Bob & Tom's Most Excellent Adventure: The Busyness of Bangkok

After two days of traveling in and out of airports, I had finally arrived in Bangkok where I was to meet up with my cousin Traci and her husband Blake and also meet up with my lifelong friend Tommy the next day. After walking around the airport a bit, trying to figure out the best means of getting myself to Traci and Blake’s hotel, I ended up finagling a free ride from the shuttle bus of their hotel.

Stepping outside of the air-conditioned airport, I was struck by the humid out-door temperatures of Bangkok, sending me into an instant sweat and immediate yearning for water. Quickly getting into the air-conditioned shuttle, we headed out for the hotel. Looking out the window of the bus at the enormous city that was before me, my mind began to wander, race, and imagine everything and anything this large city alone might bring me. Bangkok was immensely larger than I had previously imagined. Skyscraper after skyscraper, building after building, and enough people on the road to make a bee hive nervous, this city was more than busy; it was in a frenzy of commotion and somewhat controlled chaos. Neon signs, food carts, and people selling just about anything, lined the streets as we sped by among the other hustling scooters, busses and foreign vehicles on the road.

Passing neatly manicured lawns and foliage, the bus pulled up the driveway where I was met by Traci and Blake. Overwhelmed at finally getting the chance to spend time with family, my exhaustion of traveling the past two days was forgotten as we immediately headed out to the infamous Khao San Road.

After at thirty minute taxi ride, we paid the driver around ten bucks and began wandering down this tourist filled street. I was in a dumbfounded, sensory overload as we walked down the street with all sorts of Thai cooking filling our nostrils, music of all kinds playing in our ears, and enough blinking lights and neon signs to give you a seizure. Thousands of people were shopping, eating, dancing on this one street. Street vendors were constantly trying to hand us brochures and trying to get us into their shops to buy their merchandise, which was all so cheap that it was hard to say no.

We finally decided that it would be best to sit down, relax and observe this fanatical scene before us over some of Thailand’s finest beer, “Chang”. So the beer might not have been the finest, but it did the trick as we people watched, observed and tried to figure out this ongoing commotion. As a Thai guitarist serenaded us to the familiar sounds of the Beatles, we looked out at this foreign scene before us with interesting street vendors selling crickets, slugs, spiders and scorpions to eat; intoxicated tourists stumbling around until finally falling into one of the many Thai message chairs, leaving their airline stiffness to the strong hands of the five foot tall masseuse that laughed and chatted among her entourage of stress relieving, hard working comrades. Cars, scooters and mobile vendor carts squeezed by all of the ruckus, unfazed by any of the chaos taking place. This was an everyday occurrence to them, yet an incredible muddle of confusion to me.

After doing a bit more wandering and catching up, the three of us decided that we would head back to the hotel due to our early departure back to the airport; for them to head back to the U.S., but for me, to pick up Tommy and begin the first week of this nine-week long epic journey throughout Thailand.

Seeing Tommy’s face on the “Jumbo-Tron” arrival screen at Bangkok international airport the next days was one of the best feelings I’ve had since the Jet-boat ride in New Zealand. Running down the airport arrivals corridor with a giant smile on my face, weaving in and out of drowsy, jetlagged tourists, I saw Tommy in the distance and rushed up to give him a big hug, where we immediately picked up where we had left off over six months ago. Heading straight back to Khao San Rd. from the airport, weaving in and out of traffic in our bright blue colored taxi, I soon showed Tommy the interesting street life that takes place there. He almost immediately shared the same dumbfounded expressions I had the day before when I had seen Bangkok for the first time. Arriving on Khao San Rd. we quickly found a guesthouse to put our stuff down and stay at for the night and then immediately headed out to the street to grab some delicious Thai street food that costs only a dollar. Walking around, catching up and planning out our next destination, we experienced the busy streets of Bangkok together, taking in every new encounter and already having an amazing time.

The next couple days consisted of seeing various temples around Bangkok such as the enormous Wat Po, “Reclining Buddha” to the Giant Standing Gold Buddha to the Emerald Buddha along with the Golden Mount, Temple of Dawn along with a few others. Each temple was intricate and unique in its own way. The amount of detail and complexity to each temple’s design was so mesmerizing and compelling that we would spend hours analyzing every detailed facet with our squinted faces, inches away, looking at the finest elaborations of artistic design we had ever experienced. Colossal mythical creatures, covered in silver and gold, lined with dazzling gems, and just about anything else that could try to portray their divinity to their outright devout followers, stood before us. And with every elaborate exterior held an even more multi-faceted interior with detailed, ornate paintings, portraying ancient stories of man and the gods. As tranquil and quite as a summer, Himalayan sunrise, the insides of these temples all had the same spiritual calmness as you entered the discerningly red carpeted, dimly lit, high ceilinged structures. And at the far side of the building always sat, stood or laid a gold Buddha.

Aesthetically over stimulated, Tommy and I were loving every bit of this cultural experience. With the sun setting, we grabbed a tuk tuk (small three-wheeled buggy) back to Khao San Rd. where we mustered up enough courage to try some of the local insect cuisine. Choosing a colorful beetle to chew on, I reluctantly crunched down bite after bite, immediately regretting this outrageous decision. Tommy slurped down a slug that ended up getting stuck in his throat, sending him into a coughing fit that made quite the comedic scene on the street. Needless to say, I don’t think we’ll be eating bugs again anytime soon; but who knows, this is Thailand after all.

After four days in Bangkok, we decided that we would head up north to Chiang Mai, where we could experience a little bit more calmness and outdoor adventure in this beautiful country. What would happen next was anything but calm, but most definitely outdoors…Way outdoors.