Boats, Tuk-tuks & Wats

There is a phrase in Thai-English - "Same Same...but different". In Bangkok, that phrase has now lent itself to a bar, guesthouse a whole range of "Same Same" t-shirts and other odds and ends, and it is a phrase that feels somewhat appropriate in this city. Bangkok is a city of "Same Same" - it's full of the same stores and fast food chains as any other modern city, has the same cheap guesthouses and ultra modern expensive hotels, has the same traffic problems you get in a lot of places, even has the same designer gear, but then also the knock offs which look exactly the same same as the designer gear!

But despite the same same, this is a city that draws people to it, a city everyone has to see. Maybe it is because it is still, for many, the gateway to south east asia - the city that is the first stop for many travelling to this part of the world as it helps cushion the blow between East and West. After now experiencing it for the first time, I can understand the reasoning behind this logic. This seems to be three cities in one, gradually introducing any new visitor to the region. If you take the skytrain into the heart of the business and commercial part of town I imagine you could be forgiven for thinking you were in any of the modern asian cities such as Tokyo or Hong Kong (although don't take my word for it - I've never been to either of those two places either!), and then it has the guesthouses and streets that have perfected the art of catering for backpackers over decades, and in amongst the modern skyscrapers and knock off market stalls hides the original old town of Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit (Krung Thep for short).

Our time in Bangkok was spent experiencing all three of these different types of city. We needed to change our airline tickets and so headed into the commerical district to the Cathay Pacific office, in doing so, we experienced the new, modern Bangkok. The skytrain is fantastic, a much nicer experience than the underground in London (although that's not difficult) as it whisks you along in air conditioned comfort over the bustling streets below to a place where every road is lined with designer shops, cinemas, MacDonalds, Subways and Starbucks. We then had the fun of the tuk tuk ride to the Khao San road part of town and spent time wandering around the chaotic market streets, and finally we visited the old temples.

Of all these Bangkok experiences, by far and away the best part was visiting the old Bangkok. We took a river taxi along the wide Chao Phraya river, sailing along next to all the other boats that after all these years still bring trade into the heart of the city, and began at Wat Pho (all temples are called Wats in Thailand), with it's resident reclining Buddha and the Grand Palace complex including Wat Phra Kaew. The temples and the grand palace are buildings of such colour. The large multicoloured roofs shelter the intricate gold leaf, mother of pearl and coloured stones that have been carefully hand crafted onto every surface to give a vibrant appearance. The resident Buddha statues that are housed in each Wat range dramatically from the huge reclining Buddha at Wat Pho (probably the size of two double decker buses - but that is just an estimate) to the tiny, but very important Emerald Buddha who has an outfit for every season and looks down from his high throne above gold leaf and jewel incrusted statues. These temples are surrounded by some of the older streets in the city, and if you take time to look above the 7-elevens and the other shop fronts, you can still see some of the old style roofs and the small, uneven windows with carved wooden frames peering out over the vendors and everyday city life that has passed in front of their walls for centuries.

These are wonderful things that give Bangkok its charm, the colourful temples that have stood for centuries looking over the growing chaos around them, the smiling, friendly people, the odd streets and alleyways that can still offer little glimpses of how the city once was, and that muddy old river, that after all these years still provides much of the heartbeat of this modern, same same, but still slightly different city.

Steve