Pattaya to Bangkok

Day 1: I was picked up by my shuttle to take me from Pattaya to Bangkok. Again, I was the only one on the shuttle. It heavily rained on the way to Bangkok but Bangkok was dry. I would be staying at the Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside, from where my tour to Myanmar would be leaving, a very nice modern hotel on the Chao Phraya river. From my hotel room, I could see the ferris wheel at the Asiatique Night Market, where I went to this evening. My hotel offered a shuttle to it there and back.

Asiatique Night Market

This upscale night market opened in 2012. It has 1,500 small shops, 1,000 retail stores, 40 restaurants, and entertainment.

Asiatique Night Market

One of the many restaurants in the international food area. I chose to eat at an Italian restaurant.

Asiatique Night Market

Thai silk store.

Asiatique Night Market

Also, fancy soaps for sale among many other items.

I have put my photos of the Asiatique Night Market on a slideshow:

http://www.peggysphotos.com/bangkok–asiatique–night–market/

(Slide Shows, Asia, Thailand–3, “Bangkok: Asiatique Night Market”).

Weird & Wacky Bangkok

Day 2: I had four days in Bangkok before my Myanmar tour would start. It was raining early in the morning but dry when I started a Weird & Wacky Bangkok tour. I took a very slow taxi ride in very congested Bangkok traffic to the hostel where there tour was to meet. I had two KLM male flight attendants as my tour mates. They had been to Bangkok several times before and I had been there two years ago during the protests. It was much calmer here now. Somehow a Weird & Wacky tour appealed to all of us.

We took several boats on our tour, such as one like this one in the photo. We started out on the Chao Phraya.

Weird & Wacky

We took our boat to near the Siriraj Hospital and visited the Songkran Niyomsan Forensic Museum in the hospital. No photos were allowed, but you can Google the museum and see many photos of it. It would be hard to describe what we saw in the museum, so I am glad that I don’t have to explain it as it was both a very interesting but also very emotional experience. Think babies with congenital abnormalities, more than 2,000 real human organs, a mummy of a serial killer, among other not very delightful things.

Weird & Wacky

Then we took another boat along the Chao Phraya. Photo of our tour guide.

Weird & Wacky

Our next mode of transportation: a tuk tuk. The flight attendants were hesitant about going on it as they had heard they were dangerous––and these guys spend most of their time flying. But they decided they could handle a tuk tuk ride and we arrived at our next destination safely.

Weird & Wacky

Our next mode of transportation was a canal boat like this one in the photo.

Weird & Wacky

A canal boat is not easy to get into or out of. First, you must locate an unoccupied bench––these boats are usually very full. Then you grab onto a rope along the top to help you get from the pier into the boat. The third time I got into a canal boat I had getting into downpat, but not getting out. The boat, thankfully, waited for all passengers to get on and off no matter how slow they were to do so.

Weird & Wacky

We got off our third canal boat (first in one direction, then taking a second boat in the same direction as the first one didn’t go all the way through, and lastly a third boat as we couldn’t find an unoccupied part of a bench to put our feet on to get off the second boat. Our destination was the Chao Mae Tuptim Statue Shrine, a phallic shrine. The phallus is a symbol of both good luck and a representation of fertility.

Weird & Wacky

Our next mode of transportation was the Skytrain.

Weird & Wacky

Our next stop was at a zebra shrine located on a busy street.  Zebras offer protection when you are crossing a street.

Weird & Wacky

Our last stop was at the Museum of Human Body at the denistry department at the Chulalongkorn University. No photos were allowed. The museum has 14 dissected bodies from Japan and 130 spare parts. The nervous system, arteries, muscles, etc., are shown. Again, though we weren’t allowed to take photos, there are plenty of photos of it on the internet. Google “Human Body Museum Bangkok” to see them. This was the end of our Weird & Wacky tour. I took a taxi back to my hotel.

I have put my photos of my Weird & Wacky tour on a slideshow:

http://www.peggysphotos.com/bangkok–weird–wacky–tour/

(Slide Shows, Asia, Thailand–3, “Bangkok: Weird & Wacky”).

Hotel Boat

Day 3: My next tour was a Bangkok Chinatown Walking Tour that met at a Skytrain station. My hotel offered boat rides to the station, one which I took to the station. A much quicker way to get to somewhere in Bangkok than by taxi.

Chinatown Walking Tour

When I was in Bangkok two years ago, we only drove through Bangkok’s Chinatown. I thought it would be interesting to see more of it. Photo of my two tour guides on my Chinatown Walking Tour. I was the only one on the tour.

Chinatown Walking Tour

The Skytrain station that we met at was not near Chinatown, so we took this boat to Chinatown.

Chinatown Walking Tour

We visited several shrines in Chinatown. This one was the shrine at the Peiing Public School. There are very many Buddhist shrines in Bangkok’s Chinatown.

Chinatown Walking Tour

This tour included a walk through the Sampeng Wholesale Market.

Chinatown Walking Tour

A view of Chinatown from a building’s balcony.

Chinatown Walking Tour

On street level.

I have put my photos of my Chinatown Walking Tour on a slideshow:

http://www.peggysphotos.com/bangkok–chinatown–walking–tour/

(Slide Shows, Asia, Thailand–3, “Bangkok: Chinatown Walking Tour”).

Chinatown Evening Food Tour

This night, I took a Chinatown Evening Food Tour. We met at a train station but one that I had to take a very slow taxi ride to. My tour mates were a couple from London, a young woman from South Africa who was working in London, and a woman from Northern California.

Photo: Chinatown at night. It was lit up and very full of people.

Chinatown Evening Food Tour

My first taste of street food: a light fried pastry. Very, very good.

Chinatown Evening Food Tour

We also had Chinese dumplings.

Chinatown Evening Food Tour

And very spicy soup. Photo of my tour mates.

Chinatown Evening Food Tour

We ended our tour with another soup, sitting at a table placed on the road as the tables on the sidewalk were all full.

I have put my photos of my Chinatown Evening Food Tour on a slideshow:

http://www.peggysphotos.com/bangkok–chinatown–evening–food–tour/

(Slide Shows, Asia, Thailand–3, “Bangkok: Chinatown Evening Food Tour”).