Showing posts with label Southeast Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southeast Asia. Show all posts
2/02/2013
2/01/2013
A riverine people
Is how Bangkokians are described in some guidebook I read. This adjective has even echoing in my head since I read it. I find it very evocative. (Or maybe I just like adjectives that end in "ine.")
In any case, I hadn't gotten around to taking a river ferry until today, but I did (with more than a little help), and it was great.
You get on with your riverine selves, Bangkokians.
In any case, I hadn't gotten around to taking a river ferry until today, but I did (with more than a little help), and it was great.
You get on with your riverine selves, Bangkokians.
Probably safe for work, but...
The fertility shrine is not, I repeat, not inside the Swiss embassy. It is on the grounds of the Swissotel hotel. Nearby, but most definitely not the same place. I guarantee you will leave security incredibly perplexed if you ask them where inside the embassy the penis statues are.
Because that's what you'll find at the Lingam Fertility Shrine.
(Particularly curious: the matching set I penises with penises.)
Because that's what you'll find at the Lingam Fertility Shrine.
(Particularly curious: the matching set I penises with penises.)
Last day in Bangkok
I made my way to town this morning with only minor complications and headed over to my tailor to pick up my shirts after a quick bite of duck and rice and morning glory for breakfast. The shirts are ok, nothing glamorous, but basically what I asked for. (That's what you get if you show up to a tailor with only the vaguest idea that you might want a shirt.) Overall I'm pleased.
So after that, and after a substantial amount of dilly dallying, I checked myself in to a fancy hotel. It being my last night and all. The dilly dallying was because I wanted to stay at a specific hotel with a gorgeous lobby (whose facilities I used before hadn't to Hua Hin), but it wasn't where I thought it was and I couldn't remember the name.
So instead I checked in to the Renaissance. Can't complain.
So after that, and after a substantial amount of dilly dallying, I checked myself in to a fancy hotel. It being my last night and all. The dilly dallying was because I wanted to stay at a specific hotel with a gorgeous lobby (whose facilities I used before hadn't to Hua Hin), but it wasn't where I thought it was and I couldn't remember the name.
So instead I checked in to the Renaissance. Can't complain.
1/31/2013
My sociopathic picture-taking tendencies
Going over my roll of "film," it occurred to me that there are seldom people in my shots and when there are, it's usually just a disembodied hand or something.
Please note. I am not a sociopath.
It's just that as I've gotten older, I have become less and less likely to feel comfortable snapping photos of people who are just living their regular lives (especially when I am coming from a place of western privilege and running the risk of making someone feel like a sociological subject). And since those are the only really interesting vacation pictures of people (in my opinion), I choose to do without.
So check out this train station and fire truck instead!
Please note. I am not a sociopath.
It's just that as I've gotten older, I have become less and less likely to feel comfortable snapping photos of people who are just living their regular lives (especially when I am coming from a place of western privilege and running the risk of making someone feel like a sociological subject). And since those are the only really interesting vacation pictures of people (in my opinion), I choose to do without.
So check out this train station and fire truck instead!
Fragrance reprise
Or maybe that last flower post should have been accompanied by this pic.
(Refresher: Theeeeeeese are what's been smelling so good.)
(Refresher: Theeeeeeese are what's been smelling so good.)
Hua Hin
Thailand's royal beach resort.
It's pretty average as beaches go, nice and warm and shallow, not too bad as far as litter is concerned, loads of chairs and umbrellas to be rented by the day, plus snacks and beer and massage and kite boarding.
What it is not is one of those broad expanses of pristine white sand fringe with palm trees. For that you go further south.
But it's a nice older crowd (read: actually quite old) with the odd family thrown in and occasionally a confused backpacker or two. This ain't no party town.
But you know what? I ain't no party girl. So for a day trip from Bangkok, gimme Hua Hin over Pattaya any day. (To be fair, I should actually go to Pattaya before making that statement, but considering that the Lonely Planet describes it as "A heavy-breathing and testosterone-fuelled testament to holiday hedonism [...]" I think it's safe to stand by my statement.)
Back to Bangkok in the bright and early.
It's pretty average as beaches go, nice and warm and shallow, not too bad as far as litter is concerned, loads of chairs and umbrellas to be rented by the day, plus snacks and beer and massage and kite boarding.
What it is not is one of those broad expanses of pristine white sand fringe with palm trees. For that you go further south.
But it's a nice older crowd (read: actually quite old) with the odd family thrown in and occasionally a confused backpacker or two. This ain't no party town.
