Well Bangkok has been on my bucket list for a long time. So having checked it off the list, I cannot say I am disappointed. I went there for night life and for shopping and checking it out and that was accomplished. I must say I was totally impressed by the room. $50/night and it was tops let me tell you. From a very comfortable bed to the distinctly understated Asian décor it was wonderful. The whole bathroom was even encased in glass. Great place. I fully recommend the Park Plaza in Bangkok.
After over half the first day was spent recovering from jet lag, off I went. Not being able to walk about in Kabul, I still got out and walked my first day. Wish I had a pedometer to know how far but from charting it on Google Maps, I walked about 6 miles. My impressions? Bangkok is a fairly dirty city. Poor sidewalks and street smells does not make it too enjoyable to walk in. Not to mention the fact that even in September it is a sauna. The city streets are also heavily cabled over head. I do not thing, at least in the parts I saw, they have figured the aesthetic or other advantages of burying cable underground. For a photographer, it makes it very hard to get good pics without hundreds of cables running through the pictures.
I was staying in the legendary Sukumvitt area of Bangkok which is well known for being lined with shops, street vendors, etc. It was really wonderful. The downside, once again, the smell of the street, and the smell of the food. For those that know me, you will be aware of this, but after a big illness one time with oriental food, I find the odor not too pleasing. Of course in a city that is supposed to have one of the largest number street vendors, including food, it is near impossible to avoid. Especially so, in an Asian city. So for one with an aversion to the odor that was not too pleasant. The other street vendors were very interesting. From faux designer clothes, to Asian art, and even a shop of road side sexual aids, it was neat to just walk and check them out. In the end, I was my typical cheap self and did not buy any junk to bring home, other than a few picture post cards.
Did I mention it was steamy? By the time I had finished my jaunt I was soaked. So much so I went back to the hotel before heading out to take a shower and cool off. Also, the other down side to Bangkok was a big one for me. No Mountain Dew. None, notta, zilch. In my trek I stopped at several convenience stores and 7-11’s, yes they have them, all to no avail. Not a drop of Dew in Bangkok. 4 days and three nights Dewless. The lack of caffeine did not aid in my jet lag either. Who would have thought, Kabul Afghanistan has dew but not in a much more modern place like Bangkok. But I managed.
The nightlife in Bangkok has been written about, filmed in movies, etc. The one reason I really chose Bangkok was that it was on my bucket list. The second, was to get out of the repressed Muslim countries and just get out and have a good time. That I did. The first night I just went place to place that was on the lists. I walked around the hotel for a couple of hours diving in the pubs, bars, and even a roof top chill bar. Then when that got a bit dry, I hopped a cab and hit two other places. Unfortunately it was a Monday night so nothing was REALLY hopping or worth writing about but the places I visited are some of the hottest Asian clubs. Oft visited by famous folks, rock stars and bands, and even famous disc jockeys, I hit 5 or 6 on the list, traveling around Bangkok via taxi at night. Much like many things in Bangkok, taxis are cheap. The most I paid all the time I was there, excluding the trip to and fro the airport, was 100 Thai Bhatt. That may seem like a lot but the exchange rate is about 34 Bhatt to the U.S. Dollar. So less than $3 for a taxi ride clear across town. The down side, the Taxi drivers do not speak good English. Luckily, however, I had read up on it and had taken all the addresses with me. In fact, the hotel was nice enough to even give me a card with the directions printed in Thai for ease in return. Even though, on several occasions the drivers had to ask someone that spoke better English for the translation from English addresses to Thai.
The second day, I was off early. Well at least early for someone who had been out late the night before. Since I had stayed local for shopping on Monday, I decided to venture out. Two places always on my list when available are Hard Rock Café and the Harley-Davidson dealer. They were first on the list. The Harley dealer, I had found out through my research on the net, has a quaint little café attached to it so since I missed breakfast I decided it would be first. It was not a huge place, but believe it or not, it was bigger than the dealer in Dubai. More clothes, more bikes, a full service department. After picking up a some Harley-Davidson Bangkok swag, and eating a bite for lunch, it was off to Hard Rock. I have visited Hard Rock Cafés all over the U.S. Bangkok’s was something to behold. It has its own building and is a beautiful place.
In the same area of town as was the Hard Rock Café also sat the biggest retail shopping areas in Bangkok. It is actually several shopping centers and malls all connected by ramps over the traffic. Oh did I mention Bangkok traffic? That is notorious as well. Some of the worst in the world they tell me. Also situated amongst the centers was the Thai cultural arts center. Although I did not go in, it had some interesting sculpture outside. MBK is the biggest mall in Bangkok. I thought I had seen big malls in the U.S. this thing was huge. Compared to malls in the Northern Virginia Area, namely Tysons, and the outlandishly huge ones in Dubai, I would say it was a bit smaller as far as square footage. But what do you want in a city that is full of sky scrapers. This mall goes up instead of out, 8 stories up, in fact, and boasts more shops per square foot than any I have seen. Each floor is packed with not only stores but maze after maze of kiosks. Like Dubai, the mall is zoned by type of shop, and is easy to negotiate, but for the casual mall stroller, it would probably be too much. Not too many old folks walking the mall in this place The other centers, however, were more typical to U.S. type malls. In the end I settled for just a nice western, if Outback is western, style meal of pork ribs, which of course we cannot get in the Islamic world. Yum.
