In the Land of Buddhas, Stupas and Monks

The ~20hr. train ride to Bangkok was pretty uneventful and the border crossing was one of the easiest I've been through. All of the guide books say that crossing the border between Malaysia and Thailand should be avoided at all cost, but it was a breeze. I even met a very helpful Australian on the train who gave me an amazing map of Bangkok and recommended a place to stay that wasn't Khao San Road. KS Road is one long strip of hotels, hostels, bars, restaurants, shops, food stalls and numerous touts, all catering to the tourist. There isn't anything resembling culture. :P I was glad to not be staying there.

After settling in, I set off to explore the “city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarma.” That's what the official title of Bangkok translates as. Huh. I quickly joined forces with a lovely French lady, and although her English was not fluent, it was better than my French and we explored a temple and wandered around for awhile, marvelling at the amount of shops selling Buddha images of all sizes.

On my first full day in Bangkok, I did a tour of temples: Wat Pho (huge reclining Buddha), Wat Arun (lovely view of the city) and Wat Traimit (the largest solid gold Buddha), got lost in the winding alleys of Chinatown, managed to buy a bag of snap peas from a veggie vendor without speaking a word of English, bought and ate 2 pork dim-sum, even though they were a little pink on the inside and ended the day with a much deserved pedicure! It was a lot to take in. Bangkok is a rambling metropolis of

Chinese shops, Wats, markets selling flowers, veggies, amulets, and souvenirs, street vendors, tuk-tuks, buses, motos, and on every corner; someone selling lotto tickets.

On day two I braved the bus system (WOOT WOOT) and found my way to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Covering more than 35 acres and holding more than 15,000 stalls, it was a city unto itself. Need a new pet or a knock-off Ikea mug? Fine china, arts and crafts supplies or a nice hammock? Antiques? Home decor? Books, clothing (of all styles) or ceramics. All can be found within Chatuchak. It was mind boggling! And of course, there's an entire area dedicated to feed those who have been wandering around aimlessly for hours and are in need of some nourishment. :)

After three days in the city it was time to say good bye and I headed to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. The city was founded in 1351 and by 1658 had a population of ~1 million inhabitants, roughly twice the size of London at the same time. While the modern city itself isn't much to look at, the countless ruins scattered across the countryside were easily accessible with a bike and a map. After scrambling over the crumbling temples, assembly halls and pavilions, courtesy of the Burmese army invasion in 1767, I decided to take advantage of the bike and cycle around the countryside. A cow tried to eat my pants and used my leg as a head scratcher, I was chased by barking dogs and greeted by cheerful kids and I DIDN'T get run over by a lorry. :) Breakfast the next morning was ordered by pointing to the items I wanted with my rice. I first discovered these 'buffet-style' eateries in Malaysia. Some are proper shops and some are just stalls set up on the side of the road. Either way, there's a large container of rice and then an assortment of dishes that you either help yourself too, or you tell the attendant and she spoons it onto your rice. It's great because you don't have to worry about reading a menu and it's generally the cheapest way to eat. And you get to eat somewhere without any other tourists!  I generally try to chose dishes that look like they don't have any meat in them. :P 

I had the temples to myself that morning, the tour buses from Bangkok don't arrive till early afternoon. I saw more ruins, more Buddha statues and ELEPHANTS! There's a place where you can ride elephants, down the road and back, which I didn't do. But I did enjoy sitting in the main area where the elephants are corralled and watched them get hosed down, and fed and had a staring contest with a baby elephant. I could have sat there for hours, but I had a bus to catch. Next stop: Sukhothai

Another ancient capital, Sukhothai is full of even more ruins and Buddha statues. It's like going on a tour of ancient ruins in Italy, or Greece, once you've seen a few, they all start to run together. :P However, they were still pretty impressive. :)

I'm currently in Chiang Mai, and compared to the small towns of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai, it's a metropolis, full of travel agents selling adventure tours, elephant rides, rafting, waterfalls, trekking, zip-lines, motorbike rentals and visits to local hill tribes. For someone who's used to doing most things on their own, it's a bit overwhelming and disheartening, isn't there something I can do that DOESN'T requite a motorbike or a pre-arranged tour? Ergh. My frustration isn't helped by the fact that my Thai visa expires in 6 days and I can't decide if it would be cheaper to do a visa run to the Burmese border or just pay the over-staying your visa fine.

On the plus side, I've bought my ticket to NEPAL and I've figured out how to set up an online fundraising page, so I can raise money for the organization I'm going to work with! More details to come SOON!