Finally we arrived in Bangkok!
We stepped off the plane and I felt this instant sense of euphoria. Although,
it probably had to do with the heavy medication I was on for my ear infection.
Regardless, it felt like a dream. Our first impression was that everything
seemed straight out of a movie. We loved it immediately!
After we bought out half of Mountain Equipment Co-op back in Canada and felt
there was nothing else we could possibly need, we quickly found out that what
we forgot to bring was an interpreter. Our first dinner experience was, well,
an experience. We stood outside a tent on the side of a highway, trying to
distinguish any of the numerous things hanging over the B.B.Q. while a handful
of Thai people stared at us with huge grins. Here, we asked what has become our
most common question to each other. "What do you think that is?" No
one knew a word of English except for a nice man that knew approximately five
words. "Maybe I can help you". But then, that’s really all he knew.
At that point we were welcoming ANY help. We eventually found out we were
looking at stomach and some other sort of intestine. I asked about fish. They
only had fish heads - of course. What do you need the rest of it for? Finally
we managed to get a small plate of beef and squid. They came with sauces that
make battery acid seem mild, which we cried our way through. Ian is still
recovering. When we were done, the nice man, whose name was actually
"Man" came over and asked us if we liked our meal…......or so we
thought. Enthusiastically, we replied "Yes!" I guess what he had
asked was if we wanted something else. Another dish promptly arrived. We stared
at is skeptically. Just vegetable I think, but with tiny little shrimp
skeletons. In North America, we call these
"Sea Monkeys", put them in water and keep them as pets, but I won't
even get into our theory about eatable pets over here. The dish wasn't bad but
we were starting to get eaten alive by mosquitoes and were looking forward to
paying the bill and leaving. We were busy congratulating ourselves for making
it through our first meal without ordering something completely horrific, when
another dish suddenly appeared. We looked up to see Man standing there with a
huge grin. "Duc beer,” he said.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Duc BEER."
"Duck what?"
What we had sitting in front of us
was a whole plate of B.B.Q. duck bills. We grinned our way through it, mostly
trying to figure out how to even eat them. As soon as Man walked away, Ian
looked at me with huge frightened eyes, and said, "Run, before he orders
us anything else!"
What is amazing is how people stare. If we stop to ask for directions (which is
pointless to do anyway) people gather around to hear us speak. Their excitement
to see a Westerner soon became our excitement to see one. "Look, there's
one! There's another one!" It’s funny when you catch the eye of another
Westerner. You feel an instant grin spread across your faces as if you're
saying to each other, "Look at all this. Can you believe it? Me
neither!"
The rumors are true that everything here is incredibly cheap. Food and
accommodations cost us (together) about $16 a day. It’s the shopping that's
lethal. We moved to Khao San Rd.
which is famous among travelers for their $8 Pumas and $5 Guccis. Of course
they're not real, but boy they look good! With every shopping spree we tweak
our bartering skills as we've learned it is an art....or a sickness. In fact,
we've pretty much become obsessed with it. We actually find ourselves walking
away from vendors because they won't give something to us for 10 cents cheaper!
Hey, 10 cents goes a long way over here. What we are also loving, although the
books warn travelers against it, is the fresh fruit. Watermelon and pineapple
kabobs, whole coconuts with straws in them, banana pancakes and of course the
hundreds of things we can't decipher. The curries are amazing as well. What we
are not loving is the non-existence of toilet paper in the bathrooms. In fact,
most bathrooms don't even have toilets - just a small hole in the floor and a
bucket of water beside it. Use your imagination.
The things no one can miss are the
potent smells on the street. Anywhere at any time you can smell delicious Pat
Thai being cooked on one side of you, and rotting fish guts on the other. The
mixture is at first revolting, then you find yourself getting used to it, then
you actually start to welcome it. It’s very strange.
We had our first tuk-tuk experience and it was wild! You wouldn't believe how
fast they go! We were flying through traffic, down center lanes between trucks
and buses, screaming and laughing our heads off, while choking down the thick,
black smoke coming out of every tailpipe. What an experience!
Bangkok is
bright and colorful, but where the average minimum wage is 150 baht ($5.00) a
day, it is also very run down. Everyday Ian and I walk under a highway overpass
or over a sewer grate and say, "Gee that looks like it could go any time
now". The bus services are another experience. Crowded so it’s hard to breathe,
our second time on one, it broke down leaving us to a four hour walk back to
our hostel. A lot of deep breaths on that ride home.
So our Bangkok
experience has been a success, although Ian has let the experience go to his
head...literally. He has decided to go "monk" and shave his head.
Just like the song says, "One night in Bangkok makes the hard man humble." This
place will have you doing anything. It’s been fun, but we're looking forward to
our next stop, Chiang Mai!
