Though I hadn't originally planned to stop there, I had heard from one fellow traveler that flights were generally cheaper out of Bangkok than Kuala Lumpur, and had been told by another about a set of bizarre art installations in the far northern city of Chiang Rai. So I booked a flight to Kolkata out of Bangkok and, after spending New Year's in Penang, I boarded the International Express overnight train to the capital city.
I spent just one evening and the following day in Bangkok, but it turned out to be a much more eventful stay than I'd anticipated. At the hostel I met a German expat named Frank, a friend of the hostel's owner. In addition to being agent of Interpol (so he claimed, and he *did* have a badge), he was a chess grandmaster (though he no longer competed) and former world Tetris champion (though I'm not sure this title existed before 2011). Having lived in Bangkok for twenty-five years, he had an intimate knowledge of the city. For 200 baht (about seven dollars) each, he took a few others and I on a tour of some strange and little-known sites, expounding upon them in his thickly-accented English and peppering his expositions with ribald jokes. Afterwards I put his claim of chess mastery to the test. We played twice, and while I'm not an especially skilled player, I've never before been crushed so completely and rapidly, so by the end I was ready to believe him.
The next evening saw me piling into a double-decker bus for an uncomfortable overnight ride to Chiang Rai, where I spent five days. The White Temple and the Black House, documented in the second photo album below, were macabre and spectacular, each in a very different way, and worth seeing if you find yourself in Thailand. I also joined a group of other backpackers to take a one-day Thai cooking class taught by a local, who took us around the market to buy ingredients before teaching us to prepare four dishes, all of which were delicious. I'm not sure how much of it I remember but afterwards she gave us a link to her website, which has the recipes.
Finally returning to Bangkok by another, slightly more comfortable night bus, I arrived at the airport at six in the morning and passed the eight hours until my flight in watching Thais and tourists swarming through the vast check-in hall, a surprisingly calming pass-time.
And that's Thailand. My photos from Bangkok are here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152193367715879.1073741844.514945878&type=1&l=32ef579ec6
EDIT: And here's the Facebook album for Chiang Rai:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152255734305879.1073741845.514945878&type=1&l=af185953fb
Next time: Kolkata, and maybe some more of India as well.
I spent just one evening and the following day in Bangkok, but it turned out to be a much more eventful stay than I'd anticipated. At the hostel I met a German expat named Frank, a friend of the hostel's owner. In addition to being agent of Interpol (so he claimed, and he *did* have a badge), he was a chess grandmaster (though he no longer competed) and former world Tetris champion (though I'm not sure this title existed before 2011). Having lived in Bangkok for twenty-five years, he had an intimate knowledge of the city. For 200 baht (about seven dollars) each, he took a few others and I on a tour of some strange and little-known sites, expounding upon them in his thickly-accented English and peppering his expositions with ribald jokes. Afterwards I put his claim of chess mastery to the test. We played twice, and while I'm not an especially skilled player, I've never before been crushed so completely and rapidly, so by the end I was ready to believe him.
The next evening saw me piling into a double-decker bus for an uncomfortable overnight ride to Chiang Rai, where I spent five days. The White Temple and the Black House, documented in the second photo album below, were macabre and spectacular, each in a very different way, and worth seeing if you find yourself in Thailand. I also joined a group of other backpackers to take a one-day Thai cooking class taught by a local, who took us around the market to buy ingredients before teaching us to prepare four dishes, all of which were delicious. I'm not sure how much of it I remember but afterwards she gave us a link to her website, which has the recipes.
Finally returning to Bangkok by another, slightly more comfortable night bus, I arrived at the airport at six in the morning and passed the eight hours until my flight in watching Thais and tourists swarming through the vast check-in hall, a surprisingly calming pass-time.
And that's Thailand. My photos from Bangkok are here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152193367715879.1073741844.514945878&type=1&l=32ef579ec6
EDIT: And here's the Facebook album for Chiang Rai:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152255734305879.1073741845.514945878&type=1&l=af185953fb
Next time: Kolkata, and maybe some more of India as well.
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