Back to Bangkok: A relaxing end

We left Chiang Mai on the night train. From Chiang Mai to Bangkok, it was only about 12 hours, which is a pretty decent trip. Unfortunately, I found it very uncomfortable, and couldn't really sleep the whole way. I was very relieved when we arrived in the morning. We hopped in a bright pink taxi and drove to Khao San, where Angela had already reserved us a hostel.

Khao San, also known as the backpacker's street, is an amalgamation of many different things: bars, restaurants, hostels, and a night market which sells clothing, swimsuits, pirated DVDs, made to order street pad thai, fake IDs and erotic statues. To me, its a breeding ground for irritating western hippies. However, past the hippies, you can also find invitations to sex shows, hair salons specializing in dreadlocks, and just about anything else a liberal backpacker could want.

When we arrived, we relaxed, took showers, and got some breakfast at a nice place next door. Also, somehow on the train I had (embarrassingly enough) locked my suitcase shut, and changed the combination on my lock. Therefore, when we went out for breakfast, we also had to find someone to pry my lock open. Luckily, we found that quite quickly.

After we had eaten a nice breakfast of banana pancakes, Ally and Angela wanted to see the Grand Palace. I had already seen it, so I decided to stay back, catch up on my e-mail, and meet them outside after they were done. We then planned on going to Wat Pho to get well deserved Thai Massages.

I walked to the Grand Palace from Khao San alone. At first, I was quite frightened. The intersection near the Grand Palace was huge, each side of the street had about 5 lanes. There was no cross walk, and it was a 5 way intersection. Therefore, in total, I had to cross 4-5 streets to get across, dodging cars the whole way. On top of it all, I felt as though I was being followed by a man, so I wanted to cross as quickly as I possibly could. Fortunately, I was being paranoid, as that man wasn't following me. Within the minute, however, I was approached by someone else. He asked me if I was going to the Grand Palace; hoping that he wanted to help get directions, I said yes. He then began to tell me that because it was a Buddhist holiday, the Grand Palace was closed. After he gave me a long explanation of why the Grand Palace was closed, he began making small talk with me; this didn't last long, as a quickly walked away. I remembered the last time I was in Bangkok, my friend Justin told me that this was a common scam; people would tell tourists that a certain place was closed for the day, and then offer to take them somewhere else, usually a shopping area owned by a friend. He was not the first person to try this scam on me

I found Ally and Angela immediately, although we had to wait a few minutes for Angela to return the clothing that she borrowed (there is a dress code for the Grand Palace which Angela broke: only long pants or skirts are allowed). After that, we went on our search for Wat Pho. Wat Pho is one of the larger monasteries in Bangkok, and also one of the most famous because of its architecture. Through the monastery there is also a massage school, and they are known for the best massages in Bangkok. I had had one before, but it was so wonderful I had no problem doing it again. We walked into the massage parlor, changed into light cotton pants and shirts, and then relaxed for an hour long massage. All three of us felt as though the stresses and fatigue of the trip had vanished, and we were all smiling in the foyer after our massage, drinking iced water provided for us.

We then had two hours to relax before we met my friend for dinner, so we began to wander back to our hostel. The streets were filled with vendors selling many eclectic things, from yellow collared shirts to lottery tickets. A woman was selling popsicles made from soda, and we bought some to relieve us from the hot weather.

As we walked, we ran into a group of middle aged men playing with a small plastic soccer ball, and kicking it around in a circle. As we walked by, they invited us to play. We joined their circle, and laughed as every time the ball came towards us, we would miss horribly. I felt as though I kept on improving, and Ally did too; Angela got more and more frustrated as she flung her leg into the air and missed every time. The men, however, found us a lot of fun. They kept lightly throwing the ball to us to practice, and would applaud every time one of us got it. They especially found it funny when we would kick the ball into the street, over the fence, or into other people. All of us also hit ourselves in the face at least once.

They spoke very little English, but asked us a lot of questions, such as where we were from and why we were in Bangkok. We found out as well that most of the men there were not from Thailand. One was from Cambodia, two from Laos, and another from Myanmar. We told the men from Laos and Cambodia that we had been there, and they got very excited. They were even more excited when we spoke a bit of their language, especially one of the men from Laos. Like other people from Laos, he wanted us to learn "Mo Pinyang" meaning, "Don't worry!"

After about 1 hour of soccer playing, sweaty, tired, and bruised a bit, we said our farewells to our Southeast Asian soccer team. The man from Laos continued to say "Mo Pinyang!" "Mo Pinyang!" as we left, and laughed as we said it back. This experience really brightened my day; I don't think there are many other cultures that are quite as friendly as those from Southeast Asia.

We then wandered back to Khao San and browsed the street market, looking at the clothing, hanging lamps, and other eclectic products. We were particularly interested in how they did dreadlocks, and what kinds of fake IDs we could buy (if we wanted to, we could get a press ID card, letting us take pictures wherever we wanted). After we browsed for a bit, we went to the gas station, a local bar, and met up with some Thai friends I had met the last time I came.

