Adventures in Lifestyle Design from a Path Less Traveled
Travel Around Thailand 6 – Leaving Bangkok
This week has been going pretty well. We’ve managed to wake up early pretty much every day and do two hours of Thai followed by 90 minutes of yoga.
It is still tough to get online. Bangkok is a wired city, but unfortunately, most places require you to pay for wi-fi access. And me, being a Cheap Charlie (derogatory term used to describe foreigners that don’t eagerly hand over as much money as possible to anyone selling anything) isn’t really helping much. I’m still relying on the hotel across the street’s wi-fi even though it is weak at best.
Yoga is really tough. I’m actually surprised that the class I’m in is the most basic class that they offer. My girlfriend hurt her back and has taken the past few days to recover. I’ve been doing it alone and they’ve made me do a bunch of ridiculous poses. However, I do feel good afterward. My upper back just feels more “in place” and I think I’m losing my sit-all-day-in-front-of-a-computer hunch back that I got over the last year.
We went to visit Chinatown this week too. Bangkok’s Chinatown is much bigger than any other Chinatown in the US. In Seattle, you can probably walk from one end to the other in about 10 minutes. In Bangkok, it sprawls outward for blocks and blocks. Side streets become a labyrinth of narrow streets selling everything from shoes to food. It’s actually pretty cool.
Narrow streets in Chinatown
We also went to Chatuchak Weekend Market on Sunday. After experiencing a flea market in the Trastevere area of Rome back when I did a study abroad semester in 2003, I was expecting something similar. Show up early. By noon, it becomes a vast tidal wave of people and you completely lose the ability to direct where you’re going.
As a result, I insisted that we leave as early as possible and that I leave everything that wasn’t absolutely essential at home (still remembering those Roman pickpockets). As a result, I didn’t have my camera on me. But Chatuchak wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. The narrow paths weren’t overly crowded, and I never once felt someone grab at my ass hoping to find my wallet.
I really like Chatuchak. There are lots of very affordable clothes there. I got a shirt for about $6 that probably would have cost me $30 back in the US. There were some other things I wanted to get too, but I guess I’m still waiting for after our trip up to Chiang Mai in November.
Other than that, most of this week has been spent trying to figure out the logistics of our trip down south. We spent more time at Ubuntu using their wi-fi and hiding from the afternoon rain showers. And more time eating delicious street food.
On my laptop at Ubuntu – I REALLY like this coffee shop!
More street food – Yes, I finally figured out how to take macro shots on my camera
Tomorrow we are heading down to Krabi for 5 days. We are taking a 3rd class overnight train from Bangkok to Sura Thani (only $10! Did I mention that I’m a Cheap Charlie?) and then transferring to a bus to Krabi From what I understand Krabi is supposed to be nice like Phuket, but not all expensive and over-hyped. We will be staying in a bungalow on the beach. The place will have no electricity during the day (which probably doesn’t bode well for their wi-fi capabilities), but I’m actually looking forward to it. There’s something nice about being unplugged from the internet every now and then.
I guess the weather isn’t supposed to be so great, but I think we’ll still have a good time. No postcard-perfect beaches, but maybe just a little R&R will be nice.
Then after that we need to leave Thailand on the 28th since we don’t have visas. Originally we were going to go to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, but it looks like we’re going to cut KL out of the picture (I’m sorry to the 2 people in KL that read my blog. If you want to meet up, I should be in the train station for about 3 hours on 29th…)
I am a little nervous about Singapore. From what I understand it is just as expensive as the US. If we can make it through Singapore without cratering my bank account, we should be good for the rest of this trip :) I expect to probably spend one or two days sightseeing and then the rest of the time skulking around coffee shops or internet cafes writing all the articles I should have been writing in Bangkok…
Well, just when I was getting comfortable in Bangkok, it’s time to shove off and get a few more stamps in my passport. This should be fun!
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No electric during the day? The first question that comes into mind is ‘how do they manage’?
I just put myself in that position of going to a place with no electric during daylight hours, and unsuprisingly I feel uneasy at the thought.
Then I think, maybe we’re just too spoilt over here in the western world. We’re just too ‘comfortable’.
You’re right though, the time out will do you good.
Are you taking the train and bus simply because it’s cheap, or are you just trying to sample the culture.
Great update Clayton!
Ben.
Haha. There’s a lot of cafes in Singapore for you to grab free internet access especially at Mac Donalds and Starbucks areas. Do check them out when you are in Singapore. Catch up soon.
Cheers
Javier
The electricity thing is the very reason to make you go out and enjoy the sun,sea and sand :)Have heaps of fun and have a good trip to Singapore!