Back in Bangkok

January 18, 2023 to January 20, 2023

Last Three Days of our Trip

Early morning Bangkok. Hua Lamphong Train Station is to the left.

The third time arriving in early morning Bangkok and we felt like we were coming home: We knew the drill: Wait at a certain point in the train station until someone walks by with our bikes, attach all our panniers, walk them across the footbridge over the klang, cross the busy street and up the small ramp to the automatic doors of the hotel and slide our bikes into the spot in the lobby they knew well. A bonus is to now be warmly greeted by the staff because they know us and seem to like us. - "Of course you can have the buffet breakfast right now since you won't be able to have it the morning you leave for the airport. Here are your meal tickets." It reminded me of going home for spring break during my time in college. I'd open the door to the house and immediately smell my mother's cooking, something for my arrival, and she was so happy to see me. I had a familiarity with everything in the house and knew I'd go to the window of my old bedroom, lean on the window sill and look out at the yard for a long while absorbing and reflecting on all I had experienced since I last saw that tree and wondering about all it had seen during the same time.

It's interesting how a city as populated, busy and vastly spread out as Bangkok can still provide a place where we felt the inklings of home.

The lobby of The Krungkasem Srikrung Hotel, Bangkok.

We lingered at breakfast because to linger is what I always want to do at the Krungkasem Srikrung Hotel's buffet breakfast. But, this time we lingered because we couldn't check into our room until 11AM. Breakfast ends at 10:30. We could have checked into our room earlier but that was an extra 200 Baht charge which didn't make sense since we only had a half an hour to wait. Plus, we could wait in the beautiful lobby where we could admire our fully-loaded bikes which had not given us a bit of problems the entire trip. It seemed proper they were allowed to stand in the lobby. Many tourists admired them as they were exiting the front doors and some lingered over them, probably marveling at the strength such small bikes can have; loaded down and obviously having come a long way. The half hour passed quickly.

Looking from the breakfast area to the lobby.

Once we were in our room, showered and laundry hung on our balcony, we were tired from not the greatest train sleep. We didn't have a lot of energy to go out exploring in the midday heat but instead upended each of our panniers completely to start the long determination of what gets carried on the plane and what gets checked through, what is better to go into the box with the bikes and what would be better off in the checked through duffel bag. With all of our stuff scattered around the room it looked as though small bombs had gone off. We knew at some point we would need to go get our cardboard bike boxes which were in the hallway of an apartment building three or four miles away. The sooner we got that task done the better but I was not looking forward to it because it meant dealing with taxi drivers, something I never like to do.

It's a process of flagging them down and you are guaranteed one or two will tell you a price that is so absurd that it leaves you speechless. There are always taxi drivers who think you have just arrived in Bangkok for the first time and are unaware of what things cost, or, that money is no object to you, or, you are confused about the exchange rate, or, that the price, no matter what the taxi driver says, is so cheap compared to your home country that you think it's a bargain. I'm sure taxi drivers quoting a price that is ten times higher than what it should be, often succeed. It must be worth the gamble for them or they wouldn't do it so often. But I am insulted by such things. When they tell you a price that is way way higher than it should be they always have a bit of a sheepish look. Some are just swindlers and I wouldn't want to ride with them no matter what. Then there are the taxi drivers who are the exact opposite and are kind and completely fair and honest. They are the ones who simply turn on their meter and have a lovely conversation with us. But it's the process we have to go through, to get such a driver, that I dislike.

We hit the streets in the midst of the afternoon rush hour; a stupid move on our part. Sitting in Bangkok gridlock inside a taxi doesn't afford much of a view because the meter on the dashboard seems to loom large as a billboard. The lighted red numbers keep ticking and growing ever larger making me anxious about whether I have enough money in my pocket. Eventually we got to our destination.

Crammed into a taxi with our two empty boxes.

Our boxes were in the hallway in front of our friend's apartment - the first time we have ever been able to save our boxes for another trip. He wasn't home so we grabbed our boxes, unwieldy as they were, and trudged back out to the big busy street to yet again find a taxi. Fortunately taxi drivers don't have a problem with odd looking luggage nor do they increase the fare. Back at our hotel the front desk staff tried to ignore what the crazy farang were doing now. Thais are masters at ignoring rather than getting involved. But, I knew they were dying to know so I told them that the boxes were for our bicycles to go inside and fly back to America. This elicited smiles all around.

We had a room on the seventh (top) floor this time staying at The Krungkasem Srikrung Hotel which had an even better overlook of Hua Lamphong Train Station.

Day two in Bangkok started with, of course, that amazing buffet breakfast and then we set about disassembling our bikes and fitting them into the boxes. Stuff was scattered everywhere in the room and it looked like such a disaster that we didn't let the cleaning staff even look inside. After a few hours it was all organized and our trip felt closer to being a wrap. We felt good to have all that packing out of the way leaving us an evening and another entire day to explore Bangkok.

