Asia Begins - Bangkok!

The post below details the start of my trip in Asia - first travel from Amsterdam to Bangkok, then visiting Bangkok - Oct 2 - 4, 2014.

Oct 2, 2014:

After staying up doing research, I didn't get up until 9:30. I didn't have any plans to visit any place in Amsterdam and just needed to leave the hotel by around 11:15 AM.  I walked to the train station.  I got train ticket with very little time departure - the train was already on the track and nearing departure time, so I had to race to the platform.

Once at the airport, the check in easy.  The on-line check-in for my flight had been difficult - Delta pointed me to China Airways which didn't recognize the confirmation number.  When I entered the ticket number, it said for flights leaving Amsterdam, you had to check-in with KLM.  (What I learned the hard way...the flight was booked through Delta, but operated by China Airways and KLM is the ground operator for China Airways in Amsterdam)

I moved on to immigration.  I had a slight issue at immigration since Paris didn't stamp my passport.  The agent flipped through my passport many, many times looking for an entry stamp, getting a grimaced look on his face.  Amsterdam wouldn't give me an exit stamp since I never had an entry stamp into Europe.  Hopefully won't be an issue when I get to Bangkok.

I went on to the KLM club.  There was a long line to get in, but once in, it was nice but very busy. 

It was a long walk to the gate.  Lots of shops that I browsed through a few of them.  Didn't buy anything.

The boarding pass listed 12:55 as the boarding time - that was a complete joke. The flight crew didn't arrive until about 1:10.  They didn't open security until 1:15. Security was not bad.  Afterwards I was waiting in the waiting room until 1:35 when they finally started boarding.  

After takeoff, I ended up getting a glass of Champagne, but only finished about half of it.  I then started watching "Tammie" with Melissa McCarthy.  For dinner I selected the beef.  Everyone started with a veal carpaccio with hummus which was pretty good.  Then there was a salad, but the greens were very bitter.  There was another course, but I don't remember what, but I didn't finish all of it either.  With dinner I had a glass of the Medoc.  The dessert was fresh fruit along with a carmel mousse with whip cream.  

The veal carpaccio and salad: 

After dinner I started journaling as well as editing the end of Europe blog entry.  However, the keyboard started going out, so I just wrote some key highlights for the remaining days so that I would remember important things.

At this point I remembered that I had not started taking my "No Jet Lag" pills, so I immediately got them and tried to catch up...Taking one per hour until I went to sleep, rather than the recommended one every two hours.  I wanted to stay awake for about another 2+ hours, so I watched an episode of Cakeboss, listened to music, then looked at my itinerary for a bit.

I finally decided it was time to go to sleep.  If only it was that easy.  The seat did not lay flat...or even lay flat at an angle, so it was very difficult to get comfortable.  It took a long time to go to sleep.  I woke up quite often.  

I had pre-ordered breakfast, but was thinking that I might sleep through it like I had done going to Paris.  Not on this flight.  I was up shortly after they started serving.  The woman next to me said "Good Morning!"  She was so chipper and already had her breakfast....not the way I like to wake up.

I got carmel walnut pancakes with a vanilla sauce.  It also had a side of fresh fruit, a croissant and yogurt.  When I finished with breakfast, we still had about 1.5 hours left in the flight.  I put in contacts, brushed my teeth and tried to look alive.  Back in my seat, I journaled a bit more - the keyboard worked again for a while.  Finally I just relaxed and looked out the window until we touched down.

After breakfast, as the sun was rising:

Oct 3, 2014:

The arrival in Bangkok was so easy.  I had been expecting something of a third world country, but the airport was huge and very modern.  The walk from the gate to immigration was very long...it was about a 15 minute walk.  There was no line at immigration and by the end of the walk, I was about the 3rd person.  Not any other flights coming in at that same time I suppose.

The interaction with the immigration person was pretty easy - no questions, quick stamps and he stapled my departure card in my passport.

On to baggage claim.  The bags started coming out within about 5 minutes of walking up to the belt.  It was interesting - there was a blue line about 5 feet from the baggage claim belt.  It just said to not have the trolley carts in front of that line.  After about 45 seconds I started to notice that I was the only person standing in front on the line.  Literally about 50 people are all standing with their toes touching the line.  I have never seen such conformity to a rule...that wasn't even referencing people, only trolleys.  I started inching backwards too, but refused to go completely behind the line!  Luckily my bag was the first to come out.

I didn't want to get pulled from the customs line, so I waited for a few others to get ready to leave before I started following them.  No issues, only one agent even standing at customs and we all just breezed through.  I immediately saw the ATM when exiting customs - got 3000 Thai Baht, which was a little less than $100.

