Walking out of Suvarnabhumi Airport was surreal. The smells, the heat, and the chaos of traffic were slightly overwhelming at first. Funnily enough though, all these things felt very normal by the time we left Bangkok.
The van ride from the airport to our hotel was full of interesting sights and culture shock. For me driving in particular was very interesting. People would just whip in and out of traffic without using any turn signals. There were also tons of motorbikes on the rode that were constantly splitting lanes and running red lights. While all this sounds dangerous, it actually ended up being controlled chaos. The drivers were all very calm. Another thing we noticed were all the malls scattered throughout the city. Malls in America are dying, but they are thriving in Thailand. The people there spend lots of time in malls whether it be eating or shopping.
Over the course of the week and a half we had in the city we did lots of different things. We got Thai massages at Healthland, visited night markets, and even took in views of the city from the top of the Lebua hotel (where they filmed Hangover 2). My personal favorite activities involved visiting different temples: The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and Wat Pak Nam. These temples are an essential part of Thai peoples’ lives. They grow up there and learn, they pray there, and the men even serve there as monks at some point in their lives. Not only are they culturally significant, they were also very interesting architecturally/artistically. One thing I found interesting was how pointy some of the parts of the temples were. This is because Buddhists believe Mount Meru (where the gods lived) to be the center of the world. So, the temples try to replicate the mountain, which is why some points point high up like a mountain.
We also had all kinds of different food in Bangkok. We ate lots of Thai dishes such as pad Thai, pad see ew, pad kaprao, Thai sukiyaki, river prawns, different types of curries, and much more. We also had some really good Japanese katsudon, karaage, tempura, and more. We also tried Thailand’s version of Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, and McDonald’s. We ate at international buffets, with one being on a boat where we could see the city while eating. We even ate at a Mexican restaurant near our hotel. I thought the food in general was amazing. The ingredients tasted a lot fresher than in America, and the spices made for very tasteful meals. Writing this blog a while after I’ve been home, I can safely say I really miss all the food we had on our trip.
Before I left, I kind of figured that Bangkok would be my least favorite location because I typically dislike the crowds and chaos of big cities. However, I ended up loving Bangkok. It was my favorite of the three places we went. The people that live in the city were very kind and welcoming, and the city itself had a great appeal despite the craziness of daily life.
