The title for this post says it all. We've just transitioned from all these smaller little Thai towns to the equivalent of New York City. Whew. So far, tiring but enjoyable.
We pulled into Bangkok after a relatively uneventful trip. However, things took a turn for the crazy once the sun set. We were all set up in our nice guesthouse room--private bathroom, beautiful teak wood floors, fourth floor view. (As an informative sidenote, the "guesthouses" we've been staying in are about halfway in between a hostel and a hotel.)
We were just settling our heads down on our pillows for a nice relaxing sleep, when what comes clanging down the street? A giant bulldozer! It parks itself right below our window and starts tearing into the street and shaking our guesthouse like an earthquake. Apparently, much of the construction work here goes on 24 hours a day. Or sometimes it waits until dark when the temperature is cooler.
So, we try to sleep above this full-on road construction for about 10 minutes, until it just becomes laughable. Then, the inevitable decision: we have to move. So that's what we did.
There was another guesthouse further down the soi (alleyway or small street), away from the roadwork. One room was available, and we took it. It was a tiny, cramped shoe-box of a place, that was more like a dorm with walls that didn't reach all the way to the ceiling. We could hear everything up and down the hall, but it was no bulldozer and at least we got some sleep. So...obviously that room was no keeper either. Which means we spent the better part of today searching for a new room.
Well, we found one. A very nice, comfortable, cozy place. It's in a crazier area (only a few blocks away from the indescribably insane Khao San Road), but somehow still seems quieter than where we were last night.
Once we got the room situation straightened out, we decided to get to work seeing some sights. We took a river taxi ride down into the city. Then we took the sky-train to Lumphini Park, which is a bit like Central Park in New York or Forest Park in St. Louis--a calming urban oasis.
After that lovely bit of downtime, we headed back to our room for a rest. Then, off to a sidewalk cafe we had passed during a walkabout last night. We had an absolutely amazing dinner--a whole fish cooking in some amazing soup broth with vegetables. It simmered over a little fire pot throughout our entire eating time. Only $5 (slightly expensive by Thai standards) and simply delicious!!!
As for the next several days, who knows? More sites to see. More traffic to dodge. More smog to breath. In other words, more fun.
