Another fine day in the Krung Thep. By fine, I mean sweltering hot and smoggy. Ah, the Asian Mega City. Anyway, after filling up at the hotel breakfast buffet (yesterday we had an extremely cute attendant on staff at breakfast. She wasn't there today though; bad start to the day) we set out to take in more of the city. First Dad wanted to take a peak behind our hotel, where we knew train tracks ran (which explained his curiosity). We headed down the back alleyway, only to reach a gated-off area. A man at an adjacent construction site made a "go around" motion around the corning of the building. So we did as we were told and basically walked into a slum area. We could see the tracks, so we ducked through a chain-link fence and walked past a couple of hovels, and were quickly standing on the train tracks. There weren't any trains running, so a bit disappointing for Dad, but the place was rank with the smell of human feces. Bear in mind this is maybe 100 yards from our hotel, so we got an interesting dichotomy of Thai life this morning. Oddly enough, the few people we saw didn't pay us any mind. Other foreign train fans had maybe passed through before? We will never know. I told dad to make it quick, or my puke was going to be added to the smell of the area.
Moving on from there, we walked down one of the main roads, Phaya Thai, headed for Jim Thompson's house. That sounds like a bit of an odd place to look for, like, who the hell is Jim Thompson? and why should I see his house? but let me explain. Thompson was a former CIA agent working in Indochina during the 50s and 60s who apparently also moonlighted as an architect. On top of that, Mr. Jack-of-all-trades helped revive Thailand's silk industry when he wasn't busy being a spook. His former residence is supposed to be pretty neat, comprised of 7 teak sections put together. We got there only to find out you had to pay admission. It wasn't overly expensive, but I was mainly interested in the outside anyway. After a few photos, it was time to move on.
We caught a cab too the next spot, the Golden Mount. A temple in the heart of the city, the spiral-shaped Mount used to be one of the highest points in the city. You can walk the 320 steps up to the top to get a pretty decent view of the city, all for free. On the way up you can walk down a line of bells, ringing each one (a monk thing? Haven't found out yet) and then slam a gong (that makes such a cool sound). We hung out at the top a bit, luckily it wasn't too smoggy, so we got some alright photos of the city skyline. From there we walked about a bit, making our way to the Democracy Monument, a pretty kitsch monument (I hope the designer didn't last very long in the business) set in the middle of a massive, chaotic travel circle. From there we eventually ended up on Khao San Road, one of the city's more famous spots. Khao San is a short street, but it is laden with back-packer friendly hotels, and it crammed with stalls selling food, souvenirs and shirts. It was pretty neat to stroll around there, you can catch a glimpse of some interesting characters. Its obvious that Khao San caters to tourists, most of the pedestrian traffic was comprised of white faces. We did make one purchase on Khao San, a book for me (my kindle shit the bed, big time) from a nice you Burmese man. I don't know how common English books are in the city, but I wasn't taking my chances.
We wanted to make one more stop before heading back for a break, so we caught a tuk-tuk to an area of the city called Dusit. Dusit holds a number of government buildings, including where the Royal Family usually hangs its hat. We didn't spend long there, a number of the buildings were closed already. Our tickets to the Grand Palace got us into a couple venues for free, so we spent a few moments in something called the Throne Hall, which held several pieces of art. We were more interested in the beautiful murals painted onto the ceilings.
After a much-needed rest in the room we took a combination of Sky Train and Metro (still impressed by the efficiency, usability, comfort and cleanliness of those things) to the city's main train station. We hung out there for a bit, I have to admit, I get a kick out of train stations as well, but I let Dad to the photo-taking. Better he get arrested and tossed in Thai prison than me (some people are touchy about foreigners taking photos of infrastructure...with good reason, I think). After that we set out for nearby China Town. By now it was dark, and we had to get directions from a couple of security officers in halting English. Our destination was Yaowarat Road, the main drag in China Town. Upon reaching the street it looked like a ghost town, though we heard that the place was supposed to be hopping at night. Disappointed, we headed up any way, and luckily we did, because the action soon picked up. Yaowarat was crammed with food vendors and pedestrians. We walked all the way down, taking in the sites and smells, and grabbing a freshly-made pomegranate juice along the way. Upon reaching the head of Yaowarat we decided to call it a night, and hailed a taxi to bring us back.
