Memories of Thailand and Malaysia – Part 3
Posted by: Touch of Charm on: December 21, 2011
Rowan mapping out our first day in Bangkok
Our first full day in Bangkok and we were up bright and early ready to explore the city! But first the buffet! Ohhh the breakfast buffet…mmmm….foood!! We also had to get used to the Thai way of greeting everyone, the wai. It’s a simple bow with hands placed together like you’re going to pray and because my daughter and I are female, we said “So wah dee ka” – can’t recall what you say if you’re a guy but watch the vid and it will tell you. : ) You will use this greeting everywhere you go. We also learned a few key Thai phrases like how to say thank you (khob-kun-Ka). And armed with a map we took from the hotel lobby we headed off on our adventures for the day!
Our first stop was a bit of a fluke but wow, so glad we learned about this gem! Jim Thompson was an American architect who through service in the war became rather fond of Thailand and settled in Bangkok and built an amazing home that has become a destination for tourists to the area. He also created the Thai Silk Company. Ya, he wasn’t busy at all. Back in 1967, Jim and his buddies went for a walk through some jungle area in Malaysia – Jim never returned. No one knows what happened to him.
From there we headed to Chinatownand got lost. Not hard to do. Street after street of colourful wares, food and shoulder to shoulder people, good luck trying to find that first shop where you saw that great bag but decided to look around first. Do yourself a favour – buy the first bag you see because you ain’t finding it again. And everything can be bargained so get comfy talking price.
mmm eggs
Our tactic was to start really low and let them talk us up to what we actually wanted to pay. Mind you we’re talking about starting at a buck and letting them maaaybe talk you into 2 bucks. I think the most expensive item was 3 bucks. HINT: $1 CDN = 30 THB (Thai Bhat) so easy to do the math. We found a great restaurant by the water and sat and enjoyed the view of all the boats going by and took it all in. We ordered pretty much everything on the menu and I think our meal(s) came to 180 Bhat (6 bucks – for both of us!) so ya, eating in Thailand is delicious AND crazy cheap. I want to go back just to eat all the food. I really enjoyed so much of my trip but it’s funny how I realize most of my memories revolve around what we ate. I will try and expand my memories to beyond food. But as I’m only at day 1, I can’t promise anything. Oh and you might be wondering how we got around. Well we wandered for the first bit, just enjoying the area around our hotel, which was close to all sorts of crazy expensive malls but we didn’t travel all that way to shop in a mall. If you want Gucci, Prada and LV, it’s all there. Mind you the places we did check out just for shits n giggles wasn’t showing any real savings. I guess no HST could save some coin on a $5,000 bag.
Cheap and delicious eats!
ANYhow, we ended up jumping in a cab (metered one!) after our Jim Thompson tour to take us to Chinatown. Glad we did, it was further than we thought but still the cab was 90 THB (3 bucks) so so worth taking cabs if you need to. For day 2 we braved the rail system but that’ll get covered in Part 4. I have no idea how many parts this series will be either! We were gone for 15 days….this could turn into a novel. After Chinatown we made our way back towards the hotel and spent the evening wandering the streets checking out the impromptu “restaurants” that popped up over the sidewalks. Basically, a bbq would be wheeled out, tables and chairs set up and voila! A restaurant! The smells from these places were incredible. Bangkok really does come alive at night. The streets were packed and it seemed to be a whole new city after dark. Funny to watch Hangover 2 and get the line “Bangkok has him now.” It’s hard to pull away. But pull away we eventually did and headed back to the hotel to enjoy a dip in the gorgeous pool before calling it a night.
Incredible luxury to come back to after a day wandering the city
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