Korea: my life, my story: Thailand

Bangkok
2013/12/14~16 @ Bangkok, Thailand

I took my summer vacation the week before Christmas this year. As the weather was turning mighty cold in Korea, I got my backpack packed and headed out to a warmer climate. I flew out Saturday night and landed in Bangkok late in the evening. It took some figuring out, but I managed to take the metro out to Southeast Bangkok where I was staying at the U-baan Guesthouse. The place was great, and the owner, Joy, was incredibly helpful. I spent the first two full days of my trip exploring and sightseeing in Bangkok.

Weekend Market

( This was the street that ran around the Weekend Market in in northern Bangkok. )

( The street was lined with little vendors selling just about everything you could imagine. )

( Apparently, this is the largest market in the world. I'm not sure how true that is, but it was definitely huge. )

( Fruit vendors )

( Large portions of the market were covered. )

( The place was a maze. It must have taken me a half hour to just find my way out. )

Siam

( This area of town felt much more like Seoul than any other. )

( Tons of traffic, people & shopping )

( But there were far more motor bikes and tuk tuks in Bangkok )

( One more view of the area )

( This guy was just taking a nap in the shade. )

( The glassy side of a shopping mall )

( After visiting Siam and its air-conditioning, I went for a little walk to see what I could find. )

( All of these little street stalls had awesome food. Some of it almost burned my face off. )

( I stumbled upon this statue, but I have no idea who it is. )

( I think this was the bus station. )

( Some nice colorful housing )

( These little street-side shrines were everywhere. )

( Thailand has an over-abundance of temples. I found this one while walking around. They are all covered in gold and don't try to blend in at all. )

( Being lost again )

( You'll notice in a few pictures that there are pictures of the King all over the place. While I was in Bangkok, I went to see the second Hobbit movie, and before the movie began, there was a two minute tribute slide show. During these two minutes, everyone in the theater stood up to pay homage to the King. )

( I bought this at a 7/11, because it was the cheapest; turns out, it's not beer, it was some awful tasting rice liquor. )

( I really like the older building around Bangkok. )

The neighborhood around U-baan

( This guy had an amazing junk collection right outside of a temple. )

( He was also some sort of artist. )

( I thought that it was pretty neat that you could find such an ornate temple in the middle of a regular neighborhood. They were seriously EVERYWHERE. )

( There were stray cats and dogs everywhere. )

( This is an example of the many streets I got lost on during my trip. )

( Here's another temple, but this one had an elephant statue out front. )

( A stray dog and a monk were wandering around. )

( The doors to enter were pretty incredible. )

( This was a park under a gigantic bridge. )

( By the time I reached the river, I was drenched in sweat. )

Ferry on Chao Phraya

( I was specifically told my my hostel owner to take the ferry with the orange flags, because they are much cheaper and how the locals travel. )

( When I arrived at the ferry docks, there was a line to buy tickets, so I did. That was a mistake; I paid three times as much to take the more tourist ferry. )

( I wasn't trying to ride a private boat like this, but I was trying to ride like the locals. WHOOPS. )

( Some housing along the river banks )

Wat Pho

( This was a small shrine within Wat Pho. )

( This Buddha was enormous. )

( I don't know if this photo can make you fully realize just how big this guy is. )

( Maybe this will help. These are his feet! )

( The back of his resting head. )

( The walls in this temple were beautiful. )

( This is the building that houses that massive golden Buddha. )

( The temple complex was filled with hundreds of smaller individual Buddha statues. )

( This area was filled with these towers. )

( Some guardians were protecting the place. )

Wat Arun

( I took a 3 Baht ferry ride across the river. It was so cheap, but of course it was a minute and a half ride. This is a view of the area from across the river. )

( This place was amazing. The temple was so intricately carved and covered with some sort of colored materials. )

( This was the view from the top. )

( From up there, you could see the Grand Palace & Wat Pho on the other side. )

( I met some Korean ladies atop Wat Arun, and they were kind enough to take a photo for me. )

( Wat Arun )

( It was mighty dicy climbing up that second set of stairs. I definitely did not feel safe. )

( Just so you get an idea of the type of designs that are covering this temple )

( The King can be found all over town. )

Patpong

( Patpong was one of the seedier areas of town. )

( It's riddled with strip joints, gogo bars, ping-pong shows, prostitutes, and shopping. )

( I did pick up some nice tank-tops from one of these shops. )

( Apparently Super Pussy is one of the most famous ping-pong shows in town. I did not enter this establishment, but to be completely honest, I did attend a ping-pong show. I won't go into any details, but I will say that if you're in Bangkok, you must experience it. It was one of the most unique things I've ever seen. )