Wandering Around Bangkok

Millennium Hilton Bangkok

Jan 30, 2014This is one of the nicest Hilton I have stayed in. The breakfast buffet had the biggest selection I have ever seen in any hotel. Of course, I wanted everything but I decided to limit it. Still not used to the time change, I was up a couple of hours before breakfast started. I was ready to head out at 7:00 AM but decided to wait a few hours for the city to wake up.I crossed the river and decided to walk with no clear direction to see what I would stumble upon. Bangkok is full of sites, sounds and smells. It is also very colorful and it is easy to take a ton of pictures only to look at them later and wonder why I took them all. In person, it is all very interesting but it doesn’t always translate into pictures.

As I wandered around, I found myself in a very residential area. Hoards of mopeds, bikes, cars and tuk-tuks with parents dropping their uniformed kids at a nearby school. If there were sidewalks, foods stalls and shops extended their real estate onto it and even into the street. Bangkok is known for its street food and there were plenty of outside kitchens cooking their specialities – ducks, chickens, noodles, phad thai – a different specialty at every stop. I found myself feeling hungry again.

There didn’t seem to be any zoning or logic to the layout. Next to a food stall with a few tables would be a used parts shop with piles of parts up to 8 feet high. I wondered how they located the exact part they need!

I went back to the hotel and asked the Viking tour guide for a good place to eat and explained to him that I had a Thai roomate and had been to Thailand before and I wanted to avoid the tourist traps. He recommended a place across the river. As I suspected, it was a tourist trap and not only sold Thai food but hamubers and sphaghetti. I ordered everything spicey and it was the blandest Thai food I have ever tasted.

Later in the afternoon, I attended the tour’s orientation where we were told that there may not be any internet access in Myanmar. I guess I will find out! Tomorrow it is off to Yangon.

Here are some picture I took on my morning walk.