Days spent: 4
Modes of transportation: Bicycles, sky train and tuk-tuk.
Welcome to BangkokThailand!
This city is truly on the move. Hold on to you seats - it's going to be a hell of a ride. It is a very modern cosmopolitan city filled with Ancient temples , an interchange of the past, present and future. Adam and I spent 4 days in this crazy city.
We cycled around like we've lived there for years, all around the city, flowing with the traffic, the mopeds leading the way. Cycling is a great way to experience Bangkok - it allows you to see the city at your own pace while avoiding the tuk-tuk drivers, more than willing to take you for a "ride". There have been many stories of tourists being taken advantage of and being charged much more money than is required.
We visited the ancient temples and saw 50 metre gold-plated Buddas and the Golden Mount - a
temple where monks go to meditate with an amazing view of the entire city. It's quite something to see the shack houses sprawled around the city, sitting amongst the shadows of the gleaming sky scrapers and shopping malls.
If ever you need anything in Bangkok - go to the MBK mall. It is an immense mall filled with literally thousands of stores, lined in narrow corridors that spread for miles. Security is tight, there are metal detectors at all the doors leading into the mall. Apparently, the threat of bombs is quite high - there is security even for the subway! This is understandable in a city riddled with the poor who are governed by a few rich.
After 4 exhausting days in Bangkok, we decided to leave for Cambodia, the land of the exotic Khmer people. We wanted to take a 5 hour train from Bangkok to Anyaprathet - near the border to Cambodia. From there we would cycle to Poipet, the border town in Cambodia. Upon arrival to the train station, after a fast ride on our bikes at 5 am in the morning, we were told by the information booth that bikes were not accepted on the train. Argue!!!! How would we get there? If there is a will, there will always be a way. Michelle decided to approach the woman at the entrance to where the trains were stationed and see what she said about the bikes. As Michelle approached, the woman nodded her head = saying "no problem". So, quickly, Michelle bought 2 tickets for 48 baht each ($1.5 USD), and we ran to our train. Uh Oh! security! But no problem, they helped us get on the train. The opening to the caboose is so small we had to take part of our bikes apart. Once we were on the move, the ticket person came by and asked for an additional 180 baht ($2.8 USD) for our bikes. Then finally we could relax for our 5 hour train ride - all for under $6.
Modes of transportation: Bicycles, sky train and tuk-tuk.
Welcome to BangkokThailand!
This city is truly on the move. Hold on to you seats - it's going to be a hell of a ride. It is a very modern cosmopolitan city filled with Ancient temples , an interchange of the past, present and future. Adam and I spent 4 days in this crazy city.
We cycled around like we've lived there for years, all around the city, flowing with the traffic, the mopeds leading the way. Cycling is a great way to experience Bangkok - it allows you to see the city at your own pace while avoiding the tuk-tuk drivers, more than willing to take you for a "ride". There have been many stories of tourists being taken advantage of and being charged much more money than is required.We visited the ancient temples and saw 50 metre gold-plated Buddas and the Golden Mount - a
temple where monks go to meditate with an amazing view of the entire city. It's quite something to see the shack houses sprawled around the city, sitting amongst the shadows of the gleaming sky scrapers and shopping malls.If ever you need anything in Bangkok - go to the MBK mall. It is an immense mall filled with literally thousands of stores, lined in narrow corridors that spread for miles. Security is tight, there are metal detectors at all the doors leading into the mall. Apparently, the threat of bombs is quite high - there is security even for the subway! This is understandable in a city riddled with the poor who are governed by a few rich.
After 4 exhausting days in Bangkok, we decided to leave for Cambodia, the land of the exotic Khmer people. We wanted to take a 5 hour train from Bangkok to Anyaprathet - near the border to Cambodia. From there we would cycle to Poipet, the border town in Cambodia. Upon arrival to the train station, after a fast ride on our bikes at 5 am in the morning, we were told by the information booth that bikes were not accepted on the train. Argue!!!! How would we get there? If there is a will, there will always be a way. Michelle decided to approach the woman at the entrance to where the trains were stationed and see what she said about the bikes. As Michelle approached, the woman nodded her head = saying "no problem". So, quickly, Michelle bought 2 tickets for 48 baht each ($1.5 USD), and we ran to our train. Uh Oh! security! But no problem, they helped us get on the train. The opening to the caboose is so small we had to take part of our bikes apart. Once we were on the move, the ticket person came by and asked for an additional 180 baht ($2.8 USD) for our bikes. Then finally we could relax for our 5 hour train ride - all for under $6.
2 comments:
Hi Adam and Michelle!
Great to see your first posting and know that you are off to a good start. Bangkok sounds great! Nice job getting on the train with the bikes! Can't wait to see some pictures!
Bonjour Michelle et Adam!
Great write-up on Bangkok! Great pictures too, you look a bit tired Michelle... So, where are you guys going to spend Christmas and New Year? Anything "special" planned?! ;-) By the way, how is the food?
Here in Ottawa, we received a lot of snow... and it's not even officially winter yet! It's very good for cross-country skiing conditions: the trails in the Gatineau Park are all open and in top conditions.
Well, got to get back to work now. Some of us still have to work!
Au plaisir de lire davantage sur vos aventures!
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