| Submitted by: Evelyn C. LeeperUnited States |
| Submission Date: 09 February 2005 |
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After
breakfast we went to the GPO where people wrapped up and shipped
home all the stuff they had bought (Mark and I slipped our three
books into Binayak's package). The weather, which had cooperated up
to this point, turned on us and decided to rain. After a quick stop
at a bank to change money or get cash advances (do-able in a bank
without a PIN), we returned to the hotel, checked out and splurged
on *two* taxis to take our luggage to the railway station. The taxi
driver we had many Buddhist medallions on his dashboard, sort of the
equivalent of a plastic Jesus. We figured that with Bangkok
traffic, he probably needed all the help he could get.
We checked our luggage in the Left Luggage at the station (20B,
or US$0.80, per bag) and headed for Wat Trimit and the Golden
Buddha. After asking directions a couple of times we found it, five
and a half tons worth. At one point it had been covered with
plaster to conceal it, but that did the job so well that everyone
forgot it was gold underneath. Only when they went to move it in
the 1950s and a piece of the covering chipped off did they realize
what it was. It seems that the most popular Buddha statues, at
least with the tourists, are those with the most intrinsic value
rather than those of historical significance or great artistry.
We walked over to Chinatown for lunch. Here we had an okay
meal in a Chinese restaurant, but not as good as the other meals
we've been having. One of the waitresses spoke a little English,
but our attempts to request chopsticks from another (in both English
and Mandarin) failed until I picked up the fork and the spoon, held
them upside down, and used their handles as chopsticks. Suddenly
recognition dawned on her face and she returned with five pairs of
chopsticks.
We then split up, with Barbara and Steve going off to the zoo,
and Binayak, Mark, and I walking through Chinatown to the river to
take the Chao Phraya Express to the Royal Barges. The Chao Phraya
Express is a ferry service that runs up and down the Chao Phraya
River and costs between 3B and 7B (US$0.12 and US$0.28) depending on
distance--an even bigger bargain than the Hong Kong Star Ferry!
We got off a few stops upriver but discovered we had gotten off
on the wrong side of the khlong, or side river/canal feeding into
the main river. So we took a ferry across the khlong--there are no
bridges--and walked to the Royal Barge Museum.
I suspect hardly anyone comes to the Barge Museum via land.
After getting to the right neighborhood, which is accessible only by
boat, you walk along concrete walkways laid between houses on
stilts. This is definitely one of the less developed areas of
Bangkok, looking strangely like the pictures one sees of Appalachian
towns and cabins--though the mosque we passed was certainly not
Appalachian. During this walk, we did get to see something Bangkok
is known for: a live sex show. Okay, so it was only two dogs by the
pathway, but what do you want for free? So much for the sex and sin
capital of Asia!
On arriving at the museum, our suspicions were confirmed.
There were no tickets at our entrance and the attendant had to go to
the entrance by the pier to get three to sell us. Yet there were
other people walking around, so they must have arrived by water.
The Royal Barges are ornately carved and decorated boats used
for state occasions; many of them are over a hundred years old.
They are kept in something like a submarine pen, covered to protect
the decorations from the elements, with the boats raised out of the
water to help preserve them. The dimness of the pen made it hard to
appreciate the full effect of the decorations, but there were the
usual postcards to help one.
At the dock were some long-tailed boats offering khlong tours.
(Long-tailed boats are so called because they have their motor, or
at least their propeller, at the end of a very long rudder extending
out from the back of the boat.) They seemed to have a standard
one-and-a-half hour tour but we negotiated a one-hour tour for a
lower price (300B, or US$12, for the three of us). The tour
(cruise, actually--the boatman hardly knew enough English to give us
a tour) took us up one khlong, then across a connecting waterway and
back down another khlong, finally crossing the river and ending up
at the Grand Palace.
Life on the khlong is pretty much like people picture life on a
Louisiana bayou in that everything focuses on the water. The only
way to get to the houses on the khlongs is by water, so mailboxes
and newspaper delivery boxes are on the water so that deliveries can
be made without the delivery person getting out of the boat. (You
might think the people living here are terribly poor, but with so
many subscribing to daily papers this can't be the case.)
However, the sanitation level is fairly low. People put raw
sewage into the khlong, but they also use it for washing. (One
presumes they either boil their drinking water, use rain water, or
buy bottled water.)
Everyone was very friendly, waving to us as we passed by, not
seeming to feel we were intruding. In general people in Thailand
are very friendly and want to talk to us. Our 'New York paranoia'
often makes us distrustful of this when we probably shouldn't be and
we miss out on good experiences because of it (plus we probably seem
stand-offish).
Anyway, going down a khlong is definitely something I would
recommend to people visiting Bangkok. It provides a clear contrast
to the hub-bub and chaos of the rest of the city.
