A wide bar and souvenir shop lined pedestrian only street, interspersed with guesthouses on top or behind the bars, flashing neon signs, thousands of tourists roaming about, touts trying to get you into their bar by claims of strong cheap drinks (and they don’t ask for id) - this was the Bangkok that greeted us as we aimlessly walked down Kho San Road looking for a place to stay. Our backpacks gave away the fact that we had just arrived, or maybe it was that eye-popping look of shock that I wore …this is where we were going to spend a few days? Our intended guesthouse was full so we randomly found one, a bit more pricey than we expected but still under $25 U.S dollars and decided we had to brave the crowd and get a bite to eat. Kho San Road was a thriving backpacker ghetto, a bit much for me, but just a few streets over the atmosphere, although still loud, hectic, crowded and crazy, was a bit mellower and shall I say, more refined … no touts trying to get you drunk, you could handle that task all by yourself. In the morning, the area was a different place altogether, all the street vendors were gone, the crowds were thinner and cars were allowed.
We spent our first day visiting some of the sights of Bangkok, which included taking a river taxi on the Chao Phraya river over to the Wat Pho, the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok which dates from the 16th century and houses a massive gold reclining Buddha, 46meters long and 15 meters high, reflecting the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The outer wall of the temple is "protected" by massive rock giants which reflect proverbs of Kloang Lokantini(and made great photographic models).
Rather than take the river taxi back to our hotel we decided to walk and we ran into an amazing park - several groups of men playing rattan ball (like hackysack) at the entrance, runners and walkers circling the park, all in the same direction, yoga, ti chi, and mediation in separate garden areas all lead by loudspeaker direction, but the big draw was the aerobic class the size of a basketball court lead by a hyper-energetic Thai woman dressed in a yellow unitard to the sounds of pumping techno music. I’m not sure anyone was really following her steps but they were all out there, every age, shape and size, getting their exercise. Although we could not muster up the nerve to join in, we had a blast just watching.
