Yesterday, Nathalie and I spent the day chilling at the hotel as we were tired from our travels and didn't feel any sense of urgency to get out and visit the city. However, seeing as we can't sit still for more than a day, we took our first steps into the city to get a taste of what really lays ahead.
Over breakfast this morning, we decided that we'd go into Bangkok for a little bit to walk around and start to get oriented. As mentioned in my post about the first day, the hotel is downriver from the city center and offers a free ferry service between a sky rail station and the resort. This is free to use at any time and we decided it would be the most hassle-free way to get into town.
We left the hotel around 1 p.m. and after a short boat ride, we were dropped back into Thailand from our shelter on the riverbank. Upon arrival, we started walking up the port and down the first street we came across. Welcome back to Asia, kids. Everything that you would expect, from narrow streets, incessant traffic, hole-in-the-wall shops and dive-ish eateries abounded around us. The sights and smells were a lot to take in, and we mostly spent the first 10-15 minutes walking in silence, studying the local rhythm and getting our bearings.
Yesterday evening, we ate at the hotel and had a few drinks. When the bill came around, we were again surprised at how expensive it was. Everyone was talking about how cheap this place is and we saw first hand how much of a markup we were paying on food while in the hotel whenever we would pass a food cart or restaurant.
We also learned how to cross the street here, which we counted as the victory of the day. For those of you who live in Belgium or have spent some time in Western Europe, you'll know that in that corner of the world, the pedestrian is king and can literally walk out in front of any car and they will more than likely stop. Here, like in most parts of the world, the pedestrian is at the bottom of the food chain. Making matters worse is that the crossing lights don't work, so you're more or less left to your own discretion as to when to cross. We have so far picked it up well (the trick is to drift behind a local and follow their lead).
We spent about two hours just meandering around looking at what this part of the city had to offer before heading back to the hotel (if you're curious, we were around the Saphan Taskin sky train station).
After a quick workout back at the hotel, we hit the gym (an ARAMP of 12 mins; 10 pull ups, 15 push jerks, 20 kettlebell swings, if you're interested) for a little bit then finished off with some time at the pool.
The folks at the hotel recommended going to a place called Asiatique in the evening as its a night market and is close by. We gave it a go and were a bit tickled with what we saw. The closest I could describe it is a yuppity outdoor mall geared towards tourists and affluent Thais with booths hawking goods towards tourists, numerous western-style bars with live music, and a food court. While charming, it seemed insulated. We walked around for around 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do only to decide that we'd pound a couple of beers while negotiating on what to eat from the food court.
Despite being a mall food court, the selection was ample and most of the restaurants seemed somewhat authentic in not being large chains (or at least it appeared that way). We settled on a Thai place and had a mix of fried kale, cashew chicken, and a red curry. It was very satisfying and hopefully its a good introduction to this luscious cuisine.
Cashew Chicken
Fried Kale
After dinner we walked around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel. Overall, it was a pleasurable day. It was fairly intimidating to get thrown back into reality and remember that the journey is only starting, but that's half the fun of it and coming out on top only makes it that more enjoyable.
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