Sixth month with Remote Year, so sixth country – Thailand. Well, not exactly a month. I left on March 16. But it was long enough to get an initial impression to share:
Where is it? Bangkok is where the Chao Phraya River meets the Bay of Thailand. It’s essentially at the southern end of the main body of the country, and where the ‘tail’ starts to follow the western edge of the Bay to the get-away spots like Phuket (to gauge distance, if driving, it would be 11 hours away!) Bangkok is 13o latitude north of the equator, which is similar to Barbados, and definitely “in the tropics.”
What does it look like? It is a major city, with a lot of roads (full of traffic) and tall buildings, and an endless amount of shopping centers. (But given that the malls have air conditioning, I won’t knock them.) The modernity gives way to history and spirituality though with palaces, temples, and statues glimmering around most corners. And the river never seems too far away. The side streets bustle with open air restaurants, with laundromats that are simply a row of washers outside, and with households cleaning their pots with a hose. There is a full tangle of wires crisscrossing overhead. And you are usually always within five blocks of a 7-Eleven.
Is there a major ‘claim to fame’? The place to go is the Buddhist temple, Wat Pho. (And no, Vietnamese soup is not served there.) It is a “first-class royal temple” associated with King Rama I. It has the largest collection of Buddha images in the country. Its most popular Buddha is the 46 meter reclining Buddha – which won’t fit in just any chapel! The temple is more than a building, but a whole complex. It is where public education began in Thailand – which has been recognized by UNESCO. It is also where Thai massage began!
Any surprises? It turns out that Bangkok often ranks #1 in the world for overnight visitors – with over 20 million in 2017. I imagine quite a few of them were people stopping by for a look before catching their next transport to a southern Thai island. But the city definitely has a lot to offer.
I still can’t get over how many 7-Elevens there are….and how often I wanted to pop in for some water and an ice cream.