Bangkok

(Spanish version - English version below)


Despues de otro vuelo de 7 horas y media (x cierto, menudo downgrade en tema de avion se pego etihad), llegamos a Bangkok.

Muchas cosas se han dicho sobre los aeropuertos, seguridad, etc. Lo cierto es q para darnos la visa solo tuvimos q rellenar un papelillo y ya esta; otra estampita para el pasaporte.

 En el aeropuerto, nos encontramos con el amigo de David q volaba desde phuket y q vive y trabaja en khao lak. Fue el el q nos reservo un hotel tirado de precio en Bangkok para tres noches.

La primera impresion de Bangkok es q es enorme. El aeropuerto esta a unos 30-40 minutos si no hay trafico. Desgraciadamente, el dia q aterrizamos habia un monton, asi q llegamos al hotel despues de dos horas en trafico. Eso nos costo 170 baht, x 4 personas en el taxi con el equipaje.

En las dos horas pudimos ver como se conduce en tailandia (como locos), los medios de transporte: bici (para llevar de todo), moto ( las yog de toda la vida), moto con carricoche (pero no los sidecars antiguos, sino como un remolque de aluminio al lado con uno o dos asientos en el borde), tuk tuk (rapidos como el viento), coches y camiones. Teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de medios de transporte q hay, no sorprende q el trafico sea tan criminal. De hecho, el gobierno tailandes se ha dedicado a hacer carreteras q sobrevuelan otras carreteras para intentar solucionar el problema (x ejemplo, una carretera con un puente q a su vez tiene un puente sobre un puente).


Cuando llegamos al hotel (sunrise residence) nos echamos un par de horas a dormir y (como estabamos en la zona centro en SiLom) despues nos fuimos a dar un garbeo x el parque de Lumphini. De camino al parque descubrimos lo realmente sucio (perdon pero lo tengo q decir!) y la cantidad de vidilla q tiene Bangkok en la calle con puestecillos y mercadillos de comida pero como la ciudad tiene su propio "eau de Bangkok" no comimos nada x ahi.

El parque esta muy chulo y ofrece vistas de los rascacielos de la ciudad. Es un pulmon en el centro y la gente lo usa para correr, hacer tai- chi, gimnasio ( tengo una foto bastante chula del equipamiento antiguo ) y para pasear. Para mi, este fue el momento en el q me di cuenta de q estaba en Asia. Caminando, me salio un Dragon de Komodo de la nada para zambullirse en el lago (hay foto)

Tras la vuelta y con un jetlag q t mueres, nos fuimos a tomar un par de cervezas al pub irlandes en Silom. Fue ahi q David empezo a encontrarse chungo y nos fuimos los tres de vuelta al hotel.

A la manana siguiente David estaba un poco mejor y era yo la q empezaba a encontrarse mal... Nauseas, diarrea.... Lo q llaman buddha belly x aqui... Un desastre! Yo creo q David y yo no comimos nada en unas 36 horas, solo tomabamos agua y gatorade.

En los siguientes dos dias hicimos planes y cosas dependiendo de como se encontraramos. Aun asi, pudimos ver El Buddah de pie, El Palacio Real con los templos alrededor ( de hecho, justo al lado comimos nuestra primera comida en 36 horas en un mercadillo super bien) y una excursioncilla en barco ( nos metimos en un barco bus con todos los Thais y x 20 centimos de euro vimos todo Bangkok de un extremo a otro.


La gente es muy agradable y alguna vez nos paro algun q otro local de Bangkok para echarnos un cable. X ejemplo, buscando el rio, nos paro un senyor y nos organizo un tuk tuk en un segundo y negocio el precio x nosotros. Nos conto q el gobierno subvenciona la gasolina al tuktukero (toma invencion de palabra!) y q lo maximo q t pueden cobrar en Bangkok es 170 baht. La gran mayoria de veces t pueden llevar de un lado al otro x unos 20 baht (50 centimos de euro).

Desgraciadamente, no todos Los tuktukeros son majetes y tras salir del templo, uno nos ofrecio llevarnos a 3 sitios x 20 baht. A mi me olia a cuerno quemado (habia leido en las guias q ese era un tipo de timo) y se lo dije a David. Decidimos continuar y si las cosas se ponian feas bajarnos y ya esta. Llegamos a la primera visita y ningun problema. De camino a la segunda, ya me parecia chungo y, efectivamente, el sr tutukero se paro enfrente de una tienda de joyas china. Le dijimos q nanai y el presionaba diciendo q lo hicieramos x el y x la gasolina ... Le dimos 20 baht, nos bajamos del tuk tuk y nos fuimos (yo le deje claro q sabia q era un timo y q sabia q el gobierno le pagaba la gasolina). No hubo ningun problema. La zona en si era centrica y Bangkok es bastante seguro, con lo cual nos dio igual. Es una lastima q gente asi le de un mal nombre a Los tailandeses, pero cabrones Los hay en todas partes.

La ultima noche en Bangkok fue graciosisima y una gran leccion! David estaba todavia un poco malo y yo ya tenia hambre, x lo q decidi ir a comprar algo para cenar en plan take away y volver al hotel. Mientras bajaba las escaleras del hotel oi un par de gotas y pense q no seria nada. Evidentemente, me habia olvidado q era epoca de monzon, lo cual significa q no lluevw todo el rato, sino q llueve unas 2 horas al dia super fuerte y generalmente de noche.