So that was Day 3, in a nutshell. I have to shower and look forward to a glorious sleep. Come back tomorrow for all the deets.
Moving on from there, we walked down one of the main roads, Phaya Thai, headed for Jim Thompson's house. That sounds like a bit of an odd place to look for, like, who the hell is Jim Thompson? and why should I see his house? but let me explain. Thompson was a former CIA agent working in Indochina during the 50s and 60s who apparently also moonlighted as an architect. On top of that, Mr. Jack-of-all-trades helped revive Thailand's silk industry when he wasn't busy being a spook. His former residence is supposed to be pretty neat, comprised of 7 teak sections put together. We got there only to find out you had to pay admission. It wasn't overly expensive, but I was mainly interested in the outside anyway. After a few photos, it was time to move on.
We caught a cab too the next spot, the Golden Mount. A temple in the heart of the city, the spiral-shaped Mount used to be one of the highest points in the city. You can walk the 320 steps up to the top to get a pretty decent view of the city, all for free. On the way up you can walk down a line of bells, ringing each one (a monk thing? Haven't found out yet) and then slam a gong (that makes such a cool sound). We hung out at the top a bit, luckily it wasn't too smoggy, so we got some alright photos of the city skyline. From there we walked about a bit, making our way to the Democracy Monument, a pretty kitsch monument (I hope the designer didn't last very long in the business) set in the middle of a massive, chaotic travel circle. From there we eventually ended up on Khao San Road, one of the city's more famous spots. Khao San is a short street, but it is laden with back-packer friendly hotels, and it crammed with stalls selling food, souvenirs and shirts. It was pretty neat to stroll around there, you can catch a glimpse of some interesting characters. Its obvious that Khao San caters to tourists, most of the pedestrian traffic was comprised of white faces. We did make one purchase on Khao San, a book for me (my kindle shit the bed, big time) from a nice you Burmese man. I don't know how common English books are in the city, but I wasn't taking my chances.
We wanted to make one more stop before heading back for a break, so we caught a tuk-tuk to an area of the city called Dusit. Dusit holds a number of government buildings, including where the Royal Family usually hangs its hat. We didn't spend long there, a number of the buildings were closed already. Our tickets to the Grand Palace got us into a couple venues for free, so we spent a few moments in something called the Throne Hall, which held several pieces of art. We were more interested in the beautiful murals painted onto the ceilings.
After a much-needed rest in the room we took a combination of Sky Train and Metro (still impressed by the efficiency, usability, comfort and cleanliness of those things) to the city's main train station. We hung out there for a bit, I have to admit, I get a kick out of train stations as well, but I let Dad to the photo-taking. Better he get arrested and tossed in Thai prison than me (some people are touchy about foreigners taking photos of infrastructure...with good reason, I think). After that we set out for nearby China Town. By now it was dark, and we had to get directions from a couple of security officers in halting English. Our destination was Yaowarat Road, the main drag in China Town. Upon reaching the street it looked like a ghost town, though we heard that the place was supposed to be hopping at night. Disappointed, we headed up any way, and luckily we did, because the action soon picked up. Yaowarat was crammed with food vendors and pedestrians. We walked all the way down, taking in the sites and smells, and grabbing a freshly-made pomegranate juice along the way. Upon reaching the head of Yaowarat we decided to call it a night, and hailed a taxi to bring us back.
So that was Day 3, in a nutshell. I have to shower and look forward to a glorious sleep. Come back tomorrow for all the deets.
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