Kyle's Travelogue: Back in the Big Mango (1 of 4)

For a little throw-back at the end of the year, I would like to share the extremely well-written journal that my brother wrote when he visited me in Thailand. A few years ago, he wrote a Thailand Travelogue, and I'm pleased to share with you his excellent accounts of his second time visiting me in the "Big Mango".

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Originally Published March 14, 2017

Read all about my first visit to Bangkok in 2014 here!

It was early morning Saturday. I was up before the dawn.

I sat in my window seat on United flight 5594 for San Francisco. I looked out the window at the first streaks of light brought by the rising sun. It was the first of the three legs of my flight, and I was bound for Bangkok. The morning was cool and clear, and looking out my window, I realized this was the first time I'd been able to sit back and relax for weeks. I committed myself to putting worries and responsibilities on hold, to being present and taking in all the excitement of my trip.

1990s era Boeing 747-400, an icon from another age of travel.

Two flights and seventeen hours later, my mother and I arrived at Tokyo-Narita Airport, more bedraggled and congested than we were since God-knows how long ago it was that we woke up. On the way to our gate, we stumbled across a booth put on by the Tokyo Cultural Affairs Departments. At the booth, one could dress in traditional Samurai garb for free. Two friendly middle-aged Japanese women and a gentleman helped us into the heavy, detailed costumes. These included chest armor, should pads, neck armor, leggings, shoes, cloth tunics, and shoes. The costume was only plastic, cardboard, and foam but it was heavy. I can't imagine the real thing. 

The gentleman asked me if I had seen Samurai movies, and we talked about "The Last Samurai". I heard the ladies tell Mom that that thought I made a "handsomer Samurai than Tom Cruise". This brought a grin to my face.

It was a fun, human interaction with the kind people in the airport, eager to share their culture. What to continues to strike me every time I go abroad, especially this being my second trip to Asia, is how people from different countries and cultures really are not that different. This time, even more than in 2014, I've been able to recognize that people are just people and stereotypes really exaggerate differences that aren't there. Throughout the week, I saw families with kind parents and laughing children, lots of smiles, people eager to enjoy life. None of us are really all that different.

5 March, 2017, 11:30 p.m.

My mother and I arrived at the sleek, shining, modern Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi Airport. After what felt like four and a quarter dozen years spent in the customs queue, we grabbed our luggage, and found Michael, who met us outside the arrivals area. I was very glad to see my brother; it had been almost an entire year since we were last together. I knew it would be a great week spent catching up and revisiting old inside jokes.

Stepping into the humid and warm midnight Bangkok air to get in the taxi line, it dawned on my that I was back. I embraced the stickiness of the breeze-less night happily.

From our 3 a.m. 7-Eleven run on the night we arrived. We bought "toasties", a Thai 7-Eleven special: frozen breakfast pannini-esqe sandwiches that the convenience store clerks heat for you upon purchase.

6 March, 2017

We spent our first night in Bangkok in Michael's 23rd floor downtown flat. The apartment was the size of a two-car garage, but had a full kitchen, bathroom with bidet (my old enemy from Turkey, which I would finally master during this week in Thailand), and a breath-taking view of the Bangkok skyline. 

We began out Monday morning with a walk down the Thanon Sri Ayudhya to the Suan Pakkard Teak Wood Palace. The morning was cool and the cacophony of sights and smells of the Bangkok street  filled the air: street vendors peddling fried meat on a stick students. business folk on their morning commutes, and the horns of the city's iconic brightly-colored taxis racing along.

on the walk through the city

Suan Pakkard Palace was transported from its original site in Ayutthaya by Prince and Princess Chumbhot last century, and, in the traditional style, is built from wood and two stories tall, with each building connected by second story walkways. It is all open-air with many windows and terraces.

arriving at the palace

Because it we came during the non-peak tourist season, we were lucky enough to get a private guided tour for only 100 baht each. The museum complex houses several buildings. There was an exhibit on traditional Thai musical instruments with rare xylophones, drums and string instruments. Another building displayed an exhibit on traditional Thai theater with masks and clay models. A third was home to ancient pottery discovered in rural Thailand by an American sociology student.

with our traditional Thai fans, provided by the museum as a free gift, in front of the lacquered pavilion, the oldest building at the palace

Inside the residential portion of the palace grounds, we saw rich Thai furniture, religious art, dishware, and decorations from all around the world. I love the feel of walking barefoot on teak wood floors. Something is very satisfying about quiet creek and the cool feel of the smooth wood on bare feet.

After exploring the teak palace, a small space of solitude in the center of the busy city, we headed to Siam Center Mall in Bangkok for lunch at Som Tom Nua, fitting, because this is the very same restaurant where I ate my first meal in Bangkok in 2014.

This is Mom's meal; I forgot to take a picture of my own. :( But I ate larb, Thai basil and garlic ground pork. It instantly became one of my new favorite Thai dishes.)

