Bangkok = organized chaos

We arrived in Bangkok late Monday night on the 12th and stayed for two nights. Bangkok is chaotic city filled with temples, high rises, markets, and motorbikes. I have never seen so many motorbikes in all my life. And, by the way, pedestrians don’t have the right of way when crossing the street.



In Bangkok we had our first experience riding a tuk tuk, and thankfully we are still alive. A tuk tuk is basically a tricycle that holds a driver and has a bench seat in the back. In Thailand, the rules or the road are more like guidelines, so the tuk tuks and motorbikes will weave in and out of traffic. Surprisingly, we didn’t experience or see any accidents. It is like organized chaos, and somehow it all works.



We were in Bangkok over a Buddhist holiday, so there were monks everywhere. We had to make sure to be very respectful of the monks and play by all the appropriate cultural rules. For example, women are not allowed to interact directly with monks or even stand or sit by them, so it was interesting to what how the people would reconfigure themselves when a group of monks got on a bus, train, or river taxi. Also, it was interesting to see monks doing everyday things like visiting tourist attractions or buying CDs at a market.

One of the highlights in Bangkok was visiting Wat Pho. There we saw and largest reclining Buddha in Thailand. It is over 150 feet long and quite impressive. The architecture of the wats (temples) is incredible with all the jewels, intricate designs, and gold inlay.







While in Bangkok, we were told numerous times to visit the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) to make arrangements for travel around Thailand. Since we had only planned our air travel to and from Bangkok, we decided to pay a visit. The TAT was very helpful and more than happy to plan out our entire trip, then give us a 20% discount. I am a bit disappointed that we are now on a tourist track and have lost our traveling freedom, but we did get to customize the itinerary to go everywhere we want to and all the transportation and accommodations have been taken care of. Unfortunately, we aren’t going to make it to Vietnam or Cambodia, but if we had done everything it would probably be too rushed anyway.

I’m a bit excited to leave Bangkok. It is a little too chaotic for my liking. Next, we head north to Ayuthaya, then on to Chiang Mai.