Rong and his friend Pim met us on the street and offered to take us for dinner. I had met Rong in November, as he was a good friend of my friend Justin. I had also met Pim, although I didn't know him very well, as his English was not very good (and my Thai was nonexistent). Rong took us to the same restaurant he had taken me my first night in Bangkok in November. I remember that food as being the best I had had in Bangkok, and when we went back it was the same. We ordered a large mix of grilled pork dishes, papaya salad with bean sprouts, and sticky rice. We also ordered a kind of hot pot soup to which we added vegetables, pork, egg, and liver. I actually got up the courage to try the liver; my assumptions about liver proved true, however, I didn't care for it at all.

The meal was fun, and we were all able to chat about our various situations. We had caught Rong at a bad time, as he was preparing for final exams that weekend. He, like my friend, was an economics major, and was preparing to graduate. He was sad about leaving school, and not excited to begin finding a job. He told me that the best job he could possibly find was at a bank in Bangkok. Angela didn't understand at all; she couldn't wait to leave school.

After we were fuller than we cared to be (and my taste buds had all disintegrated because all the food was so spicy) Rong got us in a taxi and took us back to the gas station where we planned to get drinks. We then said our goodbyes, and parted. We still keep in touch, and I hope we continue to stay in contact.

The gas station actually does not have a misleading name; by day it is a petrol station, and by night it is a club. Some people rent out the station every night, lay out chairs and tables in the parking lot, put on loud music and sell ridiculously cheap kamikazes. The entire staff of the gas station is almost all kathoeys, or in English "lady-men." Bangkok has some of the best plastic surgeons in the world, and the city is known for a high population of transsexuals. While they certainly look and dress like ladies, their posture, build, and mannerisms often give them away. It was amusing spending the night being served by kathoeys. We bought a couple of buckets of cocktails and some jello shots, all delicious. After relaxing for an hour or so and soaking in the local crowd, we walked back to our hostel for our last night in Southeast Asia (so we thought, anyway...)

The next morning, we awoke for a long day of shopping, something most of us had highly anticipated. We all wanted to get a series of souvenirs for our friends and family, plus souvenirs for ourselves. We had made plans to go to the weekend market, Asia's largest outdoor market. Although the market's speciality is clothing, one can find just about everything here, from normal souvenirs to original artwork to cute puppies and strange marsupials. We got ourselves completely packed, went outside to buy some breakfast of fire roasted bananas, and caught a taxi to the market.

We had a good time looking for the first couple hours, but after awhile the weather began to get unbearable. We had to stop every hour or so to sit down for a nice cold drink simply out of heat exhaustion. I enjoyed looking at the various clothing, which included styles I would find in Hong Kong, America, and typical hippie driven Southeast Asia garb. I found clothing that could have been sold in Pacific Sunwear, and others that to me were tacky, though handmade. They were clearly catering to all kinds of audiences. I found a particularly beautiful hand embroidered skirt which I tried on and bought. At the stand, I ran into another American who was interested in buying this woman's clothing wholesale and selling it in the states. He asked me for advice on what kind of prices to charge for the skirts.

There were also a plethora of souvenirs made of Thai silk, from boxer shorts to scarves, and many elephant themed knicknacks. One could also buy these in huge bundles (such as cute elephant keychains sold in sets of 5), clearly meant for the person looking for one souvenir for many people. One particular souvenir I found amusing was a cute stuffed elephant that was meant to hold a hand towel, and it could be hung in the bathroom or on the wall. I was careful with my money, however, and only bought that which I really wanted.

After 6 hours of shopping, we all found each other and went to find a taxi to go back to our hostel. This was relatively easy, and we even found someone to share with us, a young man from Israel. It was a short ride back, which gave us a few minutes to grab our things, wash our feet (which were perpetually dirty throughout the entire trip) and grab a taxi to the airport. We were sad to say goodbye to our trip, as it had been such a fantastic experience; unfortunately, however, it would be dragged out much longer than anticipated.

When we arrived at the airport, listening to American pop the entire way (thanks to our cab driver), we found out that our plane was delayed 2 hours. We decided then to check in and then get something to eat while we waited for our plane. As typical of Hong Kong people, everyone was also early for check in (we were there 2 hours and 15 minutes early) the line was already winding around the terminal. We stayed in line for an hour before we were finally able to check in, and by that time, our plane was delayed further: four hours. Nevertheless, they gave us free meal vouchers, which made all of us quite happy; we were starving and had spent all of our money at the weekend market. We ate a nice dinner of Burger King, and then sat and giggled, driven silly from fatigue, as we played 20 questions and watched some clearly bored Chinese people walk on the moving walkway 10-20 times.

We finally boarded the plane at around 11:00, 5 hours after our plane was meant to take off. Once we boarded, there was a technical difficulty, and we sat in the terminal for another two hours. We finally lifted off at around 1 in the morning, which got us back to Hong Kong at around 4:30. Fortunately, however, the food on the plane was really good. We were surprised by these turn of events; we flew Emirates airline, which is supposed to be the best in the world.

This trip was a nice contrast to our Yunnan trip, as it was different in so many ways. We learned so much on our trip, and I think it changed our perception of the world permanently. It also taught me how much I wanted to spend more time there, and how much there is to see. I hope I will be able to go back someday.