Okay it was actually five nights in Bangkok. We arrived to Bangkok on the 10th of February and made our way to the Thai Cozy House Hotel around the block from Khao San Road. Khao San Road is the “backpackers” hangout in Bangkok, lots of travelers from all over stay in this area. We dropped our backpacks and headed out into the night market on our street and the next. The market is full of people, sights, sounds and smells. There are stalls selling shirts, shoes, knick knacks, knives, Phad Thai, Curry and fried bugs (crickets, grubs, scorpions). Tim is knackered and heads back to the room to get some sleep. Jeff and I head off to Khao San Road and a favorite pub of ours (Doug it’s the same place you remember). We have a nice night chatting with people and refreshing ourselves with Sang Som (rum) and coke.
We spend our next few days visiting Bangkok’s Wats, Palaces, shopping and eating loads of great food. We took the water taxi on the Chao Phraya River, rode tuk tuks and even used the subway.
The Grand Palace, Wat Arun (covered in broken porcelain dishes) and Wat Pho (very large reclining Buddha) are amazing no matter how many times you visit. The buildings are so colorful, decorated with ceramic tiles, painted with bright colors and some “gold”.
Sunday the 14th was Chinese New Year and so we head to Chinatown. The main street is closed and decorated for the festivities with Tigers everywhere. We look for a nice Chinese restaurant for dinner, but they are all closed and settle for a place with so called “Chinese” food. We have been told of a parade scheduled for 7pm and we decided to wait along with all the other people. The event was expected to be really quite something and as we waited we got acquainted with others around us. They told us the Princess was here and she would soon follow. Great we thought the Princess and a parade for Chinese New Year…. Well not really, after waiting for 2 ½ hours, the Princess did make her way down the street surrounded by a large entourage, but there was no parade to follow. Apparently they cancelled the parade after the Princess took her time, actually stopping to eat and visit with the people. This came as no surprise or disappointment to the locals because hey got to see their Princess. We on the other hand were ready for the parade with Dragon and Lion dances, etc. everything you would expect at a CNY parade, but it was not to be and so that was the extent of our CNY in Bangkok.
~ Karen ~
Although the Chinese New Year parade was a bust, I enjoyed watching the Thai people patiently wait for their Princess. Several times the parade began only to stop when the Princess decided to buy gifts for some of the people or she decided to eat with some of the people. Back home, this would upset the crowd who were waiting. In Thailand, the royal family is everything and the people were all happy that she took time to give gifts to ordinary people and that she would eat with ordinary people. When she eventually went by on the parade route, there was an audible gasp, followed by a “Did you see here? Did you see her?” Quite impressive the devotion to the royal family.
~ Jeff ~
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