Bangkok–first expressions

From Dong Mueang International Airport, I took a bus for 6.5 Bhat to Mi Chit (skytrain) and then paid for the subway twice because Ken (I guy a met at the airport in Yangon) said when I changed I had to pay again but I don’t think that’s true. 42 bhat and 31 bhat for the rides.

Walk to hostel is a bit further than I thought but I made it to MileMap Hostel. Nice place. Koreans in the room and while the boy played on 2 computer the girl looked at herself for about an hour and changed many times. Standard.

I started to walk down the main road and felt overwhelmed by people. It’s just so busy even compared to Yangon. I want to ride a bike in Bagan again or stay at Inle so long they let me take a boat out on my own.

Looking for food and didn’t see anything appealing for cheap so I kept walking till it down poured and I went in Silom Central mall. Checked out all the basement restaurants which had a lot of meat and were mostly Japanese as opposed to Thai…I was pretty sad about that. I got Indian which was pretty good. The free starter was very spicy. I also got a cupcake from Cupcake Cove. 280 + 80 bhat.

When I went back up the rain was stopping so I went to the nearby park which seemed very dirty at the start and looking like a protest the more I looked in. I was getting tons of odd looks so left.

Walked to the Red Cross and snake display. 100 bhat (discount, because I missed a show?). So many snakes!: king cobra, monocellate cobra, golden spitting cobra, mangrove pit viper, white lipped piper, big eyed pit viper, kukri snake, dog toothed cat eye snake, red tailed rat snake, corn snake, monocellate cobra (albino) (angry!), brongersma python, etc. Upstairs were skeletons and skins and the insides of a python for all to see. Lots of info about sex. Too much. The diorama about how eggs grow was cool. I did well on the test about what to do if you’re (or a friend) is bit. The mythology section was dull.

Outside are more snakes but most are hard to find. I have a photo of the elephant trunk snake and the green anaconda, but they came out pretty bad because of the cages. On the way back I saw tons of thrown out zebras. I wonder why the Red Cross hates them….Also saw rush hour traffic and I still dislike Bangkok.

Went for just-over-an-hour walk in the other direction. Still not impressed with Bangkok but it sure does light up at night (like any Asian town) and I found Subway! That’s only exciting for those who live in Korea. Found Bangrak Bazaar which had cute dresses for 200-250 bhat. I need to lose belly pudgy before buying because I asked for ‘big size’ (like I do in Korea) and they were confused. Dress with ‘I don’t care’ on it which reminds me of one of my classes so much but when would I wear it? Kept walking to the pier which wasn’t special because the view was obstructed by the sky train and tour boat building. Cute boats and an all-day pass is 150b. Walked back and got lemonade with apple for 35 bhat from LemonHub.

The people in my hostel make me worried about the people I’ll meet here…and dislike Bangkok because it’s too on the beaten path and filled with wasters.

Jaipur

Once in Jaipur I had a guess that I would not like Delhi because of how busy Jaipur was and Delhi was only bound to be worse! I finally saw stop lights though! We went though the whole town to go to Amber Fort (and then some!).

Between Amber Fort and Jaipur Mantar (well, Amber Fort and Jaipur town) there is Jal Mahal which looks like a floating palace.

I then went to Jaipur Mantar which I didn’t like too much. Like Derek Freal said about the terracotta warriors, it seems like things from everywhere were put into one area and made to look like they belonged there! Why would all of those have been together anyway? The king would have had about 20 different ways to tell time? Was that necessary? I could hardly understand the descriptions because of how hot it was and how technical they were. The main one was pretty amazing because of sheer size and I wish I could have gone to the top of it, but I’m sure if it was open there would be a huge line.

City Palace is right next to Jaipur Mantar.

Next was Hawa Mahal which I thought I could go inside of or at least behind but I guess not. It was a facade for women to go behind and sit in to watch parades and such as they could not be seen, so I thought tourists would be able to do the same and see what they saw. I guess not. Maybe it has fallen apart a lot as it was being held up by sticks.

A boy took me to the top of a building across the street and tried to get me to go into everyone’s shop on the way back down, but nope! He said it was free!

That night I went to the Holi Festival.

I can’t begin to describe how fun Holi is.

After this I went to Elefantastic.