Two bike boxes and two duffel bags are our checked baggage.

We walked across the street where we ate a nice dinner at a table literally on the street with Hua Lamphong Station in the twilight as a colorful backdrop. It seemed like a fitting tribute to eat in the presence of Hua Lamphong Station, Bangkok's old train station, which would soon be replaced with a larger station, Bang Sue Station, outside of town.

A very colorful and active restaurant area right across the street from Hua Lamphong Train Station.

A meal on the street across from Hua Lamphong Station.

After dinner, Andrea suggested we take a walk towards the heart of Chinatown. With each block we walked on Rama IV Road, the activity level increased exponentially until there was no doubt we were in the heart of Chinatown with the Lunar New Year around the corner. We had no idea that two days before the actual magic moment there would be so much celebration on the streets but, wow, they were packed with people and the restaurants and street stalls were mobbed, the excitement contagious. Too bad we had just eaten but, actually there were no seats available anywhere anyway. It was fun to be there just to witness such colorful celebrations.

Lunar New Year items. Chinatown, Bangkok.

Lunar New Year's feast on the street. Chinatown, Bangkok.

Day three in Bangkok we took a Chao Phraya River ferry upstream to the Khao San Road area, not that we wanted to be on Khao San Road but there was a certain Thai grocery store I wanted to visit for some last minute curry/chili pastes and such. The area was an old haunt of ours so it was fun to see it getting back on its feet post Covid. We walked to where a klang boat originated and we took it further than we ever have, all the way across town to the Pratunam shopping district to pick up a couple of books a friend of ours authored.

The Temple of Dawn - Wat Arun - pier in the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok.

Inside our water taxi, waiting for the driver.

Steve Van Beek is the person who also looked after our bike boxes in front of his apartment. He is a busy guy, again not home. But he had thoughtfully left two copies of his new book with the building's receptionist. We had read his other book, Slithering South, which describes his exploration by boat of the Chao Phraya River from its source to its mouth at the Gulf of Thailand, just south of Bangkok. Steve's new book, The Latte River, is about his exploration of the Nan River which is a tributary to the Chao Phraya River. Anyone even mildly interested in Thailand should read both of them because Steve has lived in Thailand most of his life, speaks Thai fluently and has written many books on Thailand. In other words, he knows Thailand intimately and his interactions with Thais are deeper than what the average tourist ever has. His authentic and unique experiences go hand in hand with his wonderful descriptions. We thoroughly enjoyed reading his first river book and were excited to read his second. It's just too bad we couldn't have seen him too.

Then we walked and walked the always fascinating streets of Bangkok. We had intended to get a taxi back to our hotel miles away but we kept finding interesting streets to walk down. Along the way we found a small street filled with restaurants and food stalls on either side. Of course we had to stop to eat something. We chose Khao Man Gai which consists of nice slabs of steamed chicken placed on rice and slathered with a delicious sauce both sweet and spicy.

Khao Man Gai - Steamed chicken on rice with unique sauce that is only used on khao man gai. $1.40 per plate.

We continued on our way in the general direction of our hotel. One street had lots of broken down old tuk tuks and tuk tuk repair shops. Most of the old tuk tuks lining the street looked as though all their parts were slowly being removed in order to fix other tuk tuks. They were slowly rotting on the street. Andrea led me down rough sois and across railroad tracks in the poorest of areas. It was all interesting and never did we feel unsafe. The Thais wondered why we were there but that was about all. In one of these areas we happened upon a local dragon dance troupe making the rounds since it was Chinese New Year. That area merged with a large outdoor fresh fruits and vegetables market lining a long street.

The streets/sidewalks of Bangkok are never boring.

Used parts store. I'm stuck at how neat and tidy it is! Bangkok.

Andrea also found a shop that sold kitchen utensils in bins, outside, open-air. There she finally saw the little aluminum spoons she had been looking for. We had largely given up finding them but there, at the eleventh hour, so to speak, she found them. It was literally the last place we were going to be before our flight in the morning. Our list was now completely checked off except for the fresh krachai roots which wouldn't have made it past the krachai root sniffing dog at U.S. Customs anyway. Little spoons in hand, we could now call the trip complete.

Finally we found the little aluminum spoons. Bangkok.

In our final hour of walking the streets of Bangkok we see the most papayas in one place ever. There were so many days when we couldn't find one for our breakfast bowls.

All the walking we did the final day finally made us lose weight.

That was the most walking we have done in one day in years but, surprisingly, we were not that tired in the evening which means the bike trip has put us in some sort of good shape - something that is welcome news at the end of a trip, almost as good as finding little spoons at the eleventh hour. We snuck the little spoons inside our boxes, sealed them up with lots of clear packing tape making them without one square inch of exposed raw cardboard anymore. They, and we, seemed to be ready for another flight across the Pacific Ocean.

Also in the final hour of our time walking around Bangkok we see a new flower we had not seen before.

What a great trip it's been.

lovebruce

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