Bangkok, Thailand: Week Four

30th May - 5th June 2011



After such a lovely birthday dinner on Sunday, we were both surprised and more than a bit miffed when we suffered from the runs, I stayed in bed while Djalma went into school to print off test papers to practise on.

On Tuesday I headed out of the apartment at Djalma request to give him some space, after a bit of deliberation I headed back to Coffee alley where we'd had my birthday breakfast. I spent the day downloading the complete series of Star Wars, writing my diary and wasting time on FB. I didn't get back until late having visited Tesco right at the opposite end of town, the last stop on the BTS, and getting dinner before heading up to our flat with the groceries. It was 10pm when I finally knocked on the door to be let in, Djalma was more than relieved that I hadn't managed to get lost or be kidnapped! At Tesco I also found some shoes which fell apart as soon as I wore them the next day, after giving me two blisters on each foot. Joy.

Wednesday = Movie Day! We decided to go to our local cinema in a smaller shopping centre complex, it was actually more expensive than the bigger better cinema in Central World where we went before. During the day Djalma studied and did a practice test while I did the laundry and got food from our Chinese dude on the corner. We left early afternoon and went to see the Hangover 2, based in Thailand! By the way, if you do see the film, bear in mind that the cockroaches aren't all that big, not everywhere (I'm keeping one hostage under a plastic cup in our bathroom as I type) and that Bangkok is brimming if not overflowing with 7-Elevens. Seriously their ham and cheese toasties are one of the reasons that I'm so happy to be staying in this great city.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

Thursday blurred by, we tried to plan the Aquarium for Friday but it fell through, we got to Siam Paragon (the Aquarium is located on the ground floor) neither of us were really in mood especially with Djalma having to focus on studying for the IELTS test, we went to the food-court which was massive for a doughnut and a crap coffee. We decided to have a look round and discovered an Orchid show so we had a look round the exhibition which was also huge and I got snap happy with all the beautiful flowers. We went home and kicked back to watch the first Star Wars film 'A New Hope'.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

We decided to haul our asses out on Saturday and walked to the nearest government run bicycle station. They took copies of our passports, gave us a map with a cycle route and we were off on our free bikes.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

The tour took us all around the West side of the river and because we took so many pictures I'll list the places in the order we visited them in, with a spot of background information;

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

Wat Dusidaram Worawiharn; is an old Wat (a Wat is a monastery temple) near the mouth of Bangkok Soi Canal (a back water canal), and, I quote, 'an exquisite piece of traditional Thai architecture'. It was all locked up when we visited but there were turtles swimming in a small green pond under a small wooden building and lots of small figurines adorning the outer windowsills.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

The Royal Barge Museum; houses eight royal barges which were classified as national treasures after 1974 when the Fine Arts Dept. were assigned to renovate them. When we visited we paid a small entrance fee for us and the camera and watched as women and a couple of men painstakingly applied lacquer/paint to the delicate detail.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

They all had incredible figureheads and jewelled detail on the sides not to mention lots of little polished shiny squares which sparkled in the light. I got the most of my camera's admission fee (I hate it when they charge you for your camera) and Djalma took some time out and sat by the river waiting for me.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

We cycled through little concrete lanes past houses and big patches overgrown with beautiful green weeds and flowers, dotted with little shrines housing small figures of Buddhas and his flower and fizzy pop offerings.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

We gave the Medical Museum a miss and cycled over a bridge (getting our bikes up the steps was great fun) and onto Wang Lang Market. There wasn't much to see, just the usual market stuff and lots of food stalls, we picked up some super greasy spring rolls and some tiny squares of bread with a dollop of mystery paste all deep fried. My arteries had a field day. Luckily they didn't seize up before we got to our next stop...

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

Wat Rakang Kositaram; an ancient monastery lively with families, small children ringing bells and those a little older sending silent prayers along with incense and flowers to Buddha. It was a beautiful monastery but raucous, while I wandered round the grounds – there is always more than one building in Wats – Djalma waited outside.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

We cycled up to Trok Matoom which is famous for syrupy sweets made from bael fruit but the little shop was shut so we stopped nearby for a coca cola and a breather before heading back into the alleys and onto our next stop.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

Wat Kalayanamitrworamahavihan; is on land donated by a guy along with his own house to King Rama III who designated it as a Royal Temple around 1825, it is right opposite a river bus stop and out the front a small family cooked meat over a charcoal barbecue to sell to temple goers.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

The atmosphere inside was a lot more peaceful and I wandered round while Djalma watched greedy pigeons being fed multicoloured bits of rice fluff.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

We weren't long from the end of our little trip and for the last leg, the map took us right out on the water, we cycled along a path built on stilts which passed by houses built the same way, it was beautiful. Along the way we stopped off at our final sightseeing destination, Santa Cruz Church.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

In 1769 the King granted the Portuguese a plot of land to build a church the first one, a wooden structure was replaced by a second one with a very Chinese design and was then replaced in 1913 this time in a neoclassic and renaissance style (no idea what this really means, I'm just quoting from the guidebook here). We cycled up and took a look around, it was a beautiful church a bit like a cake, on steroids, but beautiful. Inside there were stained glass windows and two angels holding sea shell bowls, a beautiful breeze flowed through the main hall which took the edge off the afternoon heat.

From Week Four: Bangkok, Thailand

We left the church behind and cycled the last few minutes to a different cycle station where we checked our bikes back in and left to meet one of Djalma's old friends from Rio Claro in Brazil.

After killing some time in a 7-Eleven (you've got to take the air-con where you can get it) we met up with Mateus and went to a small Thai restaurant where we kicked back over a couple of beers and some very nice Thai food, talking about the people hey knew in common and what they'd each been doing since school. We left Mateus fairly early, he had a plane to catch the next morning and we made our way home, content after a lovely day, good food and good company.

I spent Sunday working on all the photos (there were over 300 to sort through and edit), checking out ways to get to Laos to get a new visa, we went to a local train station in the evening to try and buy the tickets but although the station was open the ticket office was closed so we decided to go back first thing in the morning to book a sleeper berth to Nong Khai (the Thai side of the Thai-Lao border).