Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit ( AKA BANGKOK )

Bangkok: known as Krung Thep  ("City of Angels") to Thais; known as a place of mystery, wonder, sin, and danger to the rest of the world. I know this sounds pretty dramatic, but with its reputation and all that Bangkok has to offer, it's necessary.
I've been procrastinating about writing my Bangkok post because I go down there quite often, yet never do any of the touristy stuff. However, Bangkok is much more than a tourist trap, but it is so huge I feel that even after going down there at least 8 times, I still don't have a full grasp of it.

The city itself is home to about 8 million people, 12 million in Greater Bangkok. For a country of 66 million people, that's HUGE. It's known for having some of the most upscale nightlife in the world (Skybar is always listed as one of the best rooftop bars in the word), alongside some of the seediest and saddest prostitution rings and human trafficking in the world. It's incredible to be out in Bangkok and know that just down the street, something unimaginable (whether good or bad) is happening. 

Jess and I outside of Siam Paragon, one of the ritzy
shopping centers

van bar

My first night out in Bangkok I felt this way. All of the people in my program were new to Bangkok and none of us really knew where to go. After wandering around Sukhumvit Soi 11, one of the most popular streets for expats and tourists, we decided to wander the craziness of Sukhumvit and find something else. After half a block on Sukhumvit (one of the main, longest, and busiest streets in Bangkok), we turned down a different Soi (soi means alleyway, but cross streets in Thailand are named after the main road they come off of and then numbered) and went into the first club we found. We went upstairs and found a pool table that overlooked the lady boy singing. We scoped out the crowd and realized that we were the youngest foreigners in there, and me and my girl friends were the only white women. All of the men were at least 50 and all of the women were Thai. Though many western men end up dating and marrying Thai women, I think it is safe to say that many of the women in the bar were there to get picked up, and many of the men were looking for prostitutes. Though I have not found myself in a bar like this since (mainly because my friends and I have figured out where to go out), it is amazing that in Bangkok it is so easy to stumble upon this sort of place, and highlights what can happen so easily in the open and the horrors that underground Bangkok holds as well.

Victory Monument: where I get dropped off when I take the
minibus to Bangkok. Also the most insane traffic circle I've
ever seen.

That is not to say that all nights out in Bangkok remind you of the underbelly of the city. I have gone to a couple of great concerts, one of Bangkok's most famous clubs, the Bed Supper Club, a rooftop bar, drank and fraternized with people at a van bar ( a bar out of an old Volkswagen van parked on the side of the road), and sang with a Thai band at a small bar. Being in Bangkok is truly a humbling experience, especially since the bad and the good live so close. Lines of gay and straight, rich and poor, and good and bad are constantly blurred in Bangkok. And whether you're there in the day or the night, it's nearly impossible to ignore the fact that though the city can cater to the rich, it is really home to mostly poor.

Bangkok tuk tuk

Bangkok during the day is a strange place. There isn't really one downtown area. The high rises can be found all over the city, but are mainly around the sleek and modern BTS, more commonly known as the Skytrain.  The beautiful, clean, high-tech Skytrain takes you through valleys of new modern skyscrapers and over slums filled with tin-roofed shacks. One of the central parts of the city is Siam, which is home to many massive, upscale shopping malls. These are frequented by fashionable Thais and is often a place where my friends and I seek refuge for some western food and even an English movie.

Bangkok sunrise (sky train construction is the black structure
along the top)

Other parts of Bangkok, such as Chinatown, are more what you would expect from Bangkok: dirty; full of motorbikes and buses; narrow, winding side streets; vendors finding anywhere they can to set up shop. It's a place that is full of excitement but also poverty. On my first visit to Chinatown our only purpose was to explore Bangkok. We turned off the shockingly calm main road and stumbled upon a slew of storefronts (which undoubtedly doubled as homes) which were overflowing with metal scraps being welded and melted down. It's a scene like this, especially after walking in a mall full of designer shops and upscale movie theaters (yes, there are different classes of movie theaters in Thailand), that you realize the huge gap between the rich and poor and that most people in Bangkok do not experience the capital like the tourists and the rich.

My attempt of capturing the Chatachuk market...this does not
do justice to the amount of stalls or people that populate it

I have also made it to the Chatachuk Weekend Market, the largest weekend market in the world. There are around 5,000 stalls in the whole market and supposedly you can find ANYTHING, though somehow my friends and I walked in circles and saw the same stores over and over. We did see many odd stores such as a weird fountain stall, a western themed stall, fake sunglasses, numerous clothing shops, art stalls, and even a Spanish bar. We stopped here at the end of a day of wandering the city and were overwhelmed by how large it was, so about 2 hours was all we could handle...and 2 hours is not enough time to explore this enormous market.

