Bangkok

All good things must come to an end, but why?? Heheh my assignment in shanghai was over and I was slated to return back home. It was not a desperate get back home situation for me. I loved and lived every moment that I was there in Shanghai. I will surely miss all the people, food, beer and girls. It was a wonderful time. I decided to take a stop over at Bangkok on my way back. My flight was via Bangkok. I did not bother about the visa as on arrival visa was issued without any problems. They charge 1000THB and you photograph must be handy. Getting visa was no hassle. After that I straight was heading to my hotel Holiday Inn in Silom road. It is a long ride about 50Km. It was about 1:30PM local time when I checked into my hotel. It is a nice place. Very big and comfortable. The next thing on my mind was food. I was hungry. So I set off on foot in search of some hotel for food. Before that I asked the concierge people some advice about the local sight seeing that I could do on this day. They said Wat Tri Mit is a nice option to go to. I saw that on the map and seemed do able on foot. The concierge warned me about the traffic and pollution. I was like who the hell gives damn. So I started walking towards Wat Tri Mit. Here is the statue of Golden Buddha. Thai is big time Buddha. I kept on walking and there was no sign of restaurant, I was wondering what the hell is happening here. Suddenly there were some street vendors serving food. I saw a white guy eating so I thought it is ok to eat. I went and treated myself with a Hainan Chicken Rice. Yummy it was the best food that I had. Great soup and the tangy sauce. I was walking after lunch and I could feel the pollution in the air. The weather makes it even worst. It is hot and very humid. I was feeling very weird also. Now about the place. It is some where between India and Shanghai, geographically and development wise. It has far good infrastructure, but what I felt is it is not as clean as Shanghai. People don’t care about it. Traffic is a mess just as in India. The Tuk-Tuk and the bikes are the main pains in the ass. There are a lot of cars too; Toyota and Isuzu have a good market share I believe. I wonder how the situation is outside Bangkok.
As I was walking towards my destination, I bumped into a Thai local. We started talking and I did not say that I am from India but from Shanghai. The reception is different when you are from India and not from India. He told where all I can go today and how to go. He got me a Tuk-Tuk and told me how much to pay also. The deal was for 40THB he will take me to 3 places and all the places he is going to wait for me. I was cool. So there we were in a Tuk-Tuk. Let me tell you about the Tuk-Tuk, it is a three wheel taxi like the auto rickshaws back home. They are longer, have a lot of room for anything and everything. They are big time maniacs on the road and the sound is very typical. It almost sounds like a Moto GP race bike. So my driver Alex was more than happy to take me around. He kept on talking about everything. My ride was long and exciting. I was moving all over the seat and up and down. Our first stop was Wat Intaravihan. Here there is a tall standing Buddha in golden colour. Height I am not sure. Maybe around 21ft. It was majestic to see such a tall Buddha. Not much to see apart from the statue of the Buddha and one small temple adjacent to it. This temple had a seated Buddha. The entire temple was made of wood. From there we went to our next destination Wat Sam Phraya, lucky Buddha as they say. It has a sleeping Buddha and a standing Buddha. Here I met a security guard who talked about the temple and informed me that there are 40000 Buddha temples in Thailand and 450 of them are in Bangkok. The sitting Buddha was made of concrete and coated with gold. He started telling me to go away from Bangkok as in Bangkok there is not much to see and the other thing that you can do is shopping. He said that their country is poised for a change in the government and there are chances of some violence also. He then told me about the suit sale that is happening and I must go there. He instructed Alex to take me to one such place. Alex also yes sir, I will. I was not interested at all. I told Alex forget it; take me to the Golden Mountain. But that man, phew he straight away took me to that place, Voglee. It is owned by an Indian for sure. Here I met another person, he was from Burma and when I said I am from India, he became senti and told me that India and China have always helped his country. US are a fool imposing sanctions, I just wanted to get out of there and soon I was out. Finally. SO next I went to the golden mountain. It is a small hillock and the top of the mountain is a small pagoda kind off thing made of gold. The climb was tiring although it was tall. At the top there was a cool breeze and that felt really good. From there I saw on my map that the Democracy monument was nearby and said ok let me walk. As I went walking and was pretty close to it I again fell into the hands of a security guy, who said take a Tuk-Tuk to the river side and some Thai factory to see the Thai handicraft. I did want to, damn I was cursing myself. But I was made to go to two shops coz the driver would get a petrol coupon if I buy anything. I kept telling him don’t go there I wont be buying anything. Finally I reached the river Chaophraya and was waiting for sometime for the sun to go down a little. I took a boat that keeps ferrying up and down the river for 18 THB to Sathon that is nearest pier to my hotel. The ride was really good. You can see the grand palace also on the way. When I reached Sathon I was fully drained out. No energy no enthu. It took me about 10min to reach my hotel by foot. There is a sky train station at this pier. When I reached my hotel I did not want to eat in the hotel. I was still looking for some local restaurant and I found one right opposite to my hotel. I went there and ordered a stirred vegetable minced with shrimps soup and steamed rice with Singha beer. When I started eating boy o boy it was damn hot. Hot hot since ages. Phew I was gasping for air. All I knew at that moment was fire in the hole. Finally after finishing my meal I crashed back in my room and I as glad to be in bed. In the meantime there are a lot on Indians in Bangkok and guess what they do, jewelers and clothes. That is my observation. There are a lot of shops for suiting and the names of the shop so Punjabi. You can make out if you are an Indian. There is a wide range of bikes also. You can see Vespa scooters, RX-100, RXZ, Honda Wave, Harleys, Phantoms and what not. A good market.
I had a good sleep but my legs had still not recovered fully. Today I wanted to go to the Grand Palace. I went there by a taxi and as soon as I entered there was a march of royal guards into the palace. Here they have a strict dress code. You cannot wear shorts in to the palace. Even if you are wearing one you get pants for hire. The entrance fee is 250 THB. As soon as you enter you will be spell bound by the three magnificent structures. The palace huge and cover an area of 218000 sq-meters. It was built in the year 1782 during King Rama I rule. There are some interesting sights to see and a lot of history matches with the Ramayana. You can easily kill 2hrs here. But the sun and humidity would be in turn killing you. After the grand palace my next destination was the Wat Phro. Here there is a sleeping Buddha which is about 41ft long. It is simply majestic to watch it. You can spend close to one hr here. From there I took a ferry to cross the river to Wat Arun. It was used as a temple by the king and is about 67meters tall. You can climb up and when you are near the steps it is not encouraging because it is so straight up you will think twice before embarking on it. But when you reach the top it is a panoramic view, you can see the river and the grand palace and a good view of the city. I got back to the pier where I boarded the ferry to go to Wat Arun and had my lunch. I had rice with chicken in garlic sauce and pepper. It was good sitting beside the river and having food. The river does not appear to be very clean. There is a lot of pollution also. There are a lot of fishes also in the river. Then I came back to my hotel to rest before I left for the night market and life ;-). I rested properly for about 2hrs watching movie. At around 8 I went to Phat Phong. This place has a night market till 01:00 AM and good amount of bars and pubs. There are a lot of girls and they are waiting for you. The market sells everything. Same as what I had experienced in Shanghai. It mite be cheaper but never bothered to enquire. The scene is a lot different than in shanghai. After having enough beers I headed back and crashed. The next day I just laid there in my bed for a long time. I just did not want to do anything. Just relax madi!! At noon I checked out of my room and came to the airport. After 3 days I am using my laptop so much h ah ahaha. It is sometimes good to be away from work ;-) but I know on Monday when I am back there will be a lot of things to do .