After returning to Michael's place to rest and enjoy some mango sticky rice that Michael's girlfriend Pinky had sent for us from her favorite restaurant, we freshened up for dinner.

on the BTS Skytrain

That night, we took the Skytrain to meet Pinky at the veterinary clinic where she worked, then headed to the EmQuartier Mall to share a meal. Since I'd first heard of Pinky, I'd been very eager to meet her. Michael met Pinky shortly after the last time I visited Thailand, so we had only ever corresponded on Facebook.

Pinky was kind, friendly, and very eager to get to know us. It was really neat getting a tour of the vet practice where she worked. We met a kitten that was recovering from being attacked by a python in a parking lot and a shaking hairless cat.

The fighter recovering from a python bite.

Michael made a new friend.

I was blown away by the beautiful of EmQuartier. It was eight stories tall, and had abundant water features, gardens, and high-end shops and restaurants. It was a crazy display of Bangkok's new development.

views of the city from Em Quartier's outdoor garden terrace

Pinky, Michael, Mom, and me

sweets and treats at the mall

in front of Emporium, EmQuartier's neighbor

EmQuartier was quite impressive.

Before leaving the mall, I mentioned that I wanted to try durian. Pinky took us shopping in a high-end grocery store in the mall to pick up some of the infamous fruit. I purchased a small one, snuck it onto the Skytrain (from where it is forbidden due to its incredibly strong smell), and tried it the next day. It was OK- it didn't make me sick, but I didn't want to eat the whole thing, either.

durian - the "King of Fruit"

  It was a good first day in Bangkok. My head hit the pillow, and I instantly fell into a deep sleep.

7 March, 2017

The next day dawned with a beautiful pink sunrise. We woke early, thanks to our jet lag. We started the day by walking the the khlong, one  of the many old canals crisscrossing Bangkok. Many of the canals in Bangkok have been filled in to make streets, but a few major ones remain and are still important transportation thoroughfares. We took a khlong boat from a stop near Siam neighborhood to Rattanakosin, the city's oldest neighborhood and area of the Wat Saket, the Golden Mount, my favorite place in Bangkok.

street food

Many of the Bangkok taxis happen to be flinging afar Baylor colors.

Riding on the khlong boat is a lot of fun. The boats rock and sway as they speed through the ancient canals. The fare-taker perches precariously on the side walls of the boat and takes passengers' fares. Muddy waters occasionally splashes up into the boat, and it is the job of the passenger sitting in a certain row of the water taxi to hold the cord keeping a wall of plastic tarp up to protect fellow passengers from the splash. Mom ended up having to be the cord-holder.

I just can't quite figure out Bangkok. You have a brand-new, high-tech, and spotless Skytrain monorail and an old, almost dilapidated river taxi system of rusting covered boats that cruises on canals past wooden shacks on stilts. It's insane how these crazily separate world thrive in the same place. And yet, Skytrain-takers and khlong boat-riders overlap. The Skytrain is the only way to get around downtown, and the boats are the only way to get to the old town. What a city!

arrival of the canal boat

family on the dock

cruising along the canal

Like I said, the Wat Saket, the Golden Mount, is my favorite place in all of Bangkok. It is a temple built on an ancient burial mount. There are steps that spiral around the hill, leading up to the temple and a golden chedi at the top. Lush vegetation, bells, and small shrines line the way up the path. Views of the city from the journey up are incredible.

Arriving at the top, the inner temple, the air was much cooler than in the city below. The windows were all open and a cool breeze blew, snapping the many royal yellow flags to attention. Dozens of bells jingled from the edge of the roof making a soft, ethereal tinkling. Incense filled the air. I lit some incense at an altar of a reclining Buddha and left a lotus flower on the shrine. I explored the temple a little more, and received a blessing from a monk.

There are multiple levels of the temple: the first indoor level and the rooftop that has the golden chedi at its center (the golden chedi is a stupa or pagoda that houses a Buddhist relic.) However, the top level was closed for restoration. This was a real shame; that's where the best views of Bangkok can be found. Because the stairs were marked with arrows going in the intended direction (up on one side, and down on another), we weren't sure which way to go back, seeing that the temple was closed. Michael insisted on directing us on a course down, but we kept getting lost in the chaos of the construction. We finally figured out that the only way to return was the way we came.

In the afternoon, we visited Wat Pathum. The wat is a marble royal-grade temple in the heart of Bangkok. With its quiet chapels, courtyards, and jungly gardens, it is an oasis from the loud chaos of the city. It is hard to believe that it is just steps away from mega malls and skyscrapers.

I spent a few minutes in the quite, garden, with its large, leafy tropical plants. It was a warm and hazy afternoon, but the garden was shaded and smelled of sweet flowers and temple incense. A group of monks could be heard chanting on a covered porch a few dozen meters away.

temple entrance with Central World mall behind

the main temple building

naga statue

flowers

After a cooling dip on the seventh-floor pool at Michael's condo, it was time to pack for our train trip to Chiangmai in the north. In Chiangmai, we would visit a mountain temple and an elephant nature park. Stay tuned for more adventures.

At the Bangkok train station, preparing to get on the 12-hour night train to Chiangmai in the north.

 

Read my brother's thoughts on our visit to Bangkok on his blog here!