It’s been a little while since I posted an update, but I’ve been relaxing in a small village in the north east of Thailand, so not much to report unless a sick cat or a cow with 3 working legs interests you.
I do bump into the odd foreigner in the nearby market town of Satuek and on this occasion it was a retired American firefighter, who lives in Florida with his Thai wife. They are back for a visit to the parents in law and we had a good chat while standing at the meat counter.
He is equally annoyed by the dual pricing and, like my friend, his wife is highly embarrassed about it, to the extent that she now refuses to visit places that practice this. The nearby Khao Yai national park actually charges foreigners ten times more to visit than a Thai.
Anyway I mention this (again!) because I had the opposite experience in Bangkok the other day and thought it was nice to help slightly redress the balance.
I had made it to my hotel, which is near one of the Chao Phraya river jetties, so I arrived by the main river rather than by the usual canal network. It has been a long time since I took a boat on this river and it was a nice change.
Not really being used to the river stops. I got off a stop early by accident. These boats are every 30 minutes, so I decided to walk the 2km to where I should have actually got off the boat. This meant that I walked through an area that does not have any tourists. I certainly didn’t see any. I decided to stop at a typical restaurant for lunch frequented only by locals. Fortunately my Thai is now good enough to be able to order what I want and usually understand the reply. I ordered a pork noodle soup that is sticky. You’d probably call it slimy, I call it delicious or in thai ‘aroi’, or ‘sep u’ in the thai Isaan dialect.
Anyway to cut a long story short I enjoyed my lunch and when I went to pay the owner was having none of it. ‘No you are a foreigner he said, it’s free for you’. So a very big thank you to the owner of that restaurant for restoring a little faith.
I stayed in Bangkok for 2 nights before taking the bus back ‘home’ and decided to do at least a bit of sightseeing, but first I had to negotiate the new train station.
The train arrived at the brand new main Bangkok train station called Krung Thep Aphiwat. It has only been open since the 19th January and is a vast space, totally underutilised, devoid of shops, people, proper signage and links. It’s also in the north of the city unlike Hua Lamphong, which is in the south and until a few days ago was the main hub.
Some levels are designed for electric trains only, of which there are currently zero in service. For some time to come whole swathes of the station will be unused and there are lots of complaints that there is no street lighting around it yet, so there are a few teething problems.
I’m on the edge of the area called Bangalamphu. It’s where I always stay, but I’m about 800m further out and there is a calmer vibe here as well as lots of new places that I have never seen before. It’s also put me a fair way from the canal transport system, so I will have a go at using the buses as well.
I am fortunate to be here at the weekend as the fabulous Chatuchak weekend market is fully open. It is immense and there is no way you can see all the stalls as there are over 15000 of them ranging from antiques to pets with loads of food options naturally. I bought a new passport holder as my passport does get a bit of wear and tear. You can have your name etched on it and a small brass symbol of your choice from the selection offered. I went for a guitar.
It’s been third time lucky on the bus front. The first time it was late, then cancelled, then every other bus number arrived, until finally after almost an hour the number three bus did turn up. Quite a few foreigners turned up during the time that I and old thai lady were waiting and I could see that she was concerned that they were all going to pile on the bus leaving her with no place to sit. So when it arrived I made sure to help her elbow a few ‘farangs’ out of the way, as they made the expected rush for the doors, and got her a seat. Anyone would have thought they’d not heard of forming an orderly queue! Anyway it was a real bone shaker with no air con and it belched it way through the evening Bangkok traffic towards the Khoasan road, which took about 50 minutes. Great bus ride though.
I couldn’t find the long row of music shops where I bought an acoustic guitar and some pedals 17 years ago, but I did find a couple of guitar shops and bought some new guitar strings and then hopped on my second attempt at a bus towards Siam, but it didn’t stop, so I had to retrace my steps for about 600m.
Third time was perfect though. On time and stopped where it promised. Just as well as I was loaded down with my bags on my way back to the express bus terminal and the north.
The buses are a really cheap way of getting around Bangkok at only 8 baht, even for an hour long journey. They still have bus conductors giving out tickets and they carry a little metal cylinder that they flip open for change. Your ticket is ripped off a long roll that also sits in the cylinder. I noticed you can even pay by card! The bank notes they seem to carry wedged between the fingers of one hand, like a fan or a knuckleduster
I saw a great band at my usual music haunt on soi Rambuttri. The percussionist was brilliant as was the lead guitarist. They played a mix of blues, rock and a few ballads. I stayed up well past my bedtime listening to them 😉
All the walking makes me hungry, which is great as I get to eat double the thai food. I stop for some pork noodle soup about 8pm and then have a pad thai with egg or chicken at about 11pm!
I took the bus back to the north from Mo Chit, the main Bangkok bus station, rather than the express Nakonchai air station a couple of kilometres up the road. Same bus, it was just logistics. The bus terminal is huge, on several floors with dozens of check in desks and gates competing with ticket vendors, and food outlets. Fortunately there is an information kiosk at the entrance, otherwise it could take hours to find the right floor to check in and then find the gate.
One of my christmas stocking presents was a Vietnamese pho bo spice mix. Looking at the recipe on line, I didn’t realise that this famous breakfast and lunchtime dish takes hours to make properly. It’s all about the stock and often the chefs are up preparing it for the day at 4 am. Luckily my spice mix gives me a short cut, but it still takes me well over an hour to make, especially with my one burner cooker. You have to blacken the onions and the ginger as well.
Next up will be a trip along the east coast of Thailand, including the Sin city of Pattaya, so watch out for updates soon.