After a very long travel day by boat and bus, we arrive in Bangkok at around 2:00 am. We have no trouble finding a tuk-tuk to take us to our Airbnb, and we can’t wait to get some rest.
We’re only in Bangkok for a few days. We still feel pretty shaken up from the incident at Koh Tao and don’t feel like sightseeing. We end up laying low for most of our time in Bangkok, only visiting a few areas of touristic interest.
Chinatown
Our first afternoon in Bangkok, we set out to try to find some lunch. Chinatown is within walking distance from our Airbnb. We work our way down busy sidewalks and packed intersections. This place is total, complete chaos. The alleys spider out from either side of the main road. Signs advertising shark fin soup, fried insects on a stick, and tables full of dried strips of salted fish are some of the least appetizing things we see.
One night, we meet with Kasper and Lorenz’s family at a skybar called Moon Bar which is at the top of the Banyan Hotel. The drinks are pricey but the view of the city is incredible.
Chatuchak Weekend Market
We do make it to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which is one of the largest open air markets in the world. Even though I see it with my own eyes, I have a hard time fathoming the amount of stuff contained in this market. There are 8,000 stalls. EIGHT THOUSAND, each one with an inventory of hundreds of items.
My impression is that most of the booths here aren’t high quality or particularly cheap, but I buy a few things:
- Tank top. I accidentally buy either a small
mens or a largeboys size. The guy who sells it to me said it was unisex, but after wearing it a few times, it is clear it is not cut for a female. Strike one. - Sandals. Iād ditched my Birkenstocks in Tbilisi because they were basically disintegrating, so I need something to wear in the hot weather. These broke one week later, and I had to ditch them in Chiang Mai. Strike two.
- Candied ginger, which helps with my motion sickness that has gotten progressively worse throughout the trip. Good purchase.
- Backpack, which we use as a day bag (a counterfeit Quechua brand bag). Good purchase.
- A few small cosmetic bags to help organize the things in my bag I somehow keep accumulating. Good purchase.
Please Don’t Touch the Monk
After our brief stop in Bangkok, we board a 6-am bus to the Northern Thailand city of Chaing Mai. Our seats are in the very front of the bus, and as seasoned bussers, we settle in for the 12-hour ride. I wake 30 minutes later when we stop at another station to pick up more passengers. Among the group of new passengers are two monks who take the seats across the aisle from us.
Thailand is 95% Buddhist, which means you’re going to see a lot of monks. In fact, it is an expectation that every male will become a monk at one point in their life. Typically a man does this between the time he finishes school and the time he gets married. Traditionally, it consists of a three-month
After a few minutes, the bus attendant comes by with breakfast and water. She hands the food and water directly to us, but as she serves the monks, she sets the refreshments on a tray and holds it in front of her as they remove the items themselves.
Thatās kind of weird, I think. Actually, I donāt really know anything about monks.
I pull out my phone and search “rules for being a monk.”
I find that there are more than 250 rules that monks must follow. If any of these rules are broken, they must immediately go to a temple and perform rituals to cleanse themselves.
One of these rules is that they are not allowed to touch a woman. If they do, they’ll need to get to cleansing. To wipe the woman off (sorry can you smell my sarcasm here?).
I take inventory of the situation and my mind starts to wander. Stephen sits near the aisle closest to the monks, so I don’t pose an immediate threat to them.
But what if the bus stops for lunch and I try to stand up at the same time as them. Should I let them go first? Will they expect me to go first and them to exit after? Are they entitled to exit the bus first or should I at least let them go in front of me? Wait why are they riding the bus in the first place? Why does that one have a cell phone? Are monks allowed cell phones? Do I bow to them as they get up from the bus? What if I undo my seatbelt to stand up and grab something from above the seat and the bus takes a sharp turn and I fall on to their laps? Do I apologize?
Ultimately, none of these things happen. When the bus stops, I exaggerate to make it very obvious that Iām going to exit the seat directly behind Stephen so there is no confusion with the monks. No monks are touched for the duration of the bus ride.
Chiang Mai during Loy Krathong and Yee Peng
Chiang Mai is home to many expats and is a beloved city in Northern Thailand. It’s in the mountains and has the charm of an ancient city. The defensive wall still stands around most of the Old City and is complete with a charming moat.
We plan our visit to coincide with an annual festival called Loy Krathong. This festival stretches over the course of several days and is held during the time of the year when the moon is its brightest and the river is its fullest. Within Loy Krathong is Yee Peng, which is the night of the festival where everyone releases paper lanterns into the sky.
The purpose of this festival is to make merit and let go of the ills and misfortunes of the previous year. This is symbolized by the release of lanterns into the sky and small, handmade boats down the river.
This festival draws 80,000 tourists every year. The crowds and the celebration and the lanterns in the sky are unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of before. I do participate in both of the rituals, but I really want to make sure I am doing it in a meaningful way and not exploiting this sacred holiday to get a good shot for the ‘gram.
