Chinatown Chaaaiiiiii

We spent our second day in Bangkok much like the first, walking along Bangkok's beaten down sidewalks that looked like they were sledgehammered in front of us. Another hot day without sun. It's amazing how hot it can get in a city with the absence of sunlight, but Bangkok is a special little animal. The traffic in this city is unbelievable, lanes are marked but ignored, lights change, but for the most part are ran with little to no regard for pedestrians or traffic laws, emissions are the worst I have ever seen- particularly Chinatown. 

After walking to the canal for another boat ride west, we took a "stroll" to Chinatown. I put stroll in quotations-because as far as I know, there is no such thing as strolling in Bangkok, that word has a connotation of a calming, easy breezy, not a care in the world walk- but that is not how you walk in Bangkok. If you do not look left and right at every alley, driveway, or entrance to ANYTHING you are likely to be hit or almost hit by a motorbike. 

Chinatown is HEAVILY polluted with noises and emissions from the hundreds and thousands of motorbikes, scooters, tuk-tuk's and cars. Maris felt the heat in Chinatown, the mixture of the heat and pollution kicked her ass. 

With all that said, Bangkok is a wonderful place- it is unlike any place i have ever been. Everyone smiles at us- some with intentions on getting to our baht stash, others just to be nice, either way they smile and it is contagious. If they are being rude we have no idea-ignorance is bliss. 

We ate some interesting street food, visited some INSANE street/flea markets (Imagine any flea market you have ever been to under a roof and magnify it times 5. In one booth there is a short Thai girl talking on her mobile phone while her product behind her- car speakers and amps and neon lights bump so loud it makes you wonder if there is anyone on the other end of the line and if there is, how the hell they can hear anything. In the booth next door a woman sells pastries she is making at the same time she exchanges baht, next to her a man sells hello kitty purses, next to him someone is selling faucets, next to him someone selling locks and stun guns, next to her someone is selling PSP and ripped off American DVDs including a huge poster of ANACONDA 3 featuring David Hasselhoff, seriously. The market was a lot of fun, mostly because it was semi air conditioned and out of the humidity. I got a great Thai album I will put on my blog when I get a chance. 

After a day at the market we walked around aimlessly as most travelers do. I left the backpack at home to brush off as much tourist musk as I could. We took the boat back to our area of town, which honestly is like the Fifth Avenue of Bangkok, Louis Vitton, Burberry, all kinds of high class shops- an EXTREMELY different situation than Chinatown, which for the most part seemed pretty down-trotten. 

We went out for our first night on the town. We met with an American and his Thai wife at a small blues/funk/jazz lounge called Brown sugar. A funk band played a few American tunes and some originals, it was a GREAT atmosphere. A couple beers and jack daniels later we walked next door to a place called The Room, a loud, dark, hip DJ hosted bar that we were pretty sure was a gay bar. Either way it was a lot of fun, we met a couple Thai guys started to get tired and walked back to the hotel only to be sideswiped by a small bar called Dewars (like the scotch) where a live Thai band was playing what sounded like fallout boy type music, not really sure if they were original tunes or not-we met with two charming blokes from the UK, Thom and Bob. They were nice guys, I met a guy that worked for FHM magazine. This was kind of a high brow place, but was very cool, open air with a mixture of decors that would make your head spin. 

A great night, our first night out and we managed to bypass all the sleezy Cancun-esque tourist traps and managed to hit some of the cooler bars I've been to in a long time. They were a little pricey, but they were a blast. A great night indeed. 

This morning Maris has a fever and we are taking it easy, trying to get her in shape for a 12 hour train ride to Chiang Mai in the coming days- It doesn't bother me though, because I feel like a Bangkok sidewalk this morning. Cheers

_Brock