Zofona > Visitors stories > Addy, March 2011

Addy, March 2011

Bangkok March 2011 by Addy

Sunday 6th March 2011

I arrived in Bangkok around 15.15 on Sunday march 6th. Jitze was waiting at the gate to get me through costumes in a shorter time because the line for immigration was at least 30 minutes. Within 10 minutes I also got my luggage. In Holland Jitze ordered a bull-bar for his car and asked me to send it to him in Bangkok. Of course the bull-bar arrived too late at my home in Zwolle to make arrangements for sending it by UPS. It is a big and unhandy thing but not very heavy so I decided to take it with me as an oversize piece of luggage. And it worked. Both pieces of luggage stayed under the 20 K. so there were no extra costs. If I had sent it with UPS it would have cost at least 200 euros.

Bangkok streetview

After a drive of 45 minutes we arrived at the Bosma residence where Christien Yde and Vibeke were standing in line to greet me. No, just kidding! After dinner Jitze took me to me for a walk to show me the neighborhood. We took the TUK-TUK from the compound to Sukhumvit Soi 34 and walked along Sukhumvit Road.

First he showed me a Massage Salon where he and Christien go for a Thai or oil massage. Then we walked in the direction of Sukhumvit Soi 26. Near both Sukhumvit 34 and 26 are stations for the Sky train. Near Phrom Phong is a shopping mall (Emporium) with a movie theatre. From there we walked back home. I went to bed early.

Monday 7th March 2011

I slept for 11 hours and had a good night sleep. Jitze and Christien have their daily work and activities at school so I was alone at home. Around 11.00 I left for a second walk to explore the neighborhood. My first impression was that Bangkok is noisy, very noisy. Bangkok looks like a little like Seoul, South Korea, a lot of stalls on the sidewalks where people are selling all sort of things including food.

Dentures for Sale in Bangkok

It was hot in Bangkok maybe a little too hot for me. But I have to cope with it. One way to cope with is to search for cool places. And one of the best places then is a movie theater. I saw the first of three movies: True Grit. After the movie I left for home. At night we saw the DVD from Guido Wijers I brought, his latest New Year show. I went to bed around 10 o'clock.

The first nights I had some weird dreams. Still, I can't explain why.

Tuesday 8th March 2011

I left home and took the sky train to Pantip Plaza. That's a building with at least 200 little shops where they sell all kinds of things for your PC and mobile phone. They also sell millions of illegal DVD's and software. I bought a card reader for my memory card for around 100 baht. You can eat a light meal and also have a drink and ice-cream. I was home around 4 o'clock that afternoon. Then I found out that I'm becoming an old man. When I took of my shoes my feet looked like Donald Duck feet. My feet and legs where swollen and that was a good reason to take an original Thai massage that evening.

Wednesday 9th March 2011

The next morning I didn't have any pain from the massage the night before so masseuse did a great job. Today I went to Siam Center walked around in the neighborhood, ate some Thai food and saw my second movie: True Grit.

In the afternoon I went walking again and found the Jim Thompson house. Took a tour.

Jim Thompson house Bangkok

Thursday 10th March 2011

On Thursday I went to China Town. I took the sky train to Saphan Taksin station and from there you can take a boat that goes to different places alongside the river. First stop Chinatown, a lot of small alleys with a lot of small shops. Second stop was temple of Wat Pho, I was back home around 4 pm. That night I realized I left my cooling Bandana at home. A cooling bandana is filled with crystals that when you lay them in water, absorb the water. Then you can use it for cooling your body. You also have cooling hats, so I searched the Internet to find a place where they sell those hats in Bangkok, but they don't have these sorts of things. I decided to search for shops that sell camping's stuff. That is also hard to find in Bangkok because the Thai people don't like camping. I found a few shops.

what Pho Bangkok

Friday 11th March 2011

I visited the shops that I found on the internet. First shop was a supermarket that sells cheap tents and some more cheap camping things. That was on the last station (On Nut) of the Green Sky train route. Unfortunately the shops in the big shopping malls didn't sell cooling hats either. But I had another great day in Bangkok seeing a lot small shops. The plan was to go out for dinner with Jitze and Christien that Friday night, but that didn't work out. Jitze had to go back to his work for an odd thing, somebody forgot to close a door and Jitze was the only one at that moment with a key. On the way to his work we got stuck in a long traffic jam. It took us 90 minutes to get there and then we also had to go back. Jitze also had an appointment with his garage for placing his bull-bar on the car. The bull-bar didn't fit. So, that was the second disappointment that night. The garage promised Jitze that they would make the bull-bar fit but it could take a few days to adjust it. So Jitze and I ended it up at a McDonalds for our dinner.

Saturday 12th March 2011

On Saturday we, Jitze, Christien, the kids and me, took a road trip to Pattaya, south of Bangkok. Pattaya is 'famous' for its Red Light Street. In Pattaya was it hot, noisy and awful. Pattaya is also famous for the possibilities for the (much) older man having relationships with young Thai girls.

Pattaya walking street

On the way back we drove along the coast back to Bangkok. We found a few nice beaches where mostly the Thai people go on a Saturday or Sunday. It was nice.

Si Racha Beach

Sunday 13th March 2011

Jitze and I went to Ayuthaya to see the old capital of Thailand. A lot of ruins and it also was hot, hot, hot. Of course we came across the dancing elephant. It was a short trip and after picking up Christien and the kids at Carrefour we had time enough to go to Pantip Plaza because Jitze needed new earphones for his I pod. We found the right ones.

Ayutthaya Budda

Monday 14th March 2011

Because I didn't visit any of the many markets I went to Mo Chit station with the sky train. The nanny of the family goes their every Sunday for some shopping. But the market was closed on weekdays, so I took the metro back to go back to Pantip Plaza to buy some things I saw the day before. I bought a new card reader that also reads SIM cards and a thing to put on your laptop on with a ventilator and a blue light. It is supposed to keep laptop cool. From Pantip Plaza I took for the first time a famous Bangkok taxi to go back to Siam Center to see my third movie: The adjustment bureau.

Tuesday 15th March 2011

For the first time I paid for a real tourist attraction, a boat trip on the river and canals in Bangkok. I took a 1.5 hour trip to see main attractions and a snake farm. I also took the tourist boat to the Grand Palace and I even went inside. It was another long and hot day in Bangkok

Chao Phraya river

Wednesday 16th March 2011

Didn't do anything today to be sure of a good seat on the plane to Amsterdam I had to check in around 1300 hour and yes I got a good seat. A week before at the massage salon I promised I would be back so Jitze and I went back that evening for a great oil massage.

Thursday 17th March 2011

I left Jitze and the family around 9.45am, took a taxi to the airport and left Bangkok on time and arrived back in Amsterdam around 19.30 local time. And yes, there were again problems with the Dutch trains but this time not their mistake. I had to travel via Utrecht but didn't lose much time after all. Around 22pm I arrived back home after a trip from door to door of almost 19 hours.

Thanks Jitze, Christien, Yde and Vibeke for a great time in Bangkok.