Sunday, February 15, 2009

Bizarre Bangkok bazaar (Feb. 14/09 - Bangkok, Thailand)

People were still pounding back beers at makeshift bars in the street as we drove through at nearly 6am in search of a hotel. Almost every hotel had staff at the reception at that time of the morning, indicating the 24/7 nature of a neighbourhood that sees travelers coming, going, and partying at all hours. After a couple tries, we found a place with a cheap enough room, so we crashed for a couple hours to ease the sleep deficit before heading out to explore Bangkok.

Bangkok is a huge city, sprawling with tons to see and do and bustling with some 6 million people. We had heard about a weekend market that happens on the northeast side of town, and the Lonely Planet calls it "the mother of all markets". We found a tuk-tuk driver to take us out there, but a condition of the low price was that he could make three stops along the way at stores where he gets a commission just for bringing people in the door. We have all day, so whatever! Stop #1 was a jewellry place where suit-clad salespeople show you stern-faced workers busily polishing gemstones and forming gold jewellry. I've read about Bangkok's notariety as fake gemstone capital of southeast Asia, so I was skeptical of the whole show. Stop #2 was a tailor shop where tourists were lined up to have clothing custom made - yup, been there done that in Hoi An! The last one was a place with three floors of random goods like leather bags, silk shirts, and botanical soaps - all lovely, but all very pricey. The Chatuchak Market, however (our destination) was amazing! Some 200,000 people pass through here each day, eyeing goods for sale from 15,000 stalls selling the most insane range of products that you could imagine. Think of any item at all and it's probably for sale here! You can buy decorative light fixtures, live owls, fried chicken feet, brass sculptures of naked men, plumbing supplies, lacy underwear, full grown golden retrievers, cases of shampoo, bubble tea, and evening gowns! It was almost mind blowing! We got thoroughly lost many times sauntering around, and we came away with a few odds and ends to take home. Other than seeing the poor animals cooped up in cages and tanks (as if a Husky was built to survive in the tropics?), and aside from accidently seeing my first cock fight (roosters encouraged to kill eachother), it was a pretty fun experience.

We figured out the flashy new subway system to take us down to the riverfront, where we hopped on a commuter boat to take us back up the river. Multiple large, ornate wats dot the riverbanks on both sides, and we intend on visiting them tomorrow. For now, we hopped off at the dock nearest to our neighbourhood and found our way back to familiar turf. We were pretty pleased with ourselves today, in our home made adventure and in our success in navigating a huge, new city with ease. I guess you can call us seasoned travellers now!

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