Next to the cabs.  I had read several on-line horror stories about cabs in Bangkok, especially from the airport.  I avoided all the illegal cabbies searching for riders.  I went to the official line.  There were initial people at desks whom you told where you were going.  They confirmed that the cabbie knew where it was.  Then the cabbie took you the cab.  Only there did he inform me that it was a flat rate.  I had read mixed stories about prices - some said 350 Baht but had to pay tolls.  Others said 450 flat and several variations in between.  My experience was 450 Baht flat...and the cabbie paid 75 Baht of tolls along the way.

The ride initially was very good and very fast.  I was surprised how far away the airport was from the city.  I didn't see any skyline for a long time.  We passed some of the largest billboards I have ever seen - at least 4-5 time wider than anything I have seen in the US....they were just enormous.

After about 10 minutes, we hit rush hour traffic.  I had arrived just before 7 AM and was in the cab by 7:30 - incredibly fast experience through the airport considering immigration and baggage pick-up.  The ride ended up taking over 45 minutes.  At this point I was very happy about the flat rate deal...I wasn't sitting in rush hour traffic watching the meter tick upwards.

As we drove along, or sat at times, I was surprised by how modern the city and skyline appears.  When I think of Thailand and Bangkok I've always thought of temples and huts.  We exited the freeway, then the street level below the modern skyline told a very different story.  There is tremendous street activity - with food carts, random vendors, makeshift "restaurants" of dilapidated card tables, etc.  I noticed that there are no caucasian faces among the crowd - I will certainly not be blending in here.

We got to the hotel and were greeted by no less than 5 well-dressed bellman all helping with my bags, with the door, showing me the way to the desk, etc.

I approached the front desk with the highest hopes of an early check-in.  I was my most gracious, bowing my head in return to their welcoming of hands pressed in front of their face and head bowed.  This greeting was every where during my visit in Thailand.

My prays were answered - they had a room available for early check-in.  It was not the suite they were planning to upgrade me to, but was a premium room on a very high floor.  That's great, I don't care about the suite - I was want to shower and figure out what I'm going to do.

I got to the room and it was fantastic!  Incredible view of the city:

A full panoramic of the room view:

As you enter the room, the bathroom is on the right.  There is a large shower with multiple shower heads, including a rain shower.  Sharing a common wall with the shower is the toilet room (a frosted glass door is shared between the two and slides back and forth, so both could not be closed at the same time).  The toilet has the most complicated seat control I have ever encountered - seat temperature, cleaning options - both front and back, water pressure, water temperature, etc.  After a few uses, I loved it and pre-set all of my preferences.  Now just to figure out how to get one of these at home!  Opposite the shower and more into the room was a large tub.  The bathroom wall next to the tub completely slides open so that as you sit in the tub you can see the view (as well as the rest of the room).  The rest of room was fantastic as well, just not as noteworthy as the bathroom!

I showered, dressed and debated a nap, but was feeling surprisingly awake.  It was a 5 hour time change from Europe, so we'll see how I fare for the rest of the day.  I must admit that the "No Jet Lag" pills that I purchased at AAA the day before my departure in Minneapolis have been fantastic...and I would highly recommend them.

As I was sitting in the room, I realized that I had done very little research on what to do in Bangkok.  My planning was certainly front-loaded on the trip...and I sort of ran out of time and perhaps initiative to plan Asia before leaving (well, anything beyond the flights, hotels and a few private guides).  I quickly read a few pages in the the SE Asia guide book and a few Google searches for the top sights within Bangkok.

I was dressed in shorts and an UA shirt given how hot and humid it was - over 100 degrees with the heat index.  I went to the concierge and explained that I was in town for only two days - what are the key things that I should see in Bangkok before leaving.  She was extremely gracious and brought me no less than 6 maps.  We decided that today I should go to the Grand Palace and also see two of the three most famous temples that are also nearby.  However, she then looked around the desk and saw that I was wearing shorts and explained that I had to have my legs and ankles covered to go to the Grand Palace and temples....ugh, in this heat?!?!

She said I could take a taxi to the Grand Palace, but suggested that I take the AirTrain and then connect to a boat to get a better view of the city and experience overall.

So off to change clothes and then I hit the streets.

In all the directions to get to the AirTrain, the Grand Palace and the temples there was never mention of street names.  Merely go left, turn right, turn left and there it is.  I ended up asking two other people for directions just to the AirTrain before I even left the hotel.  All the same directions with the only exception, the last person took me out the front door and vaguely pointed at my first right after turning left out of the hotel.  I saw some tracks a level above the street, so thought...how hard can it be to find this?

