Goodbye Southeast Asia - Day 16

We journeyed out to Chinatown, since it was supposed to be a happening place. Unfortunately, it was closed. And I mean everything was closed. Apparently, Chinatown closes for a week during New Year's. And Chinatown is not pretty when it's closed. So that was kind of a bust.

Then is was time to pack our bags and head to the airport.

Our first trip to Asia was complete. My first time inside a Buddhist Temple. We saw Angkor Wat. We played with elephants. This was a trip that dreams are made of and I'm so fortunate that Hubs and I were able to make it happen.

Sign on Bangkok Subway

The Floating Market - Day 15

After our New Year's celebration, we didn't get a lot of sleep, as we were picked up at 6:45 am for the hour and a half drive out of town to the Damnoensaduak Floating Market. Yes, it's a bit of a drive, but it is worth it. Besides Muay Thai, this is my only other MUST for things to do if you're in Bangkok (though Wat Pho and the Royal Palace are well worth their admission).

The market was unlike anything I've ever seen. True to its name, this market lived on a canal. We climbed in a boat and were paddled around from stand to stand as vendors called out us. If we wanted something, we called back to them and they would either help pull the boat over or quickly exchange money and product as we floated by.

The two other passengers in our boat weren't buying anything, but I saw something that made me think of a friend, and made an impulse purchase. It's truly an impulse purchase because you only have about 5 seconds to decide whether you want something or not and then it's passed you by. It was very exciting.

Traffic jam!

The colors. The beautiful women with the fresh fruit on their boats.

This market was female-centric. Almost all of the vendors were women. Women paddled the boats down the canal, no motors, each boat having at least four passengers. And these women were not young. I was impressed.

After the boat did a lap around the market, we climbed out and then walked through the part you could get to by foot.

Frying bananas is a three woman operation. I thoroughly regret not eating those bananas.

There was so much food. Boats were lined up along the edge of the canal, filled with cooks and their freshly made soups and noodles. At this point in the trip, my stomach wasn't very happy, so I didn't eat nearly as much food as wanted to at this place.

This lady was the Paula Deen of noodles.

We tried coconut dumplings that one woman had formed individually between two tiny cups. They were cold and had a flan-like texture. Normally, this isn't my favorite, but these were pretty good, sick stomach and all.

Stacks of the little cups on the coconut dumpling vendor's boat.

This tastes better than it looks :)

After walking around for a little bit, we took a motor boat around the "neighborhood" and saw a bunch of the local houses. It was pretty and peaceful and made me happy to see a thriving community living on water, a vast difference from the Tonle Sap Lake.

The van took us back to the hotel and we walked a few blocks over to Cabbages and Condoms for lunch. As its name implies, they promote safe sex and provide health centers for the community, so another good cause to support. The courtyard of C&C was beautiful.

We went during the day, but I think it would be very romantic at night. We didn't take photos of the food, neither of us felt well, but the food was good.

Sunset near our hotel.

After chilling at the hotel for a bit and watching Fashion TV, my new favorite channel hopefully coming soon to the U.S., we took the subway to Sirocco.

This location was used in The Hangover II and the views were stunning.

Bangkok is huge and sprawling. It's the largest city I've ever been to and the skyline showed that. NYC has an amazing skyline, but this one was massive.

The drinks at Sirocco are pricey (think $15-$20 per drink), but the view is great. Stay up there for an hour, savor a single drink, take in the city from all sides and it's not a bad price to pay.

On the way back to the hotel, we made a quick pass down Soi Cowboy, a seedy row of strip clubs which came about when the G.I.'s were stationed in Bangkok during Vietnam. Neon neon everywhere. Bourbon Street met the Sunset Strip and together they created younger strippers.

The strangest thing about Soi Cowboy was that we wouldn't have known it was there if we weren't looking for it. You turn a corner and bam! There it is. You turn off of it, and it's as though it never existed.

We stopped at a noodle stand nearby and I had the perfect egg noodles for dinner. Perfect for my upset stomach and they were so delicious. I could eat those noodles everyday.

Muay Thai in Bangkok - Day 14

Colorful tuk tuks outside the Chatuchak Market

The first place we went to was the Chatuchak Weekend Market. It is HUGE. There's a map for it, that's how big it is. I bought gold jelly shoes with the tiniest peep-toe after seeing lots stylish girls on the subway were wearing them. Shoes = 199 Bht. I also bought a bunch of silk scarves = 400 Bht. I'm not the best haggler.

Also, there were lots of puppies for sale at the market. I can't imagine bringing a child to this market and leaving without a puppy.

On the way back from the market we stopped at Siam Paragon, one of the huge shopping centers in Bangkok, to have lunch at their giant food court. In Asia, food courts are a place you actually want to eat, unlike the place you try your hardest to avoid like in the U.S.

