Bangkok and Why I Couldn't Wait to Leave

Our "overnight" bus from Chumpon (the city on the mainland where we were dropped off from the Ko Tao ferry) was scheduled to leave around 10pm and arrive in Bangkok at around 7:30 the next morning. However, as we have learned the hard way, travel agencies that offer joint ticketing (which is usually much easier and more popular than figuring out public transportation) do everything they can to screw you over. Our bus left at 8pm and arrived at 3am. It stopped every few hours to force us off the bus and into a restaurant that was paying them to stop there. Needless to say, we did not get any sleep, and we were very cranky when we pulled into the city.

To make matters worse, as we got off the bus we were bombarded by tuk tuk and taxi drivers demanding that we get a ride from them, to a degree which bordered on insanity. I have never seen such desperation. Ten people running up to you grabbing your arms and bags, trying to pull you into a tuk tuk at 3am is enough to make you scream, and I thought Brian was about to hit someone. They were charging about 5 bucks to drive us to Kao San Road (the famous backpacker Mecca in Bangkok). We had no idea where the bus had dropped us off so some people gave into the pressure and took the ride. Scam! After finding ourselves on a map we realized Kao San was the next road over, so we walked.

However, the frustration was far from over. As we walked tuk tuk drivers would pile up on the side of the road honking at us and following us screaming "friend! where you go! what's your name! where you from! I take you! tuk tuk!!" After screaming at them to leave us alone we ducked into a McDonalds where we found sanctuary for the next 3 hours until the sun came up and we resumed our search for a hotel. We could only check in after nine, so we wasted some time on the streets until we got into our AC room (with a HOT shower!!!!!) and passed out until the afternoon.

The first thing on my agenda was to take care of my visa for China, which has been my only anxiety throughout the trip. We walked over to the Chabad House where I had told CIEE to deliver my acceptance information to look for the rabbi who would hopefully have the package for me. He wasn't in, so I tried explaining my situation to another rabbi who unlocked a drawer and pulled out a big yellow DHL envelope.. THANK GOD!! I was so relieved to have the paperwork in my hands that I agreed to wrap tefillin. I thanked him again and he told me in Hebrew how to get to the Chinese embassy (his English wasn't good enough to explain), and we set off for part to of my visa.

When we got to the embassy (one hour by taxi) it had already closed, and they told me to come back the next day. We walked around Chinatown for a little while, grabbed some food and headed back to Kao San Road. That night we had a pretty good time exploring the neighborhood, and we ended up going to see a ping pong show.... I will not go into detail. All that I'll say is that it was the most impressive and horrible thing I have EVER seen, and I feel like a terrible person.

I got up early the next day to submit my visa application at the embassy, and the taxi took about an hour and a half in the traffic and didn't even bring me to the right place. I soon learned that Bangkok taxi drivers know nothing about the city. Even when I showed him a map and told him where to go, he was clueless. My patience with this place was getting thinner, but I got in my application and breathed a sigh of relief. I went back to the hotel and met up with Brian. We walked around exploring the dirty, smelly city for most of the afternoon and tried our best to fend of the incessant assaults by tuk tuk drivers. We visited the royal palace, which was pretty marvelous, and then headed back to the embassy to hopefully collect my visa. I got it!! I was so relieved that I just had to sit in the waiting area and breath for a few minutes. I now have nothing to worry about for the rest of my trip.

We headed back to find Wat Mahathat, where we had heard that a friendly monk with a descent grasp of English enjoyed teaching visitors how to meditate. We got to the temple compound and started walking around, exploring the alleyways and architecture. Eventually we made our way over to "sector 5" where there was a sign that said International School of Meditation. We entered and asked the first person we saw about meditation classes. She handed us a 20 page pamphlet to read before we began. After finishing it, an old monk decked out in the usual saffron robes sat next to us and began asking us about our travels and why we had come to learn to meditate. He was disappointed that we only had one day to study because he thought that in order to really learn meditation, one must have a constant master to be his guide - which he was willing to do. We talked to him for hours about religious theory and his positive perceptions of Americans, and he explained to us the intricate details of the impermanence of existence and reincarnation. After blowing our minds, he sent us off with his female assistant whom I can only describe as a New Age, Buddhist, hippie monk princess. She brought us into a meditation lounge with an Israeli guy who was going along for the lesson too and brought us through the theory and step-by-step process of walking meditation and sitting meditation. Four hours later, we left our new yogis and headed back into the city completely blown away by the intensity of the short encounter. Apparently there are some amazing things to see in Bangkok, but you REALLY have know what to look for... or you just have to be really lucky.

We spent the night on Kao San Rd again, and woke up early the next day to begin our adventure into Cambodia. Though we had enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, we were ready to leave the harassment, grunginess, and tourists behind.

--- I ran out of room on my other photo album, so I'm now posting here: http://picasaweb.google.com/MxMrshll/Asia2 --