Goodbye Pho Ba, Hello Pad Thai

We've just finished up a five-night stay in Bangkok. Both Danielle and I really liked the city - I think it is on par with New York, London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, etc. as one of those "great cities of the world." There is a lot to see, eat and buy. There are gorgeous temples scattered throughout the city. The food is great and does not cost too much more than it did in Vietnam. I think we only have few negative things to say about the city:

• Bangkok is famous (or rather infamous) for its traffic and pollution. The traffic is pretty bad, probably not as bad as L.A. during rush hour, but still fairly unpleasant.
• The signage is poor, making the city difficult to navigate. This was a surprise given our experience in Vietnam: although Vietnam is less economically developed than Thailand, it does a better job catering to tourists. On the one hand, I don't think it's our right to have English signs wherever we go, but on the other hand, if your language has an alphabet that is only used in your country, you should have signs around the tourist areas in some sort of Roman alphabet based langage. Some street signs are written in English, but, for example, the entrance to the Grand Palace, the city's main tourist destination, is not at all clearly marked (we walked around the entire thing in order to finally find the entrance).
• Touts and liars are abound. Thais are famous for their friendliness (Thailand is the "land of smiles," right?), and people often approach you on the street to welcome you to Bangkok, ask you where you're from, etc. Then, however, proceed to tell you that you should go visit some minor temples, and that a tuk-tuk (a form of taxi) will take you all around for 20 Baht (about $0.50). However, not only will they take you the sights, they will also take you to stores where they get commissions from bringing in customers. The other commom lie we often heard is that the Grand Palace was "only open to Thais" that day, which was never true. At one point, we asked someone on the street where the entrance to the palace was, and he told us we would not be able to get in because I was not wearing long pants, when I was, in fact wearing long pants. When I pointed to my pants, he then pointed to his watch and said the Palace was closed for the day, when we know that it was actually open for another hour.

In spite of this, we still really enjoyed our time in Bangkok. I really like Pad Thai, and we've managed to have it for dinner four out of the five nights we were in Bangkok. I was a little worried because I've heard that "real" Chinese food is nothing like "American" Chinese (and I think our experience in Singapore validated this), so I was concerned that I would not like "real" Thai food. I am happy to report, however, that Pad Thai in Thailand is similar to Pad Thai in the U.S., at least at the restaurants at which we ate. But I have not yet found any place that serves "Crazy" or "Drunken" noodles, which is my second favorite Thai dish.

Here's what we did:

Day 1:
On the flight to Bangkok, we decided to pass on a day trip to see the Bridge Over the River Kwai, because, while historically significant, we read that most people found it disappointing. Since we had some more time to spend in the city than we originally planned, we decided to take it slow the first day: we walked around the main back-backer area, Banglamphu, and over to the Golden Mount, a temple on hill, which was actually not that amazing.

Day 2:
We took a day trip to Ayutthaya, which was the second capital of Thailand (Bangkok is the third capital). I think neither Danielle nor I were as impressed as we thought we would be: most of what we saw were 13th century ruins; overall the old city was not very well preserved, in the most part because it was sacked by the Burmese army in the 18th century. I think given the age of the town, we expected it be in better shape. That night we met up with a bunch of our classmates to celebrate a friends 30th birthday. We spent most of the night at Bed Supper Club, an upscale lounge / dance club. I know there are Bed clubs in the U.S., but I'm not sure if they are all part of a chain (this one does seem to be part of a chain). It was quite fun to be able to imbibe while reclining. We had heard that there were a number of "working girls" at this fine establishment, and we had a good time trying to pick them out of crowd.

Day 3:
This was our main day to tackle Bangkok's big sights: the Grand Palace, Temple of the Emerald Buddha (really part of the Grand Palace), and Wat Pho, which houses a giant gold reclining Buddha. We were both blown awayby the grandeur of the Palace and the temples; both rival the great palaces and cathedrals of Europe. We probable took over 70 photos trying to capture everying. The only downside is that the since the Palace complex closes at 3:30pm, you need to get a reasonably early start to the day so you can allow two hours to see everything, which we unfortunately did not do. Instead, we had to rush through the Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha in about an hour. For those who plan on visiting the palace in the future here are few pieces of potentially useful information:

• Contrary to what people on the street tell you, the Palace does not usually close for special occassions, so check for yourself before turning away. (Most guidebooks give this advice).
• The entrance is on the North Side of the Palace Complex.
• Although there is a dress code (no shorts or sleeveless tops, skirts must fall below the knee), you can borrow clothes at the palace. However, it's much easier if you come dressed appropriately, since you have to wait in line to borrow clothes. They are pretty strict about the dress code: previously Danielle had been wearing tank-tops and had been covering her shoulders with a shawl, but this was not acceptable at the Palace.
• We were adviced to get there early to avoid the crowds, but we did not find it that crowded when we got there (around 2:30pm).
• Although the Palace officially closes at 3:30pm, we hung around until 4pm, and did not see anyone being ushered out.

I'll let Danielle pick up with Day 4.