Our first impression of Bangkok was its incredible size and overall efficiency. Arriving at the airport at 1:00 a.m. after over 22 hours travel from Toronto, we were not looking forward to the hassle of clearing customs, collecting baggage, and trying to find and haggle with a cab driver to get to our hotel. Customs was a breeze - probably the fastest we've ever seen - Fort Lauderdale please make a field trip and take notes.
At immigration they checked that we had filled out our entry visa correctly, made sure we knew not to lose the second half as we'd need it to exit the country, stamped our passports, and showed us where to go to catch a taxi. Leaving the airport and seeing the dozens of taxis, we thought we were going to be surrounded and have to haggle a price into the city. Not so. A porter pointed us to the ticket machine where a voucher printed out telling us which taxi to catch in which numbered spot. The driver loaded our luggage into his metered taxi, told us the cost to get to our hotel, and asked if we would like to take the faster toll road and pay the 75 baht tolls. After about 45 minutes (Bangkok is hu-u-ge) driving on well-kept, multi-laned, modern roads we reached our hotel. Total cost was 500 baht, including a generous tip, or about $20 Canadian.
Once again, we were met with polite efficiency at the lovely Rambuttri Village Hotel, set in the middle of old Bangkok a block away from the famous (or infamous) Khaosan Road shopping district. A quick check-in and a porter helped us take our luggage to our very clean room looking out on the courtyard, then showed us how to use the room key to activate the lights and air conditioning. Our 20 baht (.80) tip guaranteed his warm greeting each day for the rest of our stay. By 2:30 a.m. we were sound asleep and looking forward to an exciting new adventure.
The next morning we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, and too late for breakfast. Not to worry. In Bangkok the street food is varied, cheap, fast and good. My favorite is the mango and sticky rice, which I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ken loves the fruit smoothies at about 30-50 Baht (a Baht is about .04 Cdn). Pictured here are a vendor all geared up with his mounds of noodles, sauces, etc. to make a delicious Pad Thai - about 30 Baht for a huge dish with chicken. Next to him is our dessert guy making delicious banana crepes with your choice of topping - banana with chocolate is 30 Baht. Next to him was the stall selling alcohol - local beer is Chang, and a large one (630 ml) for sharing costs about 70 Baht.
Once we were done eating and drinking our way to the main road, we were met with our choice of Tuk Tuks for a 2-3 hour tour costing 50 Baht or about $2 Cdn. The key is that although they take you to several temples and local sites of interest, also included in the tour is a travel agent or a silk or jewelry maker. Of course the tuk tuk driver gets a cut of whatever you buy, but I'm afraid our poor driver lost out with us.
About a block and a half from our lovely hotel is the infamous Khaosan Road, lined with restaurants, countless stalls where you can buy inexpensive cotton clothes, hats, bags, scarves, food, and various and sundry trinkets. Lined with restaurants and stalls it is a bit challenging to navigate during the day as you dodge cars, motorbikes, tuk tuks and people.
The real challenge, however, comes at night when the bars start serving drinks by the bucket - seriously - you can order your drink in what looks like a children's pail for building sand castles at the beach, and the street vendors double or triple in number, while the young "party" people take to the streets frolicking and dancing. If you've watched New Year's Eve at Times Square, that's what Khaosan Road is like after 9:00 every night of the week. I took advantage of the extremely rare break in traffic to snap this pic and show you the gauntlet I was going to have to navigate just a few yards ahead. The young man to the right noticed my camera and interrupted his girl watching to strike a pose for me.
Of course, we couldn't leave Bangkok without visiting one of the numerous tailors beckoning to you from the front of their closet sized shops. They draw you in with the promise of a $99 custom made suit. Of course, once you're in and are encouraged to feel the soft and supple cashmere and check out the sumptuous silk linings, you find out the $99 suit is made in the cheaper fabric. Oh well, as Ken's last new suit was for our wedding, we decided to go for it. He had a custom black cashmere suit made with flashy lining for $240. Here's a picture of him at the final fitting with his very happy Thai tailor.
At immigration they checked that we had filled out our entry visa correctly, made sure we knew not to lose the second half as we'd need it to exit the country, stamped our passports, and showed us where to go to catch a taxi. Leaving the airport and seeing the dozens of taxis, we thought we were going to be surrounded and have to haggle a price into the city. Not so. A porter pointed us to the ticket machine where a voucher printed out telling us which taxi to catch in which numbered spot. The driver loaded our luggage into his metered taxi, told us the cost to get to our hotel, and asked if we would like to take the faster toll road and pay the 75 baht tolls. After about 45 minutes (Bangkok is hu-u-ge) driving on well-kept, multi-laned, modern roads we reached our hotel. Total cost was 500 baht, including a generous tip, or about $20 Canadian.
Once again, we were met with polite efficiency at the lovely Rambuttri Village Hotel, set in the middle of old Bangkok a block away from the famous (or infamous) Khaosan Road shopping district. A quick check-in and a porter helped us take our luggage to our very clean room looking out on the courtyard, then showed us how to use the room key to activate the lights and air conditioning. Our 20 baht (.80) tip guaranteed his warm greeting each day for the rest of our stay. By 2:30 a.m. we were sound asleep and looking forward to an exciting new adventure.
Once we were done eating and drinking our way to the main road, we were met with our choice of Tuk Tuks for a 2-3 hour tour costing 50 Baht or about $2 Cdn. The key is that although they take you to several temples and local sites of interest, also included in the tour is a travel agent or a silk or jewelry maker. Of course the tuk tuk driver gets a cut of whatever you buy, but I'm afraid our poor driver lost out with us.
About a block and a half from our lovely hotel is the infamous Khaosan Road, lined with restaurants, countless stalls where you can buy inexpensive cotton clothes, hats, bags, scarves, food, and various and sundry trinkets. Lined with restaurants and stalls it is a bit challenging to navigate during the day as you dodge cars, motorbikes, tuk tuks and people.
The real challenge, however, comes at night when the bars start serving drinks by the bucket - seriously - you can order your drink in what looks like a children's pail for building sand castles at the beach, and the street vendors double or triple in number, while the young "party" people take to the streets frolicking and dancing. If you've watched New Year's Eve at Times Square, that's what Khaosan Road is like after 9:00 every night of the week. I took advantage of the extremely rare break in traffic to snap this pic and show you the gauntlet I was going to have to navigate just a few yards ahead. The young man to the right noticed my camera and interrupted his girl watching to strike a pose for me.
Of course, we couldn't leave Bangkok without visiting one of the numerous tailors beckoning to you from the front of their closet sized shops. They draw you in with the promise of a $99 custom made suit. Of course, once you're in and are encouraged to feel the soft and supple cashmere and check out the sumptuous silk linings, you find out the $99 suit is made in the cheaper fabric. Oh well, as Ken's last new suit was for our wedding, we decided to go for it. He had a custom black cashmere suit made with flashy lining for $240. Here's a picture of him at the final fitting with his very happy Thai tailor.