I was also starting to get hungry at this point, so thought it better to have lunch before getting to the Grand Palace.  I stopped along the street at one of the many carts and got something rather safe - chicken with rice and a teriyaki-like sauce over the top. 

I asked the street vendor about the AirTrain and he pointed above our heads...the station entrance stairs were about 500 feet away.

Every station was a different amount of money based on your starting point, but you can only buy single ride tickets...so you better not make a mistake!  Oh, and the kiosks only accept coins, no paper money or credit cards.  I had to wait in line at the information desk to get coins and then figure out how much my stop would be...28 THB - less than $1 US. (When I was there the conversion rate was about 32 THB = $1 US)

I figured out from the maps the direction of the train that I needed.  Luckily most of the subway signs also had English translation....or at least words using mostly English alphabet characters.

The AirTrain ride was quick...only 3 stops.  From here I had to get myself to the boats.  Luckily there was an English sign.  You had to walk through an alley way that had been taken over by random street vendors selling food, cell phone covers, silks, bric-a-brac and other completely unrelated items.  There were also many, many dogs....all well behaved.

I bought my ticket for the boat - 40 THB - a little more than a $1 US.  When I had walked up a boat was just leaving, so I thought another one would be there very soon.  Well, 15 minutes later, another one finally arrives.  It was so humid and uncomfortable, I was cursing myself for not taking a cab.  More and more people arrived for the boat and our personal space (and area for airflow) was greatly reduced.

Once the boat arrived, we all boarded, thinking we would leave almost immediately.  Again, wrong.  We waited at least 10 more minutes before leaving.  It has been over an hour and 15 minutes since leaving the hotel and the boat finally leaves.  Patience is a virtue that I had hoped to gain during this trip...it still alludes me.

Pictures from the boat, before the rain started.  This was the nicest looking pier along the way...I think it was for the Four Season's Hotel:

The ride was pleasant, getting to see several hotels and smaller temples along the way.  Then suddenly the sun was no longer shining, a few sprinkles started and within 30 seconds, one of the hardest rains I have ever seen starts.  There had been no forecast of rain for today, so trying to reduce weight in my bag, I didn't bring an umbrella or poncho.  The plastic sides of the boat are pulled down to keep us dry, but then we get to the pier for the Grand Palace, so I have to get off.  The pier is not covered, so I get drenched just walking the 50 feet off the boat.

When in the covered area, then I decided to wait it out...along with about 1000 other people.  I bought a poncho for 50 THB...with this hard of rain, an umbrella was going to do nothing.

While waiting out the rain...this picture does not do justice to the severity of the rain:

After about 20 minutes, the rain started to subside, at least enough that I thought I could put on the poncho and continue on to the Palace.  I thought the Palace was a single building.  Upon arrival, I discoverd that the Palace is more of a complex where you walk all outside between the various buildings, some of which are open for you to enter.

I paid the 500 THB entrance fee and got the map for explore.  It continued to rain, so a paper map was useless, so I just randomly wandered about the complex.  With all of the transportation logistics and weather delays, I only had about an hour before the complex closed.  

I got several pictures and admire the amazing architecture.  Lots of selfies in the poncho!

This temple was completely shimmering in gold:

A close-up of window casings on one of the temple buildings:

A close-up of one of the columns:

When the closing round-up started, then I head out, looking immediately for the taxi line.  The temples that are nearby are closing at this same time, so had to postpone to another day.

What I quickly learned in the taxi line is that most fares are negotiable.  I stopped at the first one, showed him the card that the hotel had given me with the address in Thai - 300 THB.  Too high, I said and started to walk off.  He said, "200 THB, but we have to make a stop along the way."  I gave a puzzled look - he explained that we'd stop at his favorite jeweler to see if I want to buy anything.  Uh, no thanks....next - 600 THB - I just laughed and walked off.  By number 6, I found one for 200 THB, no stops and flat fee.  

Traffic was crazy...it took over 45 minutes to get back to the hotel.  I fell asleep a few times.  I have a feeling he regretted the flat rate, so I gave him a nice tip when we finally got to the hotel.

When I got to the room, I was still wet....between the rain and the sweat...all suffocating under the poncho.  It was not a pretty look, nor did it feel good.  So I headed off to my second official shower of the day (really 3rd if you count the rain shower).

The Le Meridan didn't have an Executive Lounge, but offered a Platinum "Explore Hour" every night in the hotel bar.  You got one free drink and a trio of chef selections.  I headed down, enjoyed a glass of Sparkling wine and the trio of extremely small bites.  The bites were not very Thai - a tomato and mozzarella, a slice of prochuitto with pear and a sushi-grade slice of salmon.  Surprisingly, the server came back to refill my Sparkling wine before I left...that was a nice touch...and unexpected.

