Bangkok - the Venice of the Orient or just a big dirty city?

A couple weekends ago, Olivier and I spent 3 days in Bangkok before his return to New York. We chose to stay in Bangkok for practicality reasons, not because we particularly wanted to be there. But hey, a weekend on the parents in the big city is not a bad thing, right? We had gotten the fair warning from our parents to make the best of the three days, by that they meant, go DO things, do not sit and watch TV! Now, I am definitely more of a doer than a sit-at-home-and-watch-TV kind of person, but after 2 and half months of hard beds and no TV, I didn't mind the latter!

Nevertheless, my brother and I found the happy medium, and I must say I was very pleased with our three days. I couldn't have found the better transition from a comfortable family vacation to my life in Chiang Rai.

One of the first things, Olivier and I did was take a long tail boat through the canals of Bangkok. Yes, were completely ripped off, but it was well worth it. These canals really do bring out the charm of what Bangkok must have been like before it became such a massive city.

What I really wanted to write about was a 4 hour bike tour we did on our second day. I had read about this tour in a travel magazine, it was advertised as seeing the backstreets of Bangkok and taking you back to the Bangkok of 30 years ago. Indeed, this tour proved to be well worth it. Firstly, the tour attracted an interesting array of travelers, some who also actually lived in Thailand - this always bodes well. We biked through back alleys of rich neighborhoods, slums, and markets. We then took the long tail boat across the river and peddled in a neighborhood just outside the city, which has been preserved. We essentially found ourselves in a jungle biking on narrow passage ways above canals. You would never know you were just minutes away from Bangkok!

So Olivier and I were thrilled to see the charming side of this city, which is not really known for it's "charm." However, we also saw the m0re unpleasant side that the city has to offer to foreigners like us. I've been living in Thailand for 3 months now and you would think I would know better than to be scammed, but in Bangkok it is so difficult to escape. I follow the basic rules (i.e. always take a metered taxi), but still Olivier and I had the constant uncomfortable feeling of being ripped off. There were times when I wanted to scream and thank God he was there to calm me down!

Here are a few pictures from our bike tour...

A typical Thai house on the river in Bangkok.

Olivier and I in the long tail boat.

After being ripped off by a taxi driver who claimed to have misunderstood us after we pointed on the map to one of the most famous tourist destinations, then taking us across town (we had a suspicion we were not going in the right direction, but how could we know for sure?) and finally taking us back (charging us double of course) and then laughing at us when we found out our destination was closed (!), Olivier and I posed angrily in front of the parliament in protest.

The utter frustration of not being understood and constantly fearing being jacked was not fun, but ultimately I was wonderful to spend an extra 3 days with my brother :)

Having dinner on the river.

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