On the way back to the hotel, I surmised that with the traffic it would take me hours. It was hot and steamy again, with storm clouds looming as well, so I took the better option, the BTS (Bangkok Transit System) Sky Train. What is the Sky Train? Well rather than burrow a metro system underground, the Sky Train is above ground and better yet above all the traffic. Even with a missed train change, I was back at the hotel in 30 minutes and for only 25 Thai Bhatt (less than one USD). Although when I realized I missed the change and that it was the 5:00 rush hour, thus as in the U.S. a packed train, I second guessed myself, it still was an experience in and of itself. Luckily, with my acrophobia there were no windows to look out of or I might not be praising it too much.
My second full night in Bangkok, what to do. Well after a shower, again to wash the sweat away, I started dozing. Then I looked out the window to see a rain shower had descended upon us. With an early morning departure, I almost wrote it off. But about 9:00 p.m. I was getting hungry again. At first I could not figure out why, and almost said forget it and even went as far as turning off the lights to go to sleep. Then I thought, my stomach was still on Kabul time which was 4 hours behind. Lunch was actually at breakfast time and dinner at lunch time. My Kabul clock was telling me it was time for dinner. So I threw on some shorts, sandals, and a shirt and off I went. The closest was a McDonalds. I know, I am in Thailand, and I eat at McDonalds. Well the one I really miss in Kabul is American Fast food so McDonalds is a likely choice. I also find it an interesting cultural review looking at the McD’s menu in different countries because it is all different than we are used to. In Thailand it was very different. Fried Chicken, a quarter pound pork sandwich, and even fish and chips, all graced the Bangkok McDonald’s menu. So Macky Dee’s was an adventure in and of itself.
After a double cheese meal, and the fact that the weather had cooled off thanks to the rain, as I walked back to the hotel I could not help but think that I was in Bangkok and it would be a shame to let that go to waste. But where to go. Bangkok is much known for its Go-Go girl scene that actually started when U.S. Servicemen used Bangkok for R&R time during WWII and more so, Vietnam. Khao San Road was the famous place then but since that time it has expanded to include Pat Pong, Nana Entertainment Center, and Soi (the Thai name for Street) Cowboy. I also knew that the Thai government had also cleaned up the Go-Go clubs, and they were simply that. No nudity, no prostitution, at least in the clubs, and no drugs. In fact the club areas are frequently raided and everyone in the clubs are drug screened on the spot. In fact, I had read that the clubs were reminiscent of the 60’s clubs in the states. I had heard that Soi Cowboy was, in fact, just two blocks out of the way, on my route to the hotel. So what the heck, when in Rome. Soi Cowboy was easy to find. Just follow the trail of men headed that way. When I got there I was greeted by tons of neon displaying club names like the Dollhouse, Long Gun, Our Place, Rawhide, Shark, and Spice Girls. Literally 40 or 50 go-go clubs lined the small street. I debated but finally decided to go in one to check it out. It was everything I expected. Stages lined with girls dancing away, some of them more enthusiastic than others. Guys lining the stages and seats around the place it was so packed, in fact, that I almost left due to the lack of seating but finally I found a chair in the corner. As I sat there and took it all in, I saw that there was this subculture there. Girls would dance, then come out and flirt with the guys, with the guys buying them lady drinks, then many of the girls would go back up for another “shift.” Then I saw the underbelly of the scene. Indeed prostitution does not go on in the club, but as I soon found out, it goes on. After about the second or third round of girls getting up on stage one of the cuter girls that had just excited wandered over to me. She flirted, asking my name, where I was from, etc. Then all of a sudden she asked where I was staying while in Bangkok. That was a bit TMI for a simple exchange of words so I enquired. She said she wanted to go back to my hotel with me. Kind of forward in any environment so I dug a bit deeper. She told me if I paid the 600 Bhatt “bar fine” for taking a girl out of the club and paid her 2000 Bhatt that she would go back to the hotel for whatever. So there is a sex trade that still goes on behind the scenes. Well she seemed a bit put off when I turned her down. I decided that I had my Go-Go experience, even though short, and it was really not my scene, it was time to go back and hit the hay for a long day of travel on Wednesday.
All in all the trip was an adventure. I wish I had had more time to do some of the touristy type of things like the Bridge on the River Kwai trip or the temple tour trip, etc. But I had to settle for what I could get in during the few days I could be there. All in all it was O.K. I would go back but for a longer stay and including a trip to what I here are some beautiful beaches on the Thai coasts, maybe even the short jump to Cambodia and/or Vietnam. It sure beat another week in the ultra expensive UAE, though. The travel was probably the worse part, but thanks to Justin, my housemate, who had done a similar trip a couple years ago. Justin had advised me that he had a long layover in Doha and had paid the few bucks to do the Oryx lounge. Well with eight hour layovers both ways I did so on both occasions. It is nice, quiet, clean, has free wi-fi, all the sodas and finger foods one could desire, and even has a smoking room that is well ventilated and even has several air purifiers going, so there is not a fog of second hand smoke looming at eye level. Well worth the few bucks it costs and far more relaxing than the main terminal. Although I used it to catch a few zzz’s on the way to Bangkok, after an 8 hour flight coming back, it is I think even more enjoyable.
I did not take as many pics as I had hoped but below you can see a few.
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