Bangkok To Krakow

Well one week in Bangkok definitely humbled us. Our senses were stimulated and our awareness took a battering. At times it was hard to keep up so we slowed right down with the relief of a fan, an iced coffee, a herbal juice and free baby sitting (Thais absolutely love babies!).

We saw a city of extremes, of street food culture, of tourism and of tuk tuks! I guess Bangkok is like most cities. You have your glamorous, glitzy super shopping complexes and your cultural heritage attracting tourism, and then around the corner you will find half finished developments, dust and grime, hyena type looking dogs (dead and alive) and parked street food vans! We were glad to see where the food vans were being stored before deciding to try the street food on the next street from us. The food looks so tempting (except for the fluro coloured condiments!) but I think our taste buds can hold out for now. Till then its your one million and one tourist restaurants and cafes.

The humidity, the danger tap water and the mosquitos were all new to our daily routine. Washing Zofia with bottled water (because she likes to have a taste of everything!) and keeping her from sucking the floor has been quite a task. She does seem to go after creepy crawlies so maybe she can team up with the geckoes. I on the other hand make a great mosquito repellant.. for others! Both Karon and Zofia got zero mosquito bites while I, despite lathering up with all the poisons I could find, have sustained at least 20 the week we were here.

Our accommodation was just perfect. Located on Sukhumvit Road (the commercial, entertainment and tourist centre of modern Bangkok), SUK 11 hostel was an oasis in the hectic surroundings. The staff were super helpful and friendly and ‘Sophie!’ became a SUK 11 mascot instantly. We got around using the Sky Train, taxis and Karon had the experience of a tuk tuk, although he couldn’t see anything as they are obviously designed for much smaller farang. The taxis are pink and purple and there are no baby seats, rare car seats and traffic is chaotic. Amazing how all your homely rules and regulations don’t seem to matter any more. Ironically everything flows really well.. organised chaos. You just trust that everyone else is keeping an eye out for you. We walked many stretches road side with motorbikes and 4W Drives zipping past. You just hold your breath, suck in your belly and hope those extra centimetres make a difference

People are always smiling and they love babies. Although, no matter how hard we try with the pink tops and the beads, Zofia just can’t seem to pass as a girl. The best comments were “Is it a man?”. When I said “no she’s a girl, but everyone thinks shes a boy, probably because she has little hair”, the response was “No, she look like man”. Funny. Although we learnt to say look sow (daughter) sometimes its just easier to smile and nod when they say “Oh, smiling boy”. She’s definitely a little lady to us.

Everyone here is relatively short in stature and are a very attractive race. They are very helpful and super helpful when making a commission. The City of Angle’s we read in a pamphlet (as opposed to City of Angel’s). There is the local and the tourist price for everything. Everyone can tell that you have just arrived and the pressure to ride in a tuk tuk and take a tour eases off within a few days. The flashing neon sign on your forehead screaming TOURIST must start to dim a little.

We were taken aback by their persistence in annoying you to hand over your Baht. For us it became extra annoying since we are not on a shopping holiday. Every taxi driver, tuk tuk driver and even the information people at the train station are either travel, tailored suit or elephant ride agents! Booking? .. booking? And they tend to flirt with the truth. Sometimes you’re scared to ask for help or directions because before you know it, you might end up sitting on an elephant at some monkey show wearing a new tailor made suit with bookings for a train+ferry to Koh Samui.

With what felt like a month, a week was too little time to settle, get our bearings, see the temples and please our little lady. It felt like we did so much but we did it super slow. Our most authentic Bangkok experiences were when we decided to walk instead of catching a taxi. We discovered many a soi filled with people working and people feeding the workers and people making offerings to buddha. When we went searching for daily supplies of water and bananas we got to practice our Thai. We visited the Tropical Diseases Medical Clinic to finish up our vaccinations and we put our winter climate luggage into a Bangkok storage facility. We enjoyed doing the latter because we got to feel and see how the people here live day to day. The most confronting sight was the shanty towns right on the rail way line. At first I was astonished. “Babe how close are we to that house!”, then “Theres people right there!”, and then “Their cooking and their children are playing right there!”. They were all within a metre of the rail way line and they didn’t even notice us as we clickety clacked passed.

There are many wonderful activities, sites and sounds to be seen on the tourist trail and in themselves are an awesome spectacle but to some extent the authenticity diminishes when everyone around you treats you like a king. One thing we are sure to do on our return to pick our luggage is to visit with the King at the Grand Palace and see how true royalty is treated here.