Karthong Parade
During the final night of Loy Krathong, the city puts on an elaborate parade. All the participants are in full traditional garb. The floats are animatronic and look like there have been months of time dedicated to the decoration and design. It lasts for hours. We watch for about an hour and then wander a little. As we make our way to the river after we have some food and two hours later, ITāS STILL GOING ON. Oh, they also have to remove the power lines for these floats to get by.
We spent quite a bit of time exploring Chiang Mai and even extended our stay for a few extra days. Here are some highlights.
Inmate Massages
In other odd news, we get a massage from rehabilitated female convicts. This salon is part of a program that trains female prisoners as Thai masseuses and then employs them once theyāre released. The massage was great and it felt nice to contribute to a good cause.
The Many Markets of Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai has so many markets. Vendors claim every inch of the sidewalk, selling clothes, food, souvenirs, counterfeit items, jewelry, sunglassesā¦anything you can imagine. Thereās a weekend market, a night bazaar, a covered market, and about 16 food markets.
Temple Ettiquette
Temples–or as they’re known in Thailand, Wats–are found everywhere. The temple complex is where monks learn, live and pray. There are also rooms where the public come to perform their prayers as well.
Visiting temples take a little preparation. Because the weather is so hot, I normally wear shorts and a tank top when we’re sightseeing for the day. When you visit a temple it’s required that you cover your shoulders and knees (this is true for both men and women, but I saw many men in shorts that did not cover their knees).
Most of the time I bring along a light a scarf to cover my shoulders and a pair of loose harem pants I can pull on over my shorts. Other rules include making sure you take your shoes off before you enter the temple and, in the case where I found a sign posted saying women aren’t allowed to enter, making sure you’re a man.
A Very Wat Thanksgiving: Wai Doi Suthep
One of the most famous and beautiful temples in Chiang Mai, called Wat Doi Suthep, is located about 45 minutes into the mountains. We go in together with a group of backpackers from our hostel to rent a tuk-tuk truck to take us on an excursion.
As a side note, this day also happens to be Thanksgiving. We’re the only Americans in the group of backpackers we spend the day with, and for the first time in my life I don’t do anything special to celebrate. We did have some Tex-Mex for lunch, which I was very thankful for.
We arrive at the temple complex and navigate the 309 stairs and approximately 2,975 tourists to the top of the complex. It is absolutely stunning. Ornate gold decorations adorn nearly all the surfaces inside and outside of the temples.
We Meet New Friends
Before we arrive in Thailand, we post on Facebook asking for recommendations. Out good friend Nick writes that he has a friend who lives in Chiang Mai. He puts us in touch and we meet up with him (Eric) and his wife Anna for lunch on our second to last day there. They recently had picked up and moved to Chiang Mai from Wisconsin–SIGHT UNSEEN. Luckily, they love it here. We had a great time talking with them and regretted we only met them on our last day in Chiang Mai instead of getting to spend a few days hanging out with them.
Chiang Mai is also where we meet the most backpackers of anywhere on our trip, which makes sense because there are lots of people in town for the festival. Some of the people we meet include:
- Michael, a Swiss travel blogger living in Bangkok
- Melina, a German who is on her way back from a stint in Australia
- Adi, a Canadian aspiring blogger, traveling Southeast Asia indefinitely
- Rosko and Amy, a Canadian couple who are traveling SE Asia indefinitely
- A whole group of crazy Aussies who are in Chiang Mai for a wedding.
Six AM Announcements
We decide to stay a few extra days in Chiang Mai but because our hostel is full, we have to move to another guesthouse. Around 5:45 am, I’m woken up by a blaring loud speaker. Iām so confused. Over the speaker, a woman is speaking Thai and giving what I guess are some type of recorded announcements. Then there is a pause, and the announcements
By 6:15, it is still going and I am so so so confused. This happens to us one other time, in Laos. When I do some sleuthing, I canāt find much information, but what I surmise is a tradition left over from the communist era. Most businesses would play the national announcements over loudspeakers to get everyone up and at āem for the day.
As the remaining days on our 30-day Thailand tourist visa start to dwindle, we look into the logistics of visiting our next country, Laos. The might Mekong River creates a border between Laos and Thailand. We’re told that taking a slow boat down the river to Luang Prabang is the most scenic and efficient method of travel.
The slow boat takes two days, so if that’s efficient, imagine our other options. We book our tickets and though we didn’t know it then, the two days we spent on the slow boat turned out to be some of the most memorable of the trip.
Thank you for the interesting blog. The monks on your bus, were they identified by color of dress? The picture of the young monks walking through the tunnel of lanterns were dressed in red.
They usually wear a deep orange color for their main robe, but I think their sash that they wear can be different shades of orange and can signify their level or place of monk hood.