SLEEP! SLEEP! and more SLEEP!
We slept MOST of the day, since we didnt sleep much on the plane (its hard to sleep when you know you are flying over the Pacific Ocean and South China Sea! Freaky!) I was still extremely nauseous and I was really feeling the effects of jet lag of crossing the world.
Buuut I still could not believe we were in Asia, let alone Bangkok, and I kept thinking about all the hustle and bustle of THE Bangkok just outside my door! I mean, Ive only seen this stuff in the movies!
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| The view from our balcony. So much foliage in Bangkok! |
So we went to check out the Sukhumvit District and the street vendors. Afterwards we hung out at the rooftop pool to cool off from the 32 degree/90% RH weather.
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| Scott outside our boutique hotel in Sukhumvit |
Then I got an amazinggggg 1 hour Thai massage (for 200 baht!=6$ CAD) from Khan @
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| Thai Montra Spa- awesome experience! |
Thai Montra Spa.When I say amazing, I mean AMAZING!!!!! It is totally different from a conventional massage. Its more like yoga than anything. I really hurt my back a few months ago, and since her massage it hasnt bothered me at all.
I think the heat here is probably helping relax the muscles a lot too. Khan was really friendly and even taught me some of the language! "Ratrie sawan" means "Good night" and "Dee mak" means "Very good". :)
We saw lots of cool things just outside our doorstep. Bangkok, (what I now like to refer to as Crazy Town, because it is) has soooo much going on, its really hard to describe in a few sentences. Its just one of those things! Heres a few pics I took while strolling around the area.
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A nursery on Sukhumvit road,
amidst the apartment buildings |
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| A Thai-style Christmas tree! |
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"Hong Thong" Liquor,
110 baht for a mickey!
Thats a little over 3$ CAD |
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A small shrine @ a gas station-
Notice the Tuk Tuk in the background |
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A Bus stop with a living wall, they are everywhere! It may be a smoggy city,
but there are plenty of plants to help filter the pollution. |
"Bangkok traffic" can drive a person insane. Apparently not even James Bond could beat the traffic in one of his movies (1968). If he cant do it, who can? It really is amazing how this city functions, its just mayhem!! Yes, there are directional lanes, but they are mostly a suggestion, a guideline if you will. You are lucky to find even a cross walk-- most times there is just a cross walk lane marked across the road, but there are no lights or anything to govern when cars will stop, or when pedestrians will go. After all, this is a developing country. For the most part, you just need to use your judgement and take advantage of the opportune moments when they arise (these are far and few apart, and one things for sure, if you dont go-they will!)
You can see by looking around that most people drive small motorbikes rather than cars. It doesnt make sense here to drive a car and sit in traffic for hours. In Bangkok it is not economical, environmentally friendly or time efficient to drive cars, so most dont. It just doesnt make sense. Even though Bangkok has its problems, I still think we could take a few lessons from this city, one of heaviest populated cities in the world.
At home in Canada, almost every individual has their own car, and this goes for all classes of society for the most part. Here, regardless of your status, people are seen driving together on motorbikes, easily weaving in and out of traffic. As people in cars look on, the bikers drive away darting between parked cars and continuing on with their day. Not only do Thais use motorbikes more commonly, but they are very comfortable with the art of riding. It is a completely normal thing to see motorbike taxis bringing people to work, or 3 people racing by on one motorbike, or to see women on the back of motorbikes riding "side saddle"! There are no laws against this. It is even legal to have unlimited people riding in the back of a truck.. Again, Crazy Town!
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| In Bangkok, all restaurant delivery comes on motorbike! Even McDonalds! |
