Bang for a buck in Bangkok...

Erik: After a brisk tour of the US to see our families and friends (Portola Valley, CA, which was chilly compared to summer in Chile, Seattle, WA which was only just emerging from a record-breaking cold spell, and New York, NY, which was downright cold), we were ready to get on the road again. South East Asia had been high on my list ever since we'd spent a few weeks in Malaysia and Vietnam two years before. After a good deal of time poorly invested in disorganized research, we'd finally settled on the loosest of itineraries – flying into Bangkok, Thailand and returning from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 6 months later. Since we were using my American air miles for the tickets, we were able to organize the ticket only a few days prior to leaving. Everything in between we would decide as we went along. In hindsight, we probably should have invested a bit of that time in finding and reserving a hotel in Bangkok for our first night, especially as we were due to get in about midnight. Oops!

The morning we left it was snowing strongly in New York, which I was quite happy about, as we would really appreciate the balmy, tropical heat once we arrived in Thailand. Our flight was without a hitch – New York to Tokyo (14 hours) on American, and then Tokyo to Bangkok (7 hours) a few hours later on JAL. Man, the Japanese really have us beat on the air travel front – Tokyo Narita is a very nice airport, pure luxury compared to JFK, and JAL is several tiers above American in regards to amenities, service, meals/drinks, etc. It was a nice way to finish such a long flight.

At Bangkok's airport, we easily found a taxi into the city. As we had no hotel reservation, we simply chose a neighborhood in which our guidebook recommended quite a few hostels, which ended up being Banglamphu. We had the taxi drop us off near our first choice hotel, but in the small, dark winding streets, we couldn't find it. (The road was too small for the taxi to take us to the exact address.) Luckily we ran into Phil, a very nice man from Louisiana, who just happened to be walking down the street at 2:30am. He'd lived in Bangkok on-and-off for many years, and knew where the Riverline Guest House was – he was even nice enough to walk us there. Unfortunately there was a “full” sign hanging from the door. Phil didn't leave off there, though. He took us through the back streets of Bangkok, ringing bells at guest house after guest house which either didn't answer or were also full. Finally we found one that had a room available for 330 Baht/night (about $10) Phil thought that price was a bit high but we were exhausted and so thanked him for his help and checked in. Phew!

After only 3 or 4 hours, our jet lag had us wide awake at 7am, which was 7pm NYC time. We went out and found a tiny local cafe/beauty shop, where they offered us fresh coffee for only 10 Baht ($.30). The people were friendly and the coffee strong and delicious. What a find! We ended up going there every morning and often in the afternoon for a Thai iced coffee. Talor even had her hair cut there a few days later.

Not being enamored of our room, we spent that first morning checking out other lodgings in the area, finally arriving back at the Riverline, which now had rooms free. We took an extra-large room with private bath there for $10. Beyond the good price, Riverline also boasted two rooftop patios with river views and a friendly, helpful staff. It also had the firmest mattresses I'd ever felt. I'm pretty certain that the mattress was made of some extremely hard wood, but it was welcome after all the saggy, threadbare ones we'd endured in central and south america.
We spent the first few days in Bangkok in a jet-lagged haze, doing little more than sleeping (always waking up at 3am or so...) and eating delicious and incredibly cheap Thai street food – pad thai, curry, noodle soups, fresh pineapple, etc. Food was everywhere and we sampled a lot of it, usually for $1 or less a plate.

Talor: Took several days to shake the jetlag, but found the best neighborhood to do it in. Though Banglamphu is a very touristy neighborhood, we settled into a nice guesthouse on a quiet street, away from the main drag, surrounded by very friendly shops and eateries. By the second day, we already had a morning routine established... woke up to very strong coffee just around the block at Mrs. Siam's as we wrote our daily pages, then walked around the block gathering up our breakfast (sticky rice, pork patties, rice custard, fruit and juice). Back at the guesthouse, we took breakfast on the outside deck watching the traffic on the river as we planned our day. After breakfast, we'd set out to go sightseeing.

Though Bangkok is big, there are lots of different ways of getting around... a clean and air-conditioned underground metro, a modern skytrain with great views of the city, a huge network of buses (both ordinary and air-conditioned), the river taxis along the water, taxis and tuk-tuks (motorized carriages infamous for trying to rip off tourists). Using different combinations of the above, we managed to get around and cover much ground.

A week went quickly as we spent our days visiting the Grand Palace (where we were blown away by the over-the-top opulence of it), the Kamthieng House Museum, (centuries old traditional Thai house), Chatuchek Market (one of the biggest in Southeast Asia), Chinatown (where the traffic is always at a standstill), and other parks and neighborhoods. The best part? Streetfood, of course. It's everywhere! At anytime! I love it!

For more photos...

Bangkok