"It's not so terrible, but it is far from lovable"

We didn't do much in Bangkok, at least not too much of sightseeing. Our main goal was to find our way out of here and figure out what we'd like to do next.

On Sunday on our way to the train station we took the boat on Chayo Phraya River - it works as a regular mean of transport, with various lines that each stops at a different pier along the river. You hop anywhere and can pay the fare on the boat, the price depends on how fast the boat is (i.e. how many stops it makes). It was fun taking this 'river bus', at least the breeze from the moving boat made us forget about the heat for a moment.

Waiting for the ride

Temple spotting

It turns out we were a bit optimistic about the overnight train option for going north: all berths were taken, even the 2nd class! A bit of a poor planing on our side: there is a festival in Chiang Mai starting on Nov 22 so I guess that's why the trains were all booked. From the train station we passed by the Wat Traimit (Temple of Golden Buddha) that has a huge golden statue of Buddha inside, but since I had bare shoulders and was not too keen on renting a scarf to cover myself before entering, we didn't go in.

Wat Traimit behind the entrance gate to the China Town. Thou shall not pass!

Right behind the temple the Chinatown starts. By error we went through the famous Sampeng Lane crammed with hundreds of stalls selling anything, which might be picturesque to some if you like to walk in very limited space, getting bumped into constantly and being dizzy from all kinds of smells that surround you. We tried our stomachs' strength eating outside on the main street, and are glad to report that it withstood the test (so far so good, knocking on wood). 

China town and food stalls on the street

We spent a lot of time around the Khao San Rd these days, walking up and down the side streets, getting some relatively fast Internet, checking out the clothes sold here (and no sirs, we don't want to buy a suit for christ sake, so stop offering!), filling up on street food, or buying us some books for the road as we don't really dare to take our tablets out anywhere but in our room (advice we were given by more experienced travelers).

Need some pants?

We still didn't have our tickets out of this town, so on Monday we decided to venture out of the central area and headed north to the main bus terminal. It was a good opportunity to try out another transport - a bus. It doesn't sound like such an adventure, does it? Well it is here. Almost no tourists go by bus because it is impossible to know which bus go where and in which direction. We managed to find our stop only thanks to D's impeccable searching skills and determination. I remember the first time I moved to Spain, I was outraged that there were no timetables at the bus stops. So here there is literally nothing, only the numbers of buses that should pass through. Should, since we saw buses stopping that were not mentioned on the bus sign... And how often do the buses go? What a silly question! Whenever or never. So we waited about half an hour for our bus to arrive, and the ride itself took 40 more minutes, so there went our plans for the morning. But we felt like winners being the only foreigners on the bus plus we paid about one tenth of what the taxi would have cost.

More good news - we managed to buy tickets to Chiang Mai for Tuesday night, VIP class! Lets see what that will mean... We took Skytrain on our way back into the city and finally could see the huge contrasts that all guide books talk about. By bus we went through the normal, dirty Bangkok, with millions of wires, stray cats and people on the streets selling all kinds of weird things. Skytrain took us up, above the dirt, and we could no longer see the poor parts, as the only thing visible from this height were the skyscrapers of Bangkok skyline. And when we got off at the Siam Sq. shopping area, it was like being in a completely different city. Suddenly it was the two of us looking dirty next to all the huge Prada and L. Vuitton stores.

The different kind of Bangkok (Hotel Intercontinental)

On our way back, by bus again, we met an older Norwegian guy, who apart from hitting on me (according to D) gave us some advices about the city since he's been here more than 15 times, and he tried to convince us that Bangkok is actually very, very nice, once you find the places in it you like. Well, as D said, "it's not terrible, but very far from lovable". In the end we managed to find our way around, we learnt that what it seems farely close on the map is actually very far both distance and time-wise. We now know that you need patience and also a spare pair of lungs to survive the omnipresent crazy traffic. But we haven't learnt to like it or enjoy it too much and we are looking forward to getting out.

Fight the pollution!

We spent today doing some research about the northern Thailand and generally just hanging around looking for a shelter, first from the heat and later from the rain. Word of advice - do not go to the Western fast food chains while in here! We were expecting to pay a bit more than the usual 2 euros per person that we spend for food here, but 5 euros for one Whopper menu? That's almost as expensive as Europe, and definitely waaaay too expensive for Thailand. We went for it only because it was the only place around with air conditioning and we were dying of heat. But they will not see us again!

Much better than Burger King!

If all goes well, we will be arriving to Chiang Mai tomorrow morning and should stay around for three days, but it all depends on what we decide to do while in the north.