Bangkok

Its easy to brush off Bangkok as a pitstop on the road, but it’s more like meeting someone who keeps telling you great stories. You just want to stay for one more. We stayed for a full 10 days and had a hard time getting away.

Bangkok is a city of contradictions. An old woman stands on the street tempting busy passersby with grilled fish and papaya salad, while teenagers in high heels strut by with their iced coffee. Barefoot monks shop for new computers, 7-11 convenience stores rest next to Buddhist temples, and traditional long-tail boats float by shiny skyscrapers. You could make similar comparisons in many big cities of the world, but the magic of Bangkok is how seamlessly these "contradictions" coexist. We love it. Check out this sign found in the shiny sky train station.

Our excuse for staying here so long was that we were waiting to meet up with Kendrah who was meeting us for her R&R from Sudan. Here is a look at how we spent our time.

Historical Sights

We saw the grand palace where royalty once lived , and wandered through many beautiful old Buddist temples.

Here is our favorite temple Wat Arun, decorated entirely from bits of Chinese porcelain left by Chinese ships in the 19th century that used tonnes of old porcelain as a ballast. Talk about an amazing example of the three Rs.

From a distance:

Close up:

The temple grounds are full of amazing little stone creatures hiding behind bushes. We have a whole collection of these in photographs. Here is one.

Shopping

Oh my. Bangkok is the place to go shopping for...pretty much anything. First there are the markets - day markets, night markets, weekend markets - hot, congested places with thousands of little stalls. Here you can find anything from pets to vinyl records, independent designer clothing, paintings, one off motorcycle helmets, food, drinks, quirky home furnishing, rip off watches, exotic houseplants, and on and on. The amazing thing about these markets is the diversity of products and the fact that so many stalls sold items that could only be found there. The mother of all markets was the weekend "Chatachuck."

And then there are the shopping malls. I know. I know. We didn't go travelling the world to spend time in shopping malls. But they really are so very shiny shiny and each have a theme. There is the electronics mall. Seven floors of electronic bliss... We were here an embarassing number of times , but we were helping Kendrah shop for supplies for their office in Sudan.

Favorite sights here - 6 year old kids fighting over which colourful flash drive they wanted and of course, bare foot monks shopping for computers.

Then there are the clothing malls. Our favorite of which was full of independent designers. Walking through is a little like taking a stroll through a modern art gallery. Even the washroom signs are memorable.

And the kids in the neighborhood look a little like this.

Lumphini Park

The whole city seems to descend on this park every afternoon to work out. We took a walk through at sunset when thousands of people come out to take part in aerobics, jogging, paddleboating, badminton, thai kick boxing, weight lifting and many other activities.

The aerobics is quite a sight, with hundreds and hundreds of people jumping and dancing around every day. Then at exactly 6:00, the national anthem plays, and everyone freezes until it is over. The man at the back in the above photo was pretty funny as he was ad libbing his own Bollywood moves to the music.

Other highlights: enjoying the fresh fruit available on the street, riding a riverboat, cooling down by taking in a movie in one of the many cinemas downtown, taking in a jazz band at one of the clubs, and the new purchase of a zoom lens for our camera so we can feel like the paparazzi and be all sneaky and such.

10 days well spent.