Arriving at the Grand Palace pier, we tried to decided what to
do next. It was too late to see Jim Thompson's House (he revived
the silk industry in Thailand), and we had already walked around
this area, so we opted for taking the Chao Phraya Express up-river
to Notanburi and then back to the pier near the train station, just
watching the river traffic and banks.
We started about 4:15 PM. At 5 PM we were still headed up-
river, and our plan was to be back at the Hualampong Train Station
at 5:30 PM for our 6:30 PM train. We got off at the next stop, just
missing a down-river boat. The next one was due twenty minutes
later. Okay, this is bad, we thought, but down-river will be much
faster than up-river, right?
Wrong! We got the world's worst boat driver. It took him two
or three passes each time he had to dock and other boats frequently
beat him to the pier and we had to wait for them to finish.
Unfortunately, we had no choice--slow as he was, anything else was
much slower.
5:45 PM, 5:50 PM, ... we finally docked at our pier at 6 PM.
We had maneuvered ourselves to the back of the boat and were the
first ones off. We came running off the pier. Binayak grabbed a
tuk-tuk driver (figuratively) and said, 'Train station. Hualampong.
How much?' 'Fifty baht.' 'Done!' And three farangs (foreigners)
leaped into the tuk-tuk.
Having seen us tear off the pier and not even attempt to
bargain for a trip to the train station, this guy didn't have to be
a rocket scientist to figure out we probably had a train to catch
and were late. (He probably knew exactly when all the trains leave
also.) And it became obvious within one block that if it was
physically possible he would get us there on time. After two blocks
it became clear that even if it were physically *impossible* he
would get us there. He changed lanes constantly to move faster--
both lanes in our direction, the center dividing lane, and at least
one of the lanes in the opposite direction! He didn't run the one
red light but did almost run down two pedestrians. Amazingly, we
got to the train station, in one piece, at 6:10 PM, after a thrill
ride comparable to something at Great Adventure.
As we had predicted, Barbara and Steve were having fits. (They
claimed they didn't go into panic mode until 6:08 PM.) While I paid
the 'Tuk-Tuk from Hell' 60B (considering that the real price for
that distance would normally be 30B or 40B and that one rarely tips
tuk-tuk drivers, this was not a bad tip--and he seemed very happy),
Binayak and Mark verified that Steve had gotten our luggage out of
Left Luggage (luckily he had the receipt rather than one of us). In
the rush, Barbara lost hold of one end of the bungee cord she was
tying down her luggage with and the plastic hook whacked her in the
chin.
In spite of all these mishaps we made the train--Steve and
Barbara already knew which track it was on and luckily our car was
the closest to the station, not the furthest.
The sleeper cars in this train were newer and had luggage racks
and permanent ladders instead of the hook-on kind that the previous
sleeper did. Because we left at 6:30 PM the berths were not yet
made up. Someone came around to take dinner orders but Binayak said
we would eat in the restaurant car instead.
About 7:30 PM we walked down to the restaurant car, at the
other end of the train (twelve cars). This gave us a chance to see
what all the other classes of travel were like. We had air-
conditioned second-class berths. The non-air-conditioned second-
class berths were basically the same. Second-class seats were
similar to airplane seats but with more leg room. Third class was
definitely several notches below second class: it was much darker
(smaller bulbs or fewer bulbs) with padded bench seats instead of
recliners. Since this was an overnight trip, people were trying to
sleep in these, either by stretching their legs out into the aisle
or by sleeping on the floor *under* the seats on large pieces of
cardboard or paper. It did *not* look comfortable.
The 'restaurant car' turned out to be just a kitchen and enough
seats for the train crew to eat at. It was not the white tablecloth
and gleaming silver you see in the movies. So we returned to our
seats and ordered from there.
However, because we had ordered late it took a long time for
the food to arrive. It was 9 PM by the time we were all served. By
the time we were finished, the porter to pull down the berths was
nowhere to be seen. Everyone we asked kept saying, 'Five minutes,'
but by 10 PM we decided to go look for him. He was in the
restaurant car, apparently waiting for us, since there was much
laughter when we arrived. Upon returning to the car, we discovered
that someone else with a berth key had let down the berths and was
not happy with the porter for keeping us waiting.
The ride from Bangkok to Trang was not as smooth as the ride
from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. The track seemed rougher and there were
more starts and stops, including one massive lurch when they
attached more cars at a much higher speed than they should have. As
a result, none of us slept quite as well either.
October 17, 1990: In the daylight you can see the track pass
under the toilet. (Just thought you'd want to know.)
The scenery gets even more tropical as we head south, with more
rice paddies and palm trees. We arrived in Trang a little after 10
AM. Attempts to call hotels in Krabi proved futile (and expensive,
at US$2 each), so we decided to get to Krabi and try from there.
Binayak had said we would take share taxis, which would be more
comfortable and faster than a bus. However, none of these creatures
seemed to exist. What there *was* was a bus, non-air-conditioned,
which went to Phuket by way of Krabi. |
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| Copyright © - "Evelyn C. Leeper" |
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