Round the World Chelle: Along the Bangkok Tourist Trail

7 February 2012

One thing I will say for the Thai people I’ve come in contact with—they take care of each other. The other night my friend Paul and I were getting noodles for dinner on Khan San Road. We were standing by the street stand looking at the menu when a Thai woman sitting to our right asked, “Pad Thai?” We placed our order and she stood up and started heating the garlic oil and fumbling around with the other ingredients. The reason for her fumbling became clear why a few minutes later when another chef took her place and she went back to her seat—in front of the massage parlor where she worked. This second chef was actually a fill-in for the fulltime one who eventually made an appearance and took over the noodle-cooking work.

The same group effort was seen the following day when we took an all day tour to the floating markets and Rose Garden to see a Thai Cultural show. The tour company also threw in little trips to see how coconut sugar was processed, orchids were farmed, traditional wood carvings were made, and gemstones were polished and set. (For all my traveling, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a tour of anything that was quite so unabashedly touristy.) But, the organization was amazing. We were in no fewer than five different vans with four different guides and at least eight different combinations of tourist companions throughout the day. And, we never got lost. While I don’t know that I gained a great understanding of Thai culture and traditions, I did gain an appreciation for their teamwork.

Coconut Sugar

The orchids are beautiful

Pattern for wood carving

The floating markets 110 kilometers outside Bangkok were the main attraction of the tour, and it was interesting, if completely touristy at this point in time. Men and women float their goods in boats along the canals or place them strategically along their banks and hawk them to people (tourists) riding in long boats along the canal.

Floating markets

I couldn't resist the snake!

The Rose Garden was another tourist trap and home to the longest running cultural show in Thailand. The show included the fingernail dance, a celebration of a boy leaving to become a monk, Thai boxing, and other traditional dances. Before the show we had the chance to wander around the grounds and look at people pretending to harvest rice, be encouraged by women dressed in tradition clothing to take their picture and then get asked for money, or pay to ride a 50 meter circuit on the back of an elephant.