I had talked with the concierge when I returned to the hotel and two of them recommended a restaurant very near the hotel for a wonderful Thai dinner.  They made reservations for me at 7:30.  From the "Executive Lounge", I headed out to dinner.  The walk was less than 3 minutes.  

The setting was very tranquil and serene in the middle of the city.  I started with a Satay of grilled salmon with the most incredible peanut sauce I have ever tasted.  I feared that I'd never taste peanut sauce this good again, so I ate most of it!  For my main entree I had to try the Panang Curry with chicken.  That is my must-have item whenever I have Thai food in the US, so I want to see how different it is.  The entree arrived and it looked nothing like what it does in the US.  There were two full chicken breasts with the slightest amount of reddish sauce on top.  It was rather spicy, and had a slight taste similar to the curry in the US, but otherwise I would have never guessed that they were the same dish.

After a wonderful dinner, I got the check, left a lovely tip (for which I got many head bows) and headed back to the hotel.

It was only around 9:30, so I stopped in the lobby for a glass of wine and tried to journal.  I got a glass of Robert Mondavi Cabernet.  This is just about the first place in my travels that has had CA wine.  I've tried to stay away from CA wines on this trip and try new things.

After the glass, I went back to the room and off to bed soon....big day tomorrow.

Oct 4, 2014:

Today was my only full day in Bangkok, so needed to make the most of it!

With the transportation and weather issues impacting my plans yesterday, I'm planned to start my day at Wat Pho - the temple near The Grand Palace that I missed yesterday.  I decided to avoid the transportation issues from yesterday and just take a taxi.

Strike two on transportation - the traffic was horrible...and on a Saturday morning!  It took almost an hour to get there.  The taxi driver and I would take turns huffing and exhaling very loudly.  He tried to explain that it was a holiday weekend and many people out for errands.  Nonetheless, I was frustrated.

As we got close to the Wat Pho, things were looking very familiar.  I had this sinking feeling that I had actually seen it yesterday and just didn't realize it.  But alas, luckily, that was not the case.  I paid the ridiculously low taxi meter of 200 THB for almost of an hour of sitting in traffic and headed off to explore.  And of course...sunny all morning, but as soon as I get out of the cab, I feel sprinkles.  The travel gods are not with me today in exploring Bangkok.

Luckily the sprinkles never turned into more and I never even got out my poncho or umbrella.

Wat Pho was pretty fantastic.  Again, it is not just one building, but a series of many buildings in one site.  So much wonderful architecture and detail.  This temple area also has one of the largest reclining Buddas in Thailand (perhaps the largest).  

The huge reclining Budda:

The reclining Budda's feet...it is difficult to see in this picture, but anything white is mother of peral:

I forgot to mention yesterday that all of the buildings/temple you enter in the Palace and temple sites, you have to remove your shoes.  There were mounds of shoes sitting outside.  I'm completely paranoid about someone taking my shoes - either purposely or by accident, so I've been stuffing them in my messenger back and walking around in my socks.  My bare feet on floors that might be cleaned every few days after thousands of tourists is a little too much for me.  My level of tolerance only goes so far.

More of Wat Pho:

After about 1.5 hours at Wat Pho, I decided that I needed to see a Bangkok market area.  The hotel said that Siam Square was the largest shopping market area in town.  I grabbed a cab - negotiating for a metered rate - to get to Siam Square.

I was enjoying the ride and looking out the window when I looked forward and noticed that som how the meter had jumped from 1.5 km to over 8.5 km...all within about 3 minutes...and we were stopped for most it.  The driver had obviously done something.  I got a very grimacing look on my face.  It must have been quite evident since the driver even asked if something was wrong.  I kept my eyes glued on the meter.  I continually noticed him looking at me in the rearview mirror.  We drove for another 15 minutes and only went 2 km...so he started figuring out that I was on to his scam.

At this point he started pointing out other temples suggesting he drop me off to explore those.  No thank you...Siam Square.

Traffic was horrible and he projected that it was going to take 2 more hours to get to Siam Square.  I doubted it, but I was tired of being hawk eyes on the meter.  He suggested that he drop me off at a local boat and I could take that for 15 minutes to get to Siam Square.  I agreed to that and suddenly we were racing on small side streets.  Ah, I hate being played...for most of the trip I've felt like people and service folks have been very straightforward, with the exception of taxi drivers.  Even at home I am suspicious of cab drivers unless I know exactly where I'm going...when I argue with them.  This taxi driver certainly played me, so I was happy to be out of his cab.

