Final Day in Bangkok

Today is our last day in Bangkok, with our flight leaving around midnight. This morning I ran around to take pictures of all the things I want to remember, and then rounded up Christie for some breakfast. Our original plan was to take a train to Ayutthaya, the previous capital of Thailand (then Siam). It was sacked by Burma in 1767 and reduced to ruins. Today the city is a tourist attraction and considered an important cultural history stop. When we made it to the train station, we snagged our tickets and sat out at the platform. We waited for the train to show up.... and then waited some more. By the time it was 45 minutes late even getting in to Bangkok, we decided it was going to be too late in the day to start an hour and a half train trip on the day we were flying out, so we returned our tickets and opened our trusty guidebook to find something else to do.

By this point, it was getting to be miserably hot, and we really just wanted to relax in a park. Since we were already at the train station, I pulled out a map to look for any public parks along Bangkok's subway line (more on transit later). We boarded the relatively new subway to Lumphini Park, which is a gorgeous oasis in the heart of the city and a great escape from the noise and hustle of the city traffic. Centered around a man-made lake, this park has lots of trees and paths to walk in the shade and recuperate some energy. Walking along the shore, we saw some gross looking fish in the lake, and as I went closer to the water, a massive lizard came swimming up and came on shore. At first I thought it was a small alligator because it was so damn huge.

From Thailiand - Last Day

After screwing around in the park, we got back on the subway to try to find something to eat, since the park food court was shut down apparently. Since this is the hot season, not a lot of tourists are around and consequently things are unexpectedly closed at times. For lunch we tried to hit up an indian place in a really really busy area of the city, but we couldn't find it. After walking and walking and walking, we just popped into a burrito place that had air conditioning and ate. I know what you are thinking, a burrito place in thailand, but this street was known for its international food and popularity with expats from around the world, so its not as crazy as it sounds. The food was mediocre, but the air conditioning was top-notch.

We then embarked on a quest to find the third book in the Eragon series, since Christie had finished book two on the trip. Books take quite a while to make their way over to asia apparently, because it was hard to find, despite dropping in the US last september. We popped on to Bangkok's skytrain, which is a really high elevated mass transit line, and took it to the Victory Monument. Somewhat comically, the Victory Monument commemorates a victory over French colonial troops which granted Thailand some territory which they were then forced to evacuate four years later during WWII. It is now seen as an embarrassment and symbol of a past militaristic regime by Thais, partly due to the Western design of the monument itself. It really looks like it does not belong here.

From Thailiand - Last Day

We snagged a taxi back to our guest house and I took some more photos, including one of our guest house in Bangkok (finally):

From Thailiand - Last Day

As the photo shows, there are plants EVERYWHERE here, even in relatively poor neighborhoods. This place was really super nice and very affordable at B650 (~$20) per night with air conditioning and in-room bathroom. All of the food we ate here was awesome as well.

We made our final packing preparations, and then went downstairs to drink a couple final Chiang beers and bid farewell to the friendly staff. Christie took a picture of me with my friend Yao, who I will not forget.

From Thailiand - Last Day

25 hours of flying ahead of us.... See you on the flip side!