One Night in Bangkok (and the world's your oyster)

Part 3 of the 'I Heart Thailand' Series

So, in Bangkok we stayed at the Montien Hotel. It was actually very nice. Nice room, and most importantly, a nice and normal bathroom. The most normal bathroom I've been in since arriving in Korea. Actually, the bathroom at the Pearl Hotel wasn't bad, either. The hotel had fancy doormen wearing funny outfits and big hats who'd do little dances while opening the door for you. It was a pretty good location as well, as it was right across the street from Patpong street (the red light district). Not that we were looking for whores, but each night the street turned into a giant market of goods (mostly of a non-sexual nature). I didn't buy much, though. I bought a few pairs of fisherman pants--which are so confusing to put on that Joleen and I labeled them puzzle pants. Honestly, I think we spend hours trying to put them on correctly. Sad, but true. I also bought some pirated dvds. These are the ones I bought: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the new Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly, Brokeback Mountain, The Skeleton Key, Dodgeball, Anchorman, Elizabethtown, Kingdom of Heaven, Madagascar, Narnia, and Napolean Dynamite. Each cost 100 baht, which is about $2.50. Upon viewing at home, the quality of them all was good, but Elizabethtown and Harry Potter was a little sub-par. Also, the end of Elizabethtown and Dodgeball don't work, so that was annoying. You get what you pay for, I guess. And the ending to Pride and Prejudice was a little different than the theatrical version, according to my sister. I guess it was just missing a small scene or something. All in all, not too bad. Joleen also bought 50 First Dates.

The first afternoon we were in Bangkok we went to this ginormous market called Chatuchak Market. It was honestly huge. We got lost wandering in it. A lot of the stuff was just western style clothes and stuff. But they had about everything. There's a crap load of purse and shoe 'stores'. And lots of the shoes were worn. No thanks. They had pets for sale too, and there was a dog that was the tiniest dog I've ever seen in my life. It was so friggin' cute. It was smaller than Wicket and it looked like a tiny doberman. Crazy. And we saw some albino hedgehogs and these weird animals that looked a little like small squirrels but with tails that were a little less bushy. They were actually pretty cute. Joleen was on a mission to find peppercorns for Sunny since apparently Thailand has the best peppercorns. We never found any, though. We could't figure out where Thais bought their food since we never saw a grocery store or a market that sold unprepared food. It was weird.

While also in Bangkok we took a tourist ferry down the Chao Phraya river to a market that wasn't there and to Khao San Road...which is a road famous for backpackers/smelly hippies. There are tuk tuk drivers all over the friggin' place and they are very aggresive in trying to drive you around. "Tuk tuk!!!!!!" No. We then went to Wat (temple) Pho. It was very golden. It was also super hot that day. I don't know what else to say about Wat Pho other than it was golden and had Buddhas. Oh, it had a giant reclining Buddha that was kinda cool. And it was giant, let me tell you. Then we went to the Royal Palace next door. It was also very golden and had Buddhas. Neither one of us were wearing long pants and Joleen was wearing a tank top so we had to rent a skirt and Joleen a shirt. Again, not much to say about it. There were a crap-load of Koreans there. You could tell they were Korean from a mile away. They gather in giant groups and the women all have these giant umbrellas to shield them from the sun. And they often wear matching hats and shirts. And you can hear them say their "imnidas, seyos, sumnidas" etc. They are loud and kind of obnoxious. Americans and westerners in general seem much better mannered than Koreans (possibly Asians in general, I don't know). I've been told Asians can be "rude" and pushy because they're used to living in crowded cities and need to be, but it's still annoying. We also went to China Town which really kind sucked. You see one China Town, you've seen them all.