DJ
Ernest
Gene
Kristine
Melissa
NikkiSeptember 11
ry convenient for Chao Phraya excursions. The ticket to Tha Tien station cost us 17 baht each. We waited awhile with the tourists on the dock. It wasn’t clear as to what destinations the 
boats arriving were headed to, but when a boat arrived and all the foreigners stood up, we knew it was the one headed to the temples. The riverboat cruise is exhilarating as the breeze whipped our hair up. We zoomed past the elegant piers of the Shangri-La, Hilton, etc. I can imagine how much more beautiful the scenery would be at night with all the buildings and monuments 
all lit up. While many guidebooks say that dinner in a Chao Phraya River Cruise is a must, we had to scrap it off our plans and settle for a daytime Chao Phraya (River of Kings) ride instead. When we got to Tha Tien, we decided to immediately take another riverboat to cross over to the Thonburi side where Wat Arun rose majestically against the sky. The 3.50 baht fare can’t be beat. We hung around the rocking boat for quite awhile while waiting for the other boat to ferry returning passengers back. Ernest got a bit of motion sickness here. It must be a tedious job for the riverboat driver to be crossing the Chao Phraya every few minutes taking people from one side and across. Such a job is essential though for ease. 
When we got to Wat Arun’s entrance, we spotted displays of traditional Thai monarchs and dancers just begging to have heads slid into them to complete the picture. As cam whores, the temptation was too much to resist. When we finished, someone suddenly came up to demand payment of 40 baht each. We were dumbfounded until she pointed out the small 40 baht sign on the bottom part of each display. Since we had posed in more than one character, the woman was demanding 100 baht payment each, Left with no choice, we haggled to give her 20 baht each which earned her a healthy profit still. 
After putting our shoes on, we decided to delay lunch to finish visiting the Grand 
Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of Emerald Buddha). The Grand Palace is right across Wat Pho, but the main entrance is on the opposite side and takes quite a walk to get to. Along the way, decently-dressed men tried to catch the tourists’ attentions to say that the Grand Palace is closed for a special ceremony. Barely twenty steps away from the wide open gate, these men still managed to reel in unsuspecting tourists, usually those who are older and alone. The lesson here is do your homework on the Internet and don’t trust the kindness of strangers. One might unwittingly find oneself in a tuktuk headed to a jewelry and souvenir shop.
We visited the Pavilion to get some AC exposure. The museum had interactive features, and a path was made so that one had to pass though every exhibit and display. We then proceeded to the Grand Palace proper to pay homage inside Wat Phra Kaew. Due to a series of historical 
events, the Emerald Buddha, carved from green jade, was taken for 226 years to Laos but was reclaimed and enshrined in Bangkok by the city’s founder King Rama I. Everyone had to be barefoot in the temple; feet should be tucked in to avoid directly pointing at the Buddha, which was seen as disrespectful. Taking pictures was also forbidden although K managed to sneak in one. The Emerald Buddha is tiny and encased in glass atop a high altar which was surrounded by venerable Buddha images. The temple walls are filled with murals depicting different events from the Buddha’s life (birth, childhood, Enlightenment). Wat Phra Kaew is also the most sacred palce of worship for the Thai faithful.
The Grand Palace complex is massive, covering 34 structures. Just the thought of going to all of them made us so weak in the knees that we simply sat in a shaded pavilion outside Wat Phra Kaew to muse, converse and relax. Mostly it was about work which was inevitable as we were soon going to return to it in 3 days’ time.
After our rest, we proceeded to search (We couldn’t seem to get enough of searching.) for Chote 
Chitr, where we would have our late, late lunch. Chote Chitr was one of the best things about our trip and one of the best things we discovered from online research. Despite being featured in many publications notably the New York Times, it remains a hole-in-the-wall serving home-cooked Thai food. Chote Chitr is famously hard to find, and I combed through plenty of sites in an effort to piece together specific directions and came up with it being on Phraeng Phuton past Mahannop Road off Tanao Road. Tanao Road is the biggest street of the three yet it’s not even noted on most of the maps we acquired from the airport. We had to use the Democracy Monument as a peg for the cab driver who offered Ernest to watch girly shows complete with lewd photos.
It turned out that Chote Chitr was easier to find on food once one is on Tanao Road as it’s relatively well-kno
wn in the neighborhood. Basically it looks like a joint in Binondo serving inexpensive but hearty fare. There are only five tables in this small eatery with two dogs, the owner/cook and two servers. It reminded me a bit of Sincerity Restaurant in Binondo albeit without AC and the white tiles. Chote Chitr was homier. We ordered the famous mee krob and yum pla hee (banana flower salad). We also had som tam, tom yam and other dishes whose names escape me now. The owner who reminded us of our grade school teacher Liu Lao Shi spoke perfect English and told us what to order. We were happy to let her do so. To pretentiously dissect the dishes like a food critic which I am certainly not would be a disservice to the best meal I had in Bangkok. The total bill came to only 235 baht per person. Unreal! 
