Last Day in Bangkok

Sunday, 16 December 2007

Writing this now since we leave early tomorrow a.m. (7:30 to get to the airport for a 10:50 flight to Luang Prabang, Laos)...what a day!

Took the water taxi (a little downscale compared to the vaparetto in Venice) to the China Town area to pick up a tour boat...thought it might be touristy but it actually turned out really cool. We saw all sorts of houses, in various stages of disrepair, along the canals. It was quite beautiful to see colorful houses alongside corrugated aluminum lean-to's alongside temples (or "wats" as they call them), and each boat landing was like a small "wat" in and of itself! We also visited this bizarre snake/monkey farm place where Charles got some good video of snake handlers and we both got to pick up and play with a baby gibbon! What fun.

We then took the boat back, got some good footage of the different types of houses all along the Bangkok water front...then a quick walk into China Town which is like no Chinatown we've ever seen. Now, usually Chinatowns are crowded and bustling with life on the streets--people buying and selling various types of foodstuffs and goods. But this Chinatown was the most crowded one we've ever been in. It took us about 10 minutes to walk two blocks because the sidewalks were so crowded with street vendors, tourists and looky-loos. We ducked into an overpriced (but thankfully air-conditioned) restaurant for some great pork and dry duck. It was well-reviewed in Lonely Planet but we were completely unimpressed. This was to become the first of several disappointing pieces of advice gleaned from Lonely Planet.

After lunch, we bargained with a couple of tuk-tuk drivers until we were satisfied with the price we settled on for our ride over to Jim Thompson's house/museum. We got a good price on the ride, but soon found out that our driver was insane--weaving in and out of traffic. We later discovered this was normal driving for Bangkok but we opted to keep our eyes closed about half the time! Jim Thompson was an American businessman who revived traditional silk making techniques in Thailand and must have made a fortune off of his endeavors because his house was one of the most amazing houses we've ever seen.

Another odd event...Took a different water taxi back to a spot closer to the hotel where a more sane tuk tuk driver took us home...exhausted....there is so much more to cover here but we are looking forward to Laos...