Pues nada, sali del hotel con un paraguillas q me dejo la de recepcion y camine Los 5 minutos q llevaba desde el hotel entrar en la calle principal. Los mercadillos empezaban a chapar y yo extranyadisima ... Hasta q se abrieron los cielos y me tuve q refugiar en el burger king de al lado...

Moraleja:

 si llueve no salgas (o vete a un cafe)
 si vas en tutuk dile q vaya al sitio y q   se deje de historias
 si vas a bangkok, no te pierdas el palacio real y los templos de al lado.

Un beso,

Yo x

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(English Version)



After another 7 and a half hour flight (by the way, what a downgrade plane wise from etihad), we reached Bangkok.

Many things have been said about airports, security, etc... Truth is, we only needed to fill in a small paper to get another stamp in our passport.

In the airport, we met with David's friend, who was flying from Phuket. He lives and works in Khao Lak, just an hour away on the west coast. It was him who reserved a nice, cheap hotel (Sunrise Residence) in bangkok's city centre for three nights.

The first impression I got is that the city is enormous!!! The airport is only 30 to 40 minutes away if there's no traffic. Unfortunately, EVERYONE seemed to be on the road the day we landed, as it took us close to 2 hours to get to the hotel...price was prearranged and it was next to nothing !

While in the cab, we saw:
1) how they drive in Thailand (like mad people)

2) the different methods of transport:

* bicycle - they carry everything but
the kitchen sink.
* motorbike - aaaah the auld
mopped
* motorbike with added "box" - it's
either on the right or the
left (not a sidecar, but an
aluminium box where you
can either carry things or
sit on the border.
* tuk tuk - fast!
* car
* lorries

Considering how many different types of methods of transportation there is, I am not surprised about the traffic. In an aim to resolve this issue, the Thai government has been building roads over roads and bridges over bridges... Madness!!

When we got to the hotel, we went for a nap for two or three hours and, as we were in bang on the city centre (Silom), we went for a stroll around Lumphini Park. It was while on the way to the park that we realized how truly dirty Bangkok is ( I'm really sorry to say it but it's true!) . We also saw, however, how very lively this city is with all the bazaars and stalls in the street. As the city has its own "eau de Bangkok" we decided against eating anything off the street.

The park us very nice and gives views of the emerging sky scrappers in the city. It really is a lung in the heart of the city too and people use it to jog around, do Thai Chi, as a gym (I've a picture of some very old equipment in the park) and to just walk around. It was there that I truly realized that I was in Asia, when a Komodo dragon came out of nowhere to cross the path and get into the lake... Very very cool.

After visiting the park (and slightly affected by jetlag), we met Paul and went for a couple of pints in the irish pub in silom (had to be done). It was there that David started feeling a bit under the weather, so we decided to get back to the hotel.

The following morning, David felt a bit better and it was me who started to feel a bit wrong. Buddha belly...not nice!!!! I think neither of us ate for 36 hours, all we did was drink water and Gatorade.

The following two days, we made plans depending on how we felt. We did well and saw the standing Buddah, the Royal Palace and the temples surrounding it (right beside the palace, we had our first meal in 36 hours in a market) and we did an excursion down the river ... Well the truth is that we fot the local transport with all the Thais and the monks and for 20 cent we saw Bangkok from one end to the other.

People in Bangkk are very nice and, on a couple of occasions, one or two locals stopped  to help us. For instance, we were looking for the river and a gentleman came over, told us where it was, stopped a tuk tuk for us and negotiated the price. He also told us that the Government pays for the petrol on all tuk tuks, so the maximum a driver can ever charge you is 70 baht. The vast majority of times, they can you from one place to the other for approximately 20 baht (50 Euro cents).

Unfortunately, not all tuk tuk drivers are that nice and, after leaving the temples we got into one that was offering to take us to 3 sites for 20 baht. I was hesitant (I had read guides about that sort of scam) and I told David about my concern, but we decided to continue on the tuk tuk anyway... If things got ugly, we could always just get out. We got to the first sit (Standing Buddah) and there was no problem.  On the way to the second one, I started feeling that something was going on and, of course, the driver was stopping in front of a chinese gem shop. We said that no way were we going to get in and he kept on saying, "Please do it for me"... We left him there with the agreed 20 baht. Thankfully, this was in the middle of Bangkok in a safe area so we didn't care too much. It's a pity that people like him give a bad name to the Thai, but there's malicious people everywhere...

The last night in Bangkok was funny (in handsight) and offered a great lesson to be learned!. David was still feeling a bit under the weather but I was starving, so I decided to get some take away from outside and eat it in the hotel (classy, I know!).  As I was going down the stars I  hears a couple of raindrops and I thought it would not be anything... I had of course forgotten that we were in the middle of rainy season  which means that, while it doesn't rain all the time, it does rain heavily for 2 or 3 hours everyday, generally at night time.

So, yeah, I left the hotel with a mini umbrella that Reception had lent me (thank God they insisted!) and walked the 5 minutes from the hotel to Si Lom.... I could see the owners of the stalls rushing to close and I was looking surprisingly at them thinking to myself "for this??" . Little did I know that just 30 seconds after having tghat first thought I would have to run and take refuge in Burger King....

So.... We learned a couple of things in Bangkok....

1) If it rains, do not lave wherever you are (and if you are not indoors, go to the closest coffee shop)

2) If you get a tuk tuk, tell the driver to go to the place you want.... Nowhere else!

3) If you go to Bangkok, don't miss the palace and the temples beside them... they are amazing.

Take care,

Me x