The rain fell heavily just as we were leaving. Instead of waiting it out at Chote Chitr, we proceeded to cro
ss the street to have mango sticky rice at an unnamed store that supposedly sold the best. It turned out that the store only provided the sticky rice while the mangoes were supplied by the woman selling in a cart outside. For 60 baht, we had a generous serving good to share of slightly toasted sticky rice in coconut milk and 2 halves of ripe mango. I finished it all and felt so full after. We abandoned plans of going to Khao San Road. I was a little disappointed since I wanted to see this backpacker mecca and sample the street food. We decided to go back to the hotel to refresh ourselves before dinner. The rain and rush hour timing made hailing a cab almost impossible, and we quickly realized that no one would take us to our hotel far, far away. Thanks to our basic knowledge of the city’s transport options, we decided to be dropped
off at the nearest MRT station, Hua Lamphong instead. Ernest did the cab hailing and since it was daytime, only four people were allowed per cab. Nikki, Gene and I went ahead while the rest managed to walk and get to the Grand Palace (so it was within walking distance to Chote Chitr) before hailing a cab. The traffic was horrendous but the cab driver was friendly and engaged us in conversation. He explained how the meters work: For every kilometer, the meter adds 5 baht and for every minute 6 baht on top of the flag down rate of 35 baht. He even observed that it took us almost an hour to get to Hua Lamphong which was less than 30 minutes away. Our total bill came to 90+ baht, but when we handed him a 100 baht bill, the change came to 10 baht. Amazingly, we had found the nicest cab driver in Bangkok. We stood in the rain in front of the Grand Palace for about 10 minutes before finally getting a cab. We no longer cared that the driver was charging us a fixed rate of 100 baht to get to Hua Lamphong Subway Station. We were just relieved that we were finally out of the rain and out of our misery.
Traffic in Bangkok is legendary, and we experienced this firsthand during the ride to the station. We realized that we were actually lucky that the driver insisted on charging us a fixed rate instead of using the meter since we were inside the cab at a snail’s pace for more than an hour. The driver couldn’t help but shake his head by the time he dropped us at Hua Lamphong. He certainly got the raw end of the deal by not agreeing to a metered ride. Karma’s a bitch as they say.
Must Buy Knockoff
My sister Erica was right in warning that MBK was disappointing si
nce it was just a bigger, sanitized version of Tutuban Center Mall. After having trouble, we eventually were able to locate the store that sells Onitsuka Tiger. The store carried Onitsuka Tiger among other goods so I had my reservations about the authenticity of the shoes. Ernest insisted though that they were real. K and I let him carry on trying shoe after shoe but it was simply not meant to be. Similar to Asics in Siam Paragon, Ernest surprisingly left the store empty handed due to lack of available sizes. No worries though since the 4,000 baht asking price was too steep given that Onitsuka Tiger is being sold at half that price in other countries. Talk about a rip-off. Everyone managed to meet up at the shop selling tamarind and other Thai delicacies and together we proceeded to dine at The Pizza Company. I was still too full and so skipped dinner. After returning to the hotel, we all went to bed save for Melissa and Ernest who took the time to have a relaxing massage.
Motor Massage
Ernest and I, the massage enthusiasts that we are, didn’t allow our second night in Bangkok to pass without experiencing authentic Thai massage. After a long day sightseeing and shopping, we trudged our weary feet to the row of neighborhood massage parlors near the hotel. We scouted our massage options until finally choosing Senses Massage Therapy since it was well-lighted and looked decent. The experience started on a good note with the receptionist ushering us to the cleaning room where our feet were washed by the masseuses who will be attending to us. Ernest, who rarely curs
es, surprised me when he suddenly let out an expletive even before settling on his seat. Giving him a baffled look, he told me: “Mukhang tricycle driver ang magmamasahe sa akin!” I wasn’t able to contain my amusement upon hearing Ernest’s desperate pronouncement and I even laughed out loud when I got a good look of his attendant. The masseuse slash tricycle driver had a rough blunt face, very short hair, was reed thin, and even had a darker complexion than the Nognog boy himself. It didn’t help that she wore a long-sleeved shirt which signified that all she needed was a baseball cap and she was ready to zoom the streets. They probably sensed that Ernest was none too happy with his attendant that they replaced the unforgettable ladyboy soon after. The tricycle incident unfortunately was more memorable than the actual massage at Senses. For 350 baht, we were certainly shortchanged since the techniques applied by the masseuses were poor. Neither Ernest nor I was happy with our session and as we left, my impression that I could have a fulfilling massage at any random stall in Bangkok was shattered. I vowed to be wiser in selecting my next massage experience.
0 comments:
Post a Comment