But you know what? I ain't no party girl. So for a day trip from Bangkok, gimme Hua Hin over Pattaya any day. (To be fair, I should actually go to Pattaya before making that statement, but considering that the Lonely Planet describes it as "A heavy-breathing and testosterone-fuelled testament to holiday hedonism [...]" I think it's safe to stand by my statement.)
Back to Bangkok in the bright and early.
1/30/2013
1/29/2013
Reckless
(This is my idea of reckless. Flying by the seat of my pants, I tell you.)
So I took the 8:00 train out of Lopburi without incident (unless you count a train switch halfway through the journey). But as we neared Bangkok, I got to thinking. Huamphalong station is down near the bottom of the transit map. I am descending from the north. Victory Monument, where you catch your minibus, is about halfway in between.
Suddenly taking the train all the way to the end of the line seemed like a silly idea.
So I checked my timetable (courtesy of the aforementioned lovely train station lady), and saw that we would be stopping at Bang Sue Junction. And Bang Sue just happens to be the name of a subway station. So I decided to risk it and hop off the train at Bang Sue, much to the consternation of some of my fellow passengers, who kept repeating "Huamphalong" after me.
I must have looked pretty confused when I got off, because the station master tried telling me the same thing. After a good deal of creative communication, during which time he held up the train, the information lady figured out I wanted the Bang Sue *subway* station. She pointed me in the right direction, the station master broke into a grin and called out "Subway!" And off I went.
(I mention this only because of its ties to this year's theme.)
So I took the 8:00 train out of Lopburi without incident (unless you count a train switch halfway through the journey). But as we neared Bangkok, I got to thinking. Huamphalong station is down near the bottom of the transit map. I am descending from the north. Victory Monument, where you catch your minibus, is about halfway in between.
Suddenly taking the train all the way to the end of the line seemed like a silly idea.
So I checked my timetable (courtesy of the aforementioned lovely train station lady), and saw that we would be stopping at Bang Sue Junction. And Bang Sue just happens to be the name of a subway station. So I decided to risk it and hop off the train at Bang Sue, much to the consternation of some of my fellow passengers, who kept repeating "Huamphalong" after me.
I must have looked pretty confused when I got off, because the station master tried telling me the same thing. After a good deal of creative communication, during which time he held up the train, the information lady figured out I wanted the Bang Sue *subway* station. She pointed me in the right direction, the station master broke into a grin and called out "Subway!" And off I went.
(I mention this only because of its ties to this year's theme.)
So Lopburi
Is a weird, weird place.
There is nowhere to sit.
There is nowhere to drink.
There is nowhere to eat, surely nowhere to eat sitting down. (See no. 1.)
It's still ok. But I will be on the "first" train out of here tomorrow.
(It's not the first train, but it is the first train the lovely lady at the train station told me will depart on time.)
See you at the beach.
There is nowhere to sit.
There is nowhere to drink.
There is nowhere to eat, surely nowhere to eat sitting down. (See no. 1.)
It's still ok. But I will be on the "first" train out of here tomorrow.
(It's not the first train, but it is the first train the lovely lady at the train station told me will depart on time.)
See you at the beach.
1/28/2013
As a rule of thumb,
I have found that I prefer the towns/areas of Thailand that have a high cat to dog ratio.
What that means is that I'll be on the first train out of Ayutthaya tomorrow morning.
What that means is that I'll be on the first train out of Ayutthaya tomorrow morning.
1/27/2013
Change of "plans"
(Insofar as there have been any.)
I write from a minibus departing from the Victory Monument on its way to Ayutthaya. (Yet another Thai city whose name I keep mangling.) I had been thinking of heading down the shore, but a late-night thunderstorm has been on-againing-off-againing all day, so a trip to the beach seemed foolhardy.
Two items of note:
It's not the rainy season. I am a little disappointed (but really can't complain - other than this it's been gorgeous).
Upon being awoken by thunder in the night, my (ludicrous) reaction was: oh, I guess that was a bomb. And I rolled over and went back to sleep.
I write from a minibus departing from the Victory Monument on its way to Ayutthaya. (Yet another Thai city whose name I keep mangling.) I had been thinking of heading down the shore, but a late-night thunderstorm has been on-againing-off-againing all day, so a trip to the beach seemed foolhardy.
Two items of note:
It's not the rainy season. I am a little disappointed (but really can't complain - other than this it's been gorgeous).
Upon being awoken by thunder in the night, my (ludicrous) reaction was: oh, I guess that was a bomb. And I rolled over and went back to sleep.
My trifecta of awesome
(I don't know if you can tell from the pic.)
Railroad tracks
Overpass
Food stalls
Railroad tracks
Overpass
Food stalls
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