The restaurant we ate at was called Ging Prakakang (that might not be exact). I had pork with sticky rice. Yum.

Hubs had Indian duck curry with roti.

It was fun eating at the food court, a uniquely Asian experience. It was sparkling clean and had so many options. We could have spent a good chunk of change bringing desserts back to the hotel from all the amazing pastry/dessert shops, but we resisted.

We went back to the hotel and chilled out for a little while and then headed out for dinner near our hotel. We went to a cute restaurant, Tapas Cafe on Soi 7. We arrived during happy hour so we had a litre of sangria for 1/2 off.  It tasted good, but I didn't get a buzz. Hmm. The food was solid, though. We had a plate of charcuterie.

A roasted apple and goat cheese salad.

Grilled asparagus.

And calamari.

We were stuffed but we couldn't resist the flourless chocolate cake, and it was worth the stuffage.

This was an expensive meal for our trip at 1400 Bht, but it was New Year's Eve so we splurged.

After dinner we took the BTS to the MRT and walked to the Lumphini Boxing Stadium to see some Muay Thai. We splurged, you know, because it was New Year's, on ringside tickets at 2000 Bht per person. And it turned out to be the best extra money spent on the trip.

We were so close to the ring, could easily see all the action. Muay Thai is awesome. Sure, there's the kickboxing type fighting that happens, but what struck me most was the ceremony of it all.

The fighters enter the ring while live musicians play instruments. It's the same music each entrance, and each fighter has a set of motions that they perform to "bless" the ring. They move to all sides and four corners of the ring and kneel on the ground. It's really beautiful.

And then they fight, musicians playing the whole time.

There were 8 matches, the 7th being the main event.

The fighters were always red or blue. Each fight lasted five rounds.

The blue fighter's camp was right next to us, coaching throughout the fight.

At the end of five rounds, three scorecards are quickly collected  and the referee points at the winning corner. The victorious fighter raises his arms and leaves the ring. That's it. There's no celebration, no rejoicing after the win. The celebration was all done before the fight. Winning isn't the most important aspect, the ritual is the focus.

I think everyone who goes to Bangkok should see Muay Thai. It's such an amazing cultural experience.

To ring in the New Year, we headed to Central World, a shopping center that's the Times Square of Bangkok on New Year's. People people everywhere.

It was a mob scene, but we made it through and watched a good fireworks show. Rather than waiting for and squeezing onto public transportation, we took a long stroll back to the hotel, the crowd of people gradually thinning out the further we went.

Bangkok - Day Thirteen

A Monk at Wat Pho

After a good night's sleep and a very hot shower, and a great hotel breakfast (bacon, eggs, potatoes, even pastries), time to discover Bangkok. Not surprisingly, Bangkok was hot. It is the hottest city in the world after all. We went in the winter, so if you don't like the heat, in December it tends to cool down to the upper 80's and that's as cold as it's gonna get.

We took the BTS to the crowded river boats. There's day pass designed for tourists that gives you unlimited rides...do NOT buy the day pass. Just get on the boat and pay when the ticket lady comes around like the locals do, it's cheaper.

The first place we went was Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha. It's so much larger than I thought it would be and I was blown away by it's striking prowess the same way I was with Michelangelo's David.

The hair detail was so intricate.

Outside of the temple that housed the Buddha were a number of beautiful stupas covered with ornate floral designs. From certain angles they looked like bright skyscrapers.

At Wat Pho, a came across this awesome diagram for the body on the side of a wall. There were also diagrams describing armor and warriors.

Wat Pho is full of gems (like the photo at the top of the post). Be sure to take your time there and poke around.

We tried these bite size type crepe things from a road-side stand. They were adorable and I thought they'd be savory but they were s-w-e-e-t. The white is actually marshmallow. Not my thing. But they're still adorable.

Then we walked over to the Royal Palace. The Palace is fairly sprawling with many different temples all the colors of the rainbow. Some of the buildings were covered with small pieces of reflective glass that glimmered in the sunlight. Stunning.

Colors, colors everywhere. Yet, it didn't feel tacky. Well done.

The actual Palace was also beautiful, though less colorful.

Palace admission was 400 Bht per person.

After the palace, we were starving, so we walked towards the river and ate at the restaurant in back of the Royal Thai Navy Club which we'd read about in our Groovy Map. I'll admit, the food wasn't the best, but the view is perfect. You're right on the river watching boats and barges go by while drinking a cold beer.

I had pad thai. Hubs had fried chicken and cashews which was much better.

2 Beers + 2 Entrees + The View = 320 Bht. A fine deal indeed.

Bellies full, we climbed back on the packed river boat, back to the subway, finally arriving back to the hotel. We ended up staying in for the rest of the night, eating our leftovers from Aryaa's, and stowing up energy for the next day.