Living in Thailand |
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson |
Living in Thailand |
“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson |
My first solo Thailand adventure: Get from my condo in Pak Kret to Wat Arun (in central Bangkok) via ferry (Chao Phraya River).
8:15am -Bus from Chaengwattana Central Plaza (the mall) to Pak Kret Pier (15 mins/8 baht/~25 cents) 8:45am -Despite what Google maps says, there is no ferry from Pak Kret to Wat Arun. In order to get to Wat Arun, one must take a taxi or a bus to Nonthaburi Pier. So noted. 9am -Taxi to Nonthaburi Pier (35 mins/181 baht/~$5 by the meter). 10am -Orange flag boat from Nonthaburi Pier to Wat Arun (45mins/16 baht/~50 cents) …I meant to take blue flag (tourist boat that stops at all tourist attractions) but glad I didn’t, that would’ve taken much longer. 10:45am -Arrive @ Wat Arun, also known as The Temple of Dawn. According to the interwebs, Wat Arun was built in memory of King Taksin, the 41st king and national hero of Thailand, and is known for its 79-meter-high (~260 feet) central prang. Arun (to my ear it is pronounced “aloon” by Thais) comes from a Hindu God "Aruna" which personified as the radiation of the rising sun. Anyway, it seems these days, the thing to do for the “twenty-somethings” at Wat Arun, is to purchase a traditional Thai costume from one of the nearby shops, and do a photo shoot with one of the many photographers. I regret not taking pictures of the photographers taking pictures. 1:30pm -Ferry left back to Nonthaburi pier. 2:30pm -Shopping at Nonthaburi market. I bought a couple shirts ($300 baht /~$10USD) and proceeded to get a bit lost. 4:30pm -Two buses back to Chaengwattana Central Plaza. On the way I bought dinner from a street vendor. The Thai lady in front of me bought something that looked good, so I copied her. I ate it when I got home. I am pretty sure it included chicken feet. For the record, chicken feet aren’t bad, but I’m not sure I’m gonna eat them again on purpose. Total steps: 14,310 (~7miles) What I learned: (1) When using cellular mobile data, google maps may or may not be accurate (it seems it can be off by a few thousand meters). To be successful, one must combine Google maps with context clues. I probably knew this at one point. (2) Buses here don’t necessarily display the numbers that Google maps gives you. Sometimes you just have to jump on and pray. (3) I will always help a lost foreigner, ALWAYS. (4) In Bangkok, when a bus or boat stop at your destination, YOU MUST ACT QUICKLY…and if you are the only one disembarking, the vehicle may not make a full stop. It’s really quite a thrill. (5) As much nervous energy as I had, at the end of the day, there is something invigorating about successfully finding your way around with completely inadequate language skills.
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I lived on Hilton Head Island for 8 years (South Carolina “low country”) and when there was a couple days of heavy rain, the streets would flood, but not like this…
It rained from approximately 7:30 until 8:30 last night, and in that hour the streets completely flooded. I happened to be walking back from the mall when it started, and just barely made it to the flea market, where I took cover. It started out as a light rain, then came the torrential down pour (and the lightning & thunder). Even the street dogs took cover. I finished my walk home walking thru eight inches of water in some places. I will need a kayak when there’s two hours of heavy rain. Last night I finally got 8 hours of sleep! Words can not express the enjoy I feel at this moment! Sleep simply makes everything better.
I really hadn’t noticed (I blame the jet lag) until this morning, the extreme firmness of the mattress I am sleeping on. I seem to be sleeping on a slab of granite disguised as a mattress. Seriously, it looks exactly like a traditional mattress, and I prefer firm mattresses, but this mattress has absolutely zero give. I might as well be sleeping on a kitchen island. Today’s mission: mattress topper I am ever so grateful for the mega mall across the street. It’s Tuesday June 27th, and it’s 3am. I finally got 5 consecutive hours of sleep! That’s almost twice what I got the last few nights. Why not go back to sleep you ask? Well, here’s the thing…there is still no convincing my brain that I did not get a full 8 hours. And while I can tell that my thinking is compromised, I am also WIDE AWAKE.
I walked around all-day Sunday. I found a coffee shop, some great early morning street food, a flea market, and the mall. I know this doesn’t seem like much, but I had maybe three hours of sleep Saturday night, so it’s amazing I wasn’t run over by a car or motor bike. They drive on the wrong side of the street here (says the “farang”…not sure if this means white person or just any foreigner…I put it on my list of things to figure out) and they drive autos and motor bikes with absolutely no fear. No need for roller coaster, just hop on a motor bike taxi! Sunday night was a repeat of Saturday night. It went like this…I fell asleep around 8pm and woke up feeling amazing, but my phone read 11pm. My brain could not be convinced it had had only 3 hours of sleep, so I cleaned and organized, and drank tea, telling myself, “I will just stay up all day and crash tonight”. Yeah, sure… So, it’s funny now… but I did not initially remember the public toilet situation in Thailand. Sunday morning after a delicious breakfast, Mother Nature called. I am sure I neglected to pay attention to the signals, and let's just say, Mother Nature had the operator do a “busy line interrupt”. Anyway, I go rushing for the public toilet and there’s a turn style and a coin slot blocking the door… AND IT ALL CAME RUSHING BACK (no not literally). “Oh yeah…in Thailand it’s common pay to use a public toilet AND you need to bring your own toilet paper” (Shout out to Annie P). Luckily, I had both. Good times, good times. More about the mall. It’s “Central Chaengwattana” and it’s seven stories tall, containing every possible type of store you can imagine, a movie theatre, and an immigration office. I think two floors are almost entirely food court/restaurants with many western brands, like McDonald’s, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, Sizzler, Auntie Annies, etc. There are a few western clothing and shoe stores, but mostly the Thai equivalent of places like Macy’s, Best Buy, Bath & Body Works, Dick’s, Gap, and Crate & Barrel. Two things about the mall stood out. First, the entire 7th foor is dedicated to children, they call it an “Education Zone”. There are store fronts for all kinds of tutoring, coding/robotics, dance, voice, music, taekwondo, etc. There are also various themed summer camps (cooking, photography, clay modeling (very impressive anime figures) and a gym designed specifically for children (think pee wee American Ninja Warrior Junior). I was there on a Sunday morning and it was very busy, with parents waiting in several lounge style areas. One see’s many of these store fronts in the US too, it was just interesting to see all of this in one place, and so busy. The second thing that stood out about the mall …they have free public toilets!
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