Chapter 9 - Bangkok, Thailand; on the King's Birthday

Ok everybody: It just got REAL. Traveling to Australia is fun, familiar, and aside from accents and different money, I was basically in a place that closely resembles California. Thailand is definitely not California. Where do I begin? I left the airport with basically no plan whatsoever. Khoason Road was a place I read about in the book The Beach so I told the cab driver to take me there. In Thailand, when you tell a cabbie where you want to go, it becomes a negotiation. He'll say "NAH NAH, I know good place, CHEAP CHEAP." They get bonuses for delivering tourists to certain places so you have to argue every step of the way. Eventually I got delivered to Khoason Road at about 11 at night and it was raining. I walking around for a good two hours because everything was full. Finally I found a real beat place a block away from the main strip. It is a very dirty little strip of shops and bars that cater to backpackers. It reminded me a lot of Bourbon Street, but with hookers everywhere. Needless to say, this is not a "family atmosphere".



In the morning the strip looked a little more normal. I got familiar with my surroundings and then I got my first ride on a Tuk Tuk.



You may be asking yourself "what's a tuk tuk?". Picture a motorcycle that has been modified with a roof and bench seat behind the driver. It was a very fun way to get around.



He took me around to a few Buddhist temples that were only open because it was December 5th, which is the King of Thailand's birthday. Temples are very peaceful. You walk in and sit on a rug on the floor and just chill out. Buddhism is a very quiet, personal religion. No sermons, cracker on the tongue, or the things we're accustomed to with religion. You simply walk in, have some quiet time, drop some money in a box, and leave. I found it very relaxing.









Bangkok is crowded. Very Very Crowded. It also has so much traffic that the air unfortunately smells like a full drag off of a cigarette.


I went to a nearby park to see how the Thai celebrate the King's birthday and found at least 500,000 people at a free festival bigger than anything I've ever seen. The Thai love their King. They have big billboards of him everywhere.

Thousands of people lined the streets to see his motorcade drive by. I waited for about two hours but finally got bored and took off.

I was lucky enough to run into this guy named Jess. He must have seen me sticking out like a sore thumb, and since he could speak English he and I hung out for the big festival. He is the first Malaysian that I've met. He was also traveling alone so we kept track of each other and pushed our way through the crowds. In this picture we climbed on top of some trucks to get a view of a Muay Thai boxing match.

Muay Thai is one hell of a cool sport to watch. Its similar to boxing but you can also kick, chop, or deliver a flying elbow. I wouldn't want to mess with any of these guys. Surprisingly there were several white guys competing who seemed like Americans.

Aside from the boxing and concerts, the King fed people from food stalls and paid for free haircuts on the sidewalk. Huh?

What you are looking at in this picture in no joke. Those are bugs. Big, fat, juicy bugs that have been seasoned and toasted and sold to the people by the bag. It seriously blew my mind. I walked by one stall and pointed at some little toasted frogs. The vendor picked one up and offered me a sample. I thought: "When in Rome"...so I popped it in my mouth and it was surprisingly tasty. Salty with a spicy barbecue flavor.

When it started to get dark I noticed everybody starting to light candles. Some nice people offered Jess and I some candles so we lit them and joined the scene. Picture hundreds of thousands of people all helping each other light one another's candles, followed by a simple smile and a nod of the head. I don't want to be cheesy, but it was a really incredible moment. Next they played a national anthem (or something) and at the conclusion everyone shouted something and all raised their candles into the air all at once. A sea of flickering lights raises up into the air, and I really got to see the fabric of Thai society. These people were bound together through tradition and a love for their King. Amazing. None of my pictures came out except for this one which is distorted in a cool sort of way.

There is something else that was impressive about the Thai people. As I walked around this sea of people I must have looked like an alien. Tourists must not normally go to this festival because people would throw me a double-take with wide eyes. This was happening at least once a minute. What I found incredible is that I, an obvious foreigner, must have come face to face with several thousand people and not a single person gave me a dirty look or show of disrespect. They usually just nodded their head at me and smiled. I think it says something about a people when I can walk through an environment such as this and feel accepted.

That's all for Bangkok. Thanks for reading and stay tuned. Next up: Ayuthaya and the ancient temples of Siam.