This was the most authentic part of Bangkok that I saw...no English transition signs anywhere.  The boat operators didn't speak one word of English and our means of communication was me pointing on my tourist map of where I wanted to go and her pointing to the price of the ticket that I needed to pay.  I was the only Caucasian on the boat...out of easily 50+ people.  The route was a small canal that passed through very residential sections of Bangkok.  But sure enough, there were multiple stops along the way.  The boat never fully pulled up to the stops (or even fully stopped if only a few people were entering/existing), you sort of jumped from the boat to the pier.  The ticket person, walked around the railing on the side of the boat to sell the tickets....with her arm wrapped around a rope along the top to keep from falling overboard.  When we started going faster, I noticed that folks started pulling up tarps...then I looked up and noticed a pulley system above my head with a ring to pull.  I was failing on my job, my seat was one of the pulley people, so I reached up to pull the ring and the tarp on my side of the boat was raised up further...lucky for the folks behind me!

Signs in this area:

Along the canal in the local's boat:

I had no idea where we were or which stop we were at - any signs were in Thai and there were no announcements (since there was no type of speaker system)...think long, wooden fishing boat with bench seats for the full length and you've got the idea.

After about 15 minutes, then there was commotion for many people to get off.  Good plan, I thought, this must be it.  So I got off the boat.

Ended up being the right instinct.  After about 5 minutes of wandering through random alleys, I saw "Siam" in a sign...a few more minutes and I was in an area that certainly looked like a market.  

Sure enough that was it...English reappeared too.  The "largest shopping market in Bangkok" ended up being several large US-style shopping malls.  There were a few side streets and alleys with something close to the type of market I was expecting, but the primary products were women's clothing, eye glasses, very shady-looking Botox, shoes and illegal DVDs.  I walked around for a little while, stopped for a very flavorful, very sweet glass of fruit iced-tea and then decided to head back to the hotel and look for a grocery store along the way (for spices).  

In the shopping market area...and the traffic:

Lots of motorcycles:

They love the animated characters in Bangkok, people were lined up to take pictures with each of these characters:

Given my luck with taxis, I chose to go with the subway.  Again, I had to figure out how far I'm going, luckily had coins now, and then waited in a line at least 25 people deep to get a ticket at a kiosk (there were no less than 10 kiosks at this station with that many people at each).

The train was just leaving as I got to the platform, so I moved to the area where it directed people to prepare to enter the car.  Glad I did...I was the first person and within 2-3 minutes, every lane had 30+ people in a very orderly line, queued up to enter the train.  Wow...I've never seen anything like it.  Every place else in my travels has been a mass rush to storm the doors as soon as the train arrives with no regard to queue position.  I'll give it to the Thai people - they like their queue lines and order in the subway...thanks!!

I only had to go two stops back to the hotel area.  When I existed I found a wonderful, lively street full of vendors who were not there yesterday.  I looked through their wares, but passed on buying anything.

I found a small convenience store and found some different flavored chili pastes.  At the register, I found someone who spoke English and asked about buying spices.  She directed me to a grocery store that is not visible from the street.  I found tons of spices, soup starters, curry pastes, even some different types of noodles.  I spent over 275 THB on stuff at the grocery store.

I started back to the hotel now and got a little lost.  With all of the street vendors, nothing looked like yesterday.  By the time I had walked to another subway station, I knew I had gone in the wrong direction.  Again, no street sign anywhere. 

However, all was not lost.  With this diversion, I found more and more vendors with more and more interesting things.  I bought some Christmas lights, a pair of "Bulgarvi" cufflinks and an HBO series on DVD.  

I finally made it back to the hotel - hot, sweaty and exhausted.  

Phong - a previous co-worker at Accenture - had written me on Facebook that he was staying at the same hotel in Bangkok and our time overlapped by one night.  We had agreed to meet for a drink tonight and had been texting to decide on a time.  After I showered, we met up at 7 PM in the lobby bar.

It was fun to catch up - it had been over 8 years since we worked together.  He is working in Singapore for several weeks and had flew to Bangkok for the weekend with a few co-workers.  I ended up meeting the three co-workers and the 5 of us all went to a wonderful dinner together.

With so many of us, we shared all the dishes, so I got to try so many different things...papaya salad, a spicy chicken soup, pud thai, grilled chicken, sweet and sour chicken, panang curry with chicken and BBQ pork ribs.  I had a wonderful dinner with Phong, Maria, Sapna and Corbin...certainly a better time than dinner alone.

Post dinner with Phong:

We were all tired by the end of dinner...headed back to the hotel and I was off to bed soon.