Last Days in Bangkok

Friday, Aug. 3, 2007--Bangkok (Continued)

I stayed at the hotel in the afternoon. I went to the pool where I napped a while and then read from the book I'm reading now. I watched TV back in the room later.

I went to a nearby sauna in the early evening. It's a local place serving the neighborhood. Only two other tourists were there. That's probably because some backpacker hotels are not far from it. I arrived around 18:00 stayed for 2 1/2 hours. They had a nice steam room, a dry sauna, a cold pool, a hot pool, and a swimming pool. The price includes two drinks (one a glass of iced green tea and the other a glass of a red-colored very sweet soda pop) and a plate of fruit slices with a dipping bowl of sugar and chilies. The drinks and the fruit plate are refilled regularly while there. Everyone gets an assigned place to have his drinks/fruit. So I enjoyed the snacks between trips to the two saunas. I never got in the pools. I took a cold shower before and after each trip to the sauna. I never ate dinner, since I was full enough from the snacks while there.

Saturday, Aug. 4, 2007--Bangkok

I decided to go to the weekend market today. I took the bus around 10:00. I wandered for a while in the market. Then I went to the nearby park to relax and read. Then I got a cola from a 7-11 nearby. And I returned to the market for a while. It's really a nice place to go. There are many tourists there, but it serves as a true shopping place for many Thais. It has EVERYTHING--clothing, decorative items, jewelry, pets, souvenirs, foods (prepared and non-prepared), antiques, etc. Everyone who comes here should go there if they have an idea of what they want to buy. I went just to watch the people and see what was available.

It took a LONG time to get back to the hotel. The main shopping district is between the market and my hotel. Since it was Saturday, everyone was headed to the malls. (There are about 7 malls located within two long blocks in that area.) Whereas it took only about 25 minutes to get TO the market, it took over 1 1/2 hours to get back!! Most of that time was spent waiting for lights (sometimes 3-4 waiting cycles to get through one light) within a kilometer (half mile) of the shopping area. I was so bored and tired by the time I got back to the hotel.

I didn't go back out until dinner time. I went across the street then to find one of the student restaurants for eating. One interesting thing, though, is that it is trendy for students to eat western foods. Almost all the restaurants in the student quarter I wrote about a few days ago serve western foods exclusively. They have steak, French fries, and salad; grilled chicken breast with potato balls (like Tater Tots); etc. I started to eat a grilled chicken breast with pepercorn sauce, fries and salad, but then I couldn't get anything I wanted to drink with it. They didn't even have bottled water. All their drinks were the overly sweet colored concoctions like I had been served at the sauna last night. So I left for an Italian restaurant down the street and had spaghetti carbonara with a bottle of water.

Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007--Bangkok

I am using today to research my trip to India and to relax. I've read through my guidebook. I've checked on low-cost airlines serving Kashmir. I checked to see if Leh now has ATMs (which it does now have two). Etc. It's almost 14:00, so I will return to the pool and relax and read, I think. In the evening, I may walk back down to the sauna if I'm not too lazy to go that far (about 2 km [1 1/3 miles]).

Note about the next 3 1/2 weeks in India: I leave tomorrow for Delhi. I have a reservations there at the Hotel Star Palace on Main Bazaar since I will be arriving in the evening. I plan to stay in Delhi just long enough to plan my departure for places northward. My plans are to go toward Kashmir. Some of the distances are VERY long up there. Srinagar to Leh and Leh to Manali are each two-day trips over mountainous roads that can have delays due to landslides, washouts, etc. These are remote areas. Electricity supplies are not very reliable there either. I am writing all of this to explain in advance if there are periods when I do not get online for a few days up there. When I get a chance, I will post as usual, though.