things you’ve never seen before. This is the way to love Bangkok. So we listened to Joy.
And we dined… on noodles, on fried chicken, on honey buns, on soup, on fruit and kabobs, on ice cream… And we explored the markets… and the malls. And then we spent way too much time in the malls, because, well, they had the plethora of available bathrooms that we were often in need of. (it might seem as if Joy had been leading us astray towards foods that gave us problems. I assure you, she was not. She is our Thai goddess.)
Occasionally, Joy would recommend a non-food related excursion, which is how we found ourselves on national Thai TV one Sunday afternoon, waving to the cameras. Joy had recommended a Thai boxing match – live. It turns out, this is a regular Sunday event in Bangkok and well worth attending. Apparently, anytime the TV cameras pan the fans, they focus on the small international section in the back (us!) to avoid televising all the intense, illegal gambling occurring among Thais in the front. Sure, the match was exciting. But enjoying our few seconds of Thai fame while the man in front of us with 4 cell phones taped to a board fielded bets? Captivating.
And finally, we did get around to attractions of the more typical tourist type: a tuk tuk tour to several wats (a fun ride and worth it if you’re okay not lingering at the wats), The Grand Palace (closed on Sundays but they don’t tell you that until you’re in and through the temple and grounds… which were pretty amazing), Wat Pho (ginormous reclining golden Buddha extraordinaire), Wat Arun (mosaic heaven), Khao San Road (Skip it. Touristy rubbish. We stopped at a bar and got margaritas and chips. Nachos. In Thailand. But you need souvenirs, you say. I hear you. Get them from Chatuchak Market (the weekend market) – better overall experience and cheaper. But you’re not there over a weekend, you say. Well then, you made poor decisions, say I, and I can’t help you further. But don’t waste your precious moments here.), Terminal 21 (a uniquely entertaining shopping mall), and at least one transport ride by canal boat (I don’t remember where we went, but the scenery and experience were fascinating).
From our swanky rooftop bar to the dingy but delicious streetside soup vendor, Bangkok was a pretty fabulous experience. Wait. I just remembered how incredibly relative that feeling is, so allow me to qualify. Coming from Kathmandu and the adventures of Nepal, Bangkok was a fabulous experience. Coming from Manhattan or San Francisco, it may not knock your socks off immediately. I literally jumped for joy at the cleanliness and flushability of the toilets in the Bangkok airport bathrooms. We hadn’t been off the plane 3 minutes. I clearly needed a metropolitan break. Success! Up next… we head north and, you guessed it, go trekking!