Day 17 Bangkok Day 2
Saturday 22, December.
I awoke having had about 12 hours of sleep.
I was able to get a few hours of work done and the girls worked on their school work.
We decided to see the Jim Thompson House and to see a movie and go to the weekend market.
We had the free breakfast at our hotel and then walked to a water taxi. We took the taxi down the river and then caught the Sky Train to the EBK center. The center was a large mall – we could have been in the US. There was an Outback Steakhouse and every type of store imaginable. It was about 10 stories tall and on the top floor was a 10 screen theater. We decided to go see a national Treasure 2 as Allysha has wanted to see it since she saw it advertised 6 months ago. We all got to see the movie, 2 popcorns and 4 soda for 650 baht – about 19$ US – awesome. There was assigned seating in the theatre. It seemed to b capable of seating 1000 people but there were only about 50 screening the movie. It was in English with Thai subtitles. The national anthem was played before the movie started and everybody stood – I had warned the girls previously. It was the biggest screen, largest theatre and the best sound system I have ever experienced -and it was screen 6 of 10! I think we all enjoyed the escape into something familiar.
After the movie we decided to head to the weekend market that the hotel clerk had drawn on our map. We caught the Sky train but could not find the market – and since it was getting dark and we did not know if we were in a safe area we decided to grab the train back to a station that was nearer our hotel. We got off at the victory monument. The monument is in the center of a very busy traffic circle and there was a market surrounding the outside of the rotary. We walked around it and sat down in a food court – a waitress came up and asked what we wanted – we had no idea – she spoke no English and I was so tired I could not even remember the word for water. We sat there feeling uncomfortable knowing we should order something or move on – eventually we moved on.
It was so crowded and my feet hurt and I was becoming overwhelmed – our hotel was a great distance away and it was getting dark – we decided to try to get a cab back to the hotel. We had the address card with the address of our hotel written I Thai – we stopped many taxis but no one of them seemed to know where the hotel was and even thought they said they were metered none had a meter. I wonder if they could read? Eventually a tuk-tuk driver pulled up and as I was getting desperate we gave it a try – he did seem to know where it was and we agreed on 200 baht. All four of us crammed into the tuk-tuk and off we went.
Oh what a ride – inches from buses, zigging and zagging – making our own lanes – pulling out in front of cars – cutting to the head of the line in u-turn lanes. I am certain had we been involved in an accident we would have been severely injured if not killed – but it was also quite a tremendous rush. The driver headed in a direction that felt correct. When we came to a stop light he killed the engine to save gas. I had a halting conversation with him – he said many of the taxi drivers probably just did not want to go that far from where they were located. It was a very long ride – probably about 30 minutes and at least 20kms. At several points I could see the driver get frustrated as w hit traffic and his words were “oh Traffic”. Curiously I really never felt in any danger -I got the feeling that this was how he made his living and that every move was calculated – I am so terribly glad I was not driving. He eventually dropped us across from our hotel – I scrapped the back of my leg which hurt tremendously – probably as much the sunburn as the actual scrape – I thanked him and gave him 220 baht – I said for the traffic. Honestly I was so relieved I would have paid much more – so thank you tuk-tuk driver! It is funny – we had avoided this form of transport because of the warnings in the guide but it ended up being a tremendous relief and likely the best and only way we were going to get back to the hotel.
We had not eaten except for breakfast and popcorn – Pam had gotten a dinner recommendation the night before that we did not use so thinking it was a few blocks we decided to go eat there. We were all weary and my knee and ankles and feet were aching but the girls were real troopers – we followed the directions only to end up at the river – but no restaurant. Very frustrated we retraced our steps to the hotel and ordered from the hotel kitchen. The food was fine and I checked email to find a conference call scheduled for the morning.
I do not even remember falling asleep.
I awoke having had about 12 hours of sleep.
I was able to get a few hours of work done and the girls worked on their school work.
We decided to see the Jim Thompson House and to see a movie and go to the weekend market.
We had the free breakfast at our hotel and then walked to a water taxi. We took the taxi down the river and then caught the Sky Train to the EBK center. The center was a large mall – we could have been in the US. There was an Outback Steakhouse and every type of store imaginable. It was about 10 stories tall and on the top floor was a 10 screen theater. We decided to go see a national Treasure 2 as Allysha has wanted to see it since she saw it advertised 6 months ago. We all got to see the movie, 2 popcorns and 4 soda for 650 baht – about 19$ US – awesome. There was assigned seating in the theatre. It seemed to b capable of seating 1000 people but there were only about 50 screening the movie. It was in English with Thai subtitles. The national anthem was played before the movie started and everybody stood – I had warned the girls previously. It was the biggest screen, largest theatre and the best sound system I have ever experienced -and it was screen 6 of 10! I think we all enjoyed the escape into something familiar.
After the movie we decided to head to the weekend market that the hotel clerk had drawn on our map. We caught the Sky train but could not find the market – and since it was getting dark and we did not know if we were in a safe area we decided to grab the train back to a station that was nearer our hotel. We got off at the victory monument. The monument is in the center of a very busy traffic circle and there was a market surrounding the outside of the rotary. We walked around it and sat down in a food court – a waitress came up and asked what we wanted – we had no idea – she spoke no English and I was so tired I could not even remember the word for water. We sat there feeling uncomfortable knowing we should order something or move on – eventually we moved on.
It was so crowded and my feet hurt and I was becoming overwhelmed – our hotel was a great distance away and it was getting dark – we decided to try to get a cab back to the hotel. We had the address card with the address of our hotel written I Thai – we stopped many taxis but no one of them seemed to know where the hotel was and even thought they said they were metered none had a meter. I wonder if they could read? Eventually a tuk-tuk driver pulled up and as I was getting desperate we gave it a try – he did seem to know where it was and we agreed on 200 baht. All four of us crammed into the tuk-tuk and off we went.
Oh what a ride – inches from buses, zigging and zagging – making our own lanes – pulling out in front of cars – cutting to the head of the line in u-turn lanes. I am certain had we been involved in an accident we would have been severely injured if not killed – but it was also quite a tremendous rush. The driver headed in a direction that felt correct. When we came to a stop light he killed the engine to save gas. I had a halting conversation with him – he said many of the taxi drivers probably just did not want to go that far from where they were located. It was a very long ride – probably about 30 minutes and at least 20kms. At several points I could see the driver get frustrated as w hit traffic and his words were “oh Traffic”. Curiously I really never felt in any danger -I got the feeling that this was how he made his living and that every move was calculated – I am so terribly glad I was not driving. He eventually dropped us across from our hotel – I scrapped the back of my leg which hurt tremendously – probably as much the sunburn as the actual scrape – I thanked him and gave him 220 baht – I said for the traffic. Honestly I was so relieved I would have paid much more – so thank you tuk-tuk driver! It is funny – we had avoided this form of transport because of the warnings in the guide but it ended up being a tremendous relief and likely the best and only way we were going to get back to the hotel.
We had not eaten except for breakfast and popcorn – Pam had gotten a dinner recommendation the night before that we did not use so thinking it was a few blocks we decided to go eat there. We were all weary and my knee and ankles and feet were aching but the girls were real troopers – we followed the directions only to end up at the river – but no restaurant. Very frustrated we retraced our steps to the hotel and ordered from the hotel kitchen. The food was fine and I checked email to find a conference call scheduled for the morning.
I do not even remember falling asleep.
