We ate breakfast at a place called Crepes and Co. and guess what we had? The crepes were overpriced, but yummy. The only serious bad news about the restaurant was that it must have been built directly on a swamp because there were tons of mosquitos. At least we're used to being covered in bites (ug).
Breakfast was followed by quite a journey. We took a sky train to the river pier. From there we took an hour-long ferry boat to the northern most part of the city. It was a gorgeous day, and we really enjoyed watching the city skyline (on both sides of the river!) go by. We even got splashed. A true water ride indeed.
We reached the end of ferry route, but not the end of our journey. We still had a 30 minute-long boat ride to Ko Kret island to go, which we were able to share with some other Western tourists to cut the cost. Its always easy to spot the lost farang.
We arrived hungry, so our first task on the island was to find some lunch. We had some fantastic pad seou, and that mission accomplished, we were able to wander around and enjoy what the island had to offer.
Ko Kret is inhabited by the Mon people, a group indigenous to the territory formerly known as Siam (present-day Thailand). They are known for their skills in creating pottery. As we looked around the crowded market, we noticed that as usual the craftsmen had lost their creativity in order to appeal to the tourists. All of the pottery at every stall looked the same! It was kind of sad, because it wasn't even the same traditional forms. The potters favored making clay mugs in the shape of Hello Kitty and other equally cheesy trademarked characters. People all over the market were drinking through straws out of these clay Hello Kitty mugs. It was bizarre. And a little creepy.
In between looking at different shops selling the same pottery, we saw some old wats (temples)with shrines where people put food. For example, one shrine had pizza and an open juice box laid out before the figure of the god. The one temple we went into was very simple, but in a way its simplicity made the figure of the Buddha inside much more striking than all the elaborate wats we've come across so far.
When we were shopped and watted out, we took a ferry across to mainland, with the help of an adorable Thai family. They made sure that we were on the right ferry, then negotiated transport to the bus for us, pat us on our heads, (even bargained for us,) and sent us off on our merry way. They clearly love farang.
We had a long ride to the center of Bangkok, and although we wanted to go to the Royal Gardens, the bus attendant assumed that we, as every farang in Thailand who looked slightly dirty and smelly, wanted to go to Khao San road (aka backpacker road). So we were dropped off there. And good thing! Because of the King's birthday, the whole road was a giant festival! We were handed candles (yellow - the King's color) and paper flags, and invited to watch the ceremony honoring His Highness on TV in the middle of the street. We did for a while, happily waving our Thai and Royal flags, then carried on down Khao San to see what else was going on.
There was a performance at the end of the road, so we grabbed some pad thai and sat down to watch. the performance consisted of several dance acts, and it was awful! None of the dancers knew which move came next and they were all looking at each other helplessly...I'm just glad the King wasn't there to see it! At least their outfits were super sparkley and hilarious.
While the fireworks went off over the road, Karla and I just took in the loving devotion of the Thai people to their King. Everyone had candles lit, and was singing along to the TV. It was quite the sight.
After dinner, we walked toward the Royal Gardens where we saw the Princess memorial last week. People were streaming away...I guess the main ceremony was over. But there were still 3 performances (or more) taking place simultaneously on big stages! The first was traditional dance, the second was Muay Tay (Thai boxing), and the third was a pop singer performance. There was no good dancing here either. Everything was lit up like crazy, the music was loud, and their outfits were hilarious.
We walked through the park on our way home and noticed that the whole huge monument erected 2 weeks before to honor the late Princess had been taken down! It was especially shocking, considering it had taken over five months to put up...
We grabbed a taxi to the metro, and took that to the skytrain to get back to our hostel. We've used almost every form of transportation imaginable today! We took a quick bathroom break, dropped our stuff off, and went out! We just had to check out the nightlife in Bangkok because we'd hear so much about it...and ended up staying out far too late and getting very little sleep. Thankfully we can (try to) sleep on the plane tomorrow!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
No comments:
Post a Comment