Thailand 13 Bangkok: Around the city

My last 3 days (2 and a half, actually) in Thailand were spent in Bangkok. I stayed at the Majestic Suites located in one of the two entertainment zones. The hotel had been recommended by an acquaintence of my friend Jeff Chapin. The price was reasonable and outside the hotel the street and sidewalks were bustling with outside vendors, hotels, and bars, and restaurants of all types. Jeff lives in Hua Hin, a beach city south of Bangkok. He and his girlfriend Pueng took a bus up to spend the 3 days with me in Bankok and also stayed at the Majestic Suites.

The weather in Bangkok was a punishing 100 degrees Fahrenheit with about 90% humidity. And this was the high season! There are tons of people walking on the streets which makes it very easy to get split up from your party. We spent a lot of time trying to stay together. There is also a very large number of disabled and disfigured men and women begging. And a fairly significant amount of displaced families sleeping in doorways. The vehicular traffic is very heavy with taxis, buses, trucks, cars and thousands of motor bikes. One must be very cautious when crossing streets even on a green light.

There is a very efficient mass transportation system called the skyrail, running through most of the important districts in the city. We call these Elevated Trains (Els) in the states. One line ran right down our street with a station 2 blocks away. This became our only form of transportation. Interestingly enough, we could not hear it in the hotel. That's how quite they are. Most of the stations do not have escalators so we spent a lot of time and effort climbing stairs. Jeff and Pueng were masters at finding our way around.

To see photos, click here.
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