Conclusion in Bangkok

I still had a few days left in Bangkok. After the Royal Palace and the ping pong shows, I wasn’t sure exactly what there was left for me to do. Like I do in most cities when I visit, I could walk around a lot, and I did, and stop in little restaurants for local food and beer, and I did, but I wasn’t sure if there was anything else that I wanted to see.

A friend from the tour wanted to go see some Thai boxing, which is always a draw for tourists in Bangkok. It didn’t work out, though, because the only day we could end up doing it was Saturday night and by the time we touched base, the show had already started. That and the cost involved with getting a ticket prevented me from going.

On Friday, I did go to the Victory Monument. It sounded like a cool thing to see in Bangkok, and I guess it was, but there wasn’t much to it. I took some pictures and strolled around the neighborhood for a while, but I wasn’t really enthralled by this particular area. Later, I jumped back on the sky train – the Bangkok Sky Train is quick and easy to use, by the way – and went to some other neighborhoods. Ultimately, I found a little restaurant and had some chicken with dried chilis and cashew nuts and called it a night.

On Saturday, I went to the only other Bangkok sight of which I was aware that didn’t require me to go down the muddy river. (There are many temples and Buddhas and stuff on down the river to see if you like, but I was a little templed out at this point and didn’t feel the inclination to take a day trip to see more temples.) That sight was the Chatuchak Weekend Market. With over 15,000 stalls, this market is touted as the world’s largest market of its kind. I’ve seen a lot of markets in southeast Asia and I’m inclined to believe it. They say that no matter what you’re looking for, you can find it at Chatuchak, including endangered species of animals, but it turned out that finding a shot glass for my sister was damn near impossible. I did buy some knickknacks and some t-shirts and stuff at the market. It was a little more expensive than the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, but still more than reasonable. I also got some food from one of the hawker stations at the market. It’s hard to beat fresh, authentic Thai food.

The big event for me on Sunday was meeting up with an old friend of mine and his wife who were arriving on my last full day in Bangkok. They arrived pretty late and were surprisingly difficult to find after arrival considering they were staying in the hotel next door to mine, but eventually we were able to get together. We walked around the neighborhood for a little while and then stopped off at a little outdoor street bar for a few local beers. They had come from India and, as it turned out, the talk in India was about ping pong shows just as it had been for me in Vietnam. Since we were close by to Soi Cowboy, and even though I was pretty sure I had had my fill of the ping pong show entertainment, we went back to the bar I had visited a few days earlier so they could get the full Bangkok experience. I had a great time and it was fantastic to meet up with friends in a far-off, exotic location. I had an afternoon flight to Malaysia the next day, so it wasn’t too late a night and that pretty much concluded my visit to Bangkok. We’ll be back with more Asia in the next entry.