Grand Palace Wat from across the street

A few weeks ago I went to Bangkok with my family and did the most touristy thing possible in Bangkok: The Grand Palace.  Before we were even able to buy our tickets, we were accosted by a tiny Thai man who spoke great English and offered to take us on a tour (for a small fee, of course). Turns out, he actually worked at the Palace and he chose to earn a few extra Baht and give private tours on his day off. He started us off in the temple section of the Royal Palace, also called Wat Phra Kaeo, which is an incredible collection of elaborately decorated buildings adorned with shiny tiles and even some gold from Italy. Architecture consists of classic Thai style and Khmer prangs, and even a full scale replica of Cambodia's Angkor Wat, which was under Thai rule at the time it was built. The crown jewel of the temple--and Thailand--is the Emerald Buddha that is housed in the largest of the buildings, logically called the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and sits atop a high pedestal. The hoards of shoeless tourists all have to enter the crowded building past a sign that says "no pictures, don't point your feet at the Buddha." Because of this, I do not have a picture of Emerald Buddha and the gold outfit it was adorned with, which changes every season. 

The Grand Palace itself is a huge structure, and many of the buildings are not accessible to the public. Seeing a map of the entire grounds, we only saw about 1/5 of it. The main building that once housed kings is French-Style with a Thai roof. As weird as that sounds, it's very beautiful and aesthetically pleasing.

After our tour of the palace, I mentioned that I really needed to use the toilet before going on the canal tour. Not surprisingly, New Years Eve was an incredibly popular day to go to the Grand Palace and the line to the lady's room was massive. After waiting in line for about 5 minutes and not moving, our tour guide brought me into the men's room, where I was barely noticed, so much to the point that men were cutting in front of me to use the stalls. I got to spend an awkward 3 minutes waiting for a stall to open while behind me was a wall of urinals and men using them.

After I braved the men's bathroom, our guide whisked us through the streets of Bangkok outside of the palace which are both tourist and street vendor ridden. Like me, the guide is used to the hustle of Bangkok and the ubiquitos street vendors. My family had a hard time keeping up with our fast pace. For a newcomer, Thailand is an adventure for the senses and one wants to be able to not only see, but smell and hear all that is around at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, Bangkok is about the least-leisurely place and we all had to scramble to the crowds, onto a dock, and into a rickety longtail boat that our guide attempted to dump us into (though the rough waters made it a more difficult climb) and waved us off as we pulled away from the dock.

feeding fish in the Klong (canal)

A longtail boat ride down the Chao Phraya sounds like it would be incredible: getting to see areas of Bangkok not often explored by tourists, seeing shacks and the glamorous skyscrapers along the river. We did see all of this, but the boat ride was more terrifying than exciting. Our boat was rickety, the floorboards unsteady, and a handle from the bow of the boat fell off. We got wet, we got tossed around, and our driver also brought us to a lady selling bread, which we were obliged to buy and feed to the fish (okay, it was actually really cool. The large catfish would pile on top of each other until one lucky bugger was able to get his huge, gaping mouth around a piece of bread).

The French/Thai Style Grand Palace

Although a part if me wishes I was placed in Bangkok, I am extremely glad to be in laid-back Ayutthaya. It is much more expensive to live in the city (the Skytrain really isn't that good of a deal, me and my friends will opt for a Taxi if there is 4 of us because it's about the same price) and can get extremely overwhelming at times (and I lived in NYC). My proximity to Bangkok is a good compromise. It sometimes only takes an hour to get to the center of the city (traffic permitting), and only costs $2 each way, so going down for one night or even a day is worth it. It goes without saying that Bangkok is unlike any other city in the world, and after experiencing the rush and multi-faceted city, I understand why it is so famous (or infamous) and why people have been so inclined to say, "One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster," and "one night in Bangkok can make any man humble." I love the city and always enjoy my time there. I have not been down as frequently as I was at the beginning of the semester because I am saving up for my upcoming 3 month vacation, but it is always tempting to go down because there is always something exciting and new to do there.

family photo

gas on the back of a motorbike: safety always first in Thailand!

As my friend Bob said after my encounter with this incredibly
confusing toilet: "Thailand, home to the best and worst toilets
in the word."