T met me downstairs at about 9:30 while I was still eating breakfast. Today we will go to the Chatujak Weekend Market, which may be the world's largest flea market. We take the bus. T wants to take a Bus No. 12, but none comes and so we take another bus. Here in BK there are air conditioned buses, and then regular non a/c buses. No. 12 would have had a/c, but the one we get does not. All of the windows are open, and the bus is a real claptrap of a vehicle, with lots of noise and vibration. After standing for about 20 minutes we are able to get a seat on a hard bench near the front. I watch the young driver fight the uncooperative beast. There is the smell of burning clutch, and it seems like it is getting harder and harder to shift and to start from a dead stop. I hope the bus makes it to our destination! We do, after a very bumpy, noisy, and smelly hour.
The bus stop is directly across the street from one of the entrances to the market. As we approached the market I could see lots of people on the sidewalk, and T said yes, we were getting close to the market. Then I could see the tin roofs of the various market buildings--dozens of them. We got off the bus, walked across the street, and started our journey into the market. My guidebook says that 200,000 people visit the market on Sunday, and I cannot disagree. There were LOTS of people!.Although it feels like an endless maze of corridors and passageways, there is, in fact, a plan. Each type of merchandies has its own section of the market. But there are many sections that also have "miscellaneous", so there is still lots of uncertainty! We pass a booth that sells reading glasses and sunglasses, and I get a pair of tinted reading glasses for 150B. Later I get 4 pairs of socks for 40B, and a pair of walking shorts for 150B.
The market has almost anything you can imagine, including live roosters, pets, tools, furniture, jewelry, clothing, shoes, music CDs, DVDs, and food, lots of food! We had lunch at one of the food stalls--a noddle chicken and veggie soup for me. When it was time for us to leave we could not find the exit we came in, and it takes us a while to find the bus stop. But, we do find bus 60 (air conditioned), and we are able to get a seat. The ride back to the hotel was even longer than the ride out to the market, and it took about 90 minutes! It was reasonably comfortable, but the seats were hard!
Amazingly it is already dinner time, and T and I eat dinner at one of the hotel restaurants. Nothing fancy, but I get chicken, veggies, and rice, and T gets a seafood veggie and noodle soup. Along with bottled water the total cost is only 150B. T takes a taxi home, and I walk across the street to the internet caf?. They are closed, but I am able to ask the clerk if I can bring my laptop and connect to the internet. He says yes, but they will not reopen until tomorrow afternoon. I then go next door to the convenience store, where I get some chocolate cookies to satisfy my chocoholic additction. Later I work on the journal and my photos.
Today I will meet KP for lunch. He is the owner of a tour company that has offices throughout Thailand. He is friends of my autn and uncle who lived here for two years in the early 80s. When I spoke on the phone with him on Friday he said he would send a car to pick me up at the hotel at 11:00 AM. So, at the appointed time I go down to the lobby, and yes there is a driver waiting for me. We go out and get into a fairly new Mercedes. Unlike the taxi drivers who all seem to drive as if in a race, this drive is quite relaxing. The driver takes me to KP's office building which is a couple blocks from the river in downtown BK, near the Oriental Hotel.
After waiting in the lobby area of the office for about 15 minutes KP's secretary comes to get me and we go to the 2nd floor. The spacious and comfotable office is located in a corner of the building. KP is just getting off the phone when we walk in, and he rises to greet me and shake my hand. He is a fit and trim elderly man with a ready smile and full of energy. He later tells me that he is 86! Unbelievable! He is very sharp, speaks very good english, and walks quickly, even going downstairs. I hope I am even 50% as well when I am his age. I comment that he must really like his work to continue working at this age. He agrees. He tells me that his brother started this company in the alte 40s, but the brother didn't like people and so KP took over. The brother went into the import/export business, also successfully.
Withina few minues we leave the office and get into another Mercedes and the same driver takes us to the Oriental Hotel, about a half-mile away. Located on the riverfront, the Oriental is reputed to be BK's finest hotel, and I cannot disagree. The lobby area is beautiful. The doormen seem to know KP. He takes me on a short tour before lunch, telling me that the old part of the hotel was a residence for part of the royal family a long time ago. We end up at Lord Jim's, where there is one of the best lunch buffets I have ever seen. All kinds of food, western and eastern, are represented. Roast beef, fish and seafood, fruits, desserts, well I cannot possibly list them all. I stick primarily with the seafood, and everything I have is delicious and of the highest quality. I order an iced coffee, and I am brought fresh coffee poured over ice, with cream and a liquid sugar syrup to add to my taste. Very elegant.
KP tells me that he is one of 12 children, no. 2 son, all of whom are still alive! What increible genetics in his family. His mother lived to be over 90, and his older brother is 90. KP has 3 children, all of whom are professionals and successful in their fields. KP was educated in the USA, and fought for the USA in WWII. After the war he attended college in the USA on the GI Bill! Amazing, and wonderful.
After lunch we go back to his office, where I speak with one of the employees about flights to Phuket and Krabi, where I will travel later this week. She gives me the schedules and the fares, and I tell her I will let her know. During lunch I had seen a longtail boat goind by and had told KP that I wanted to ride on one of them before I left Thailand. So as I am getting ready to leave the office he tells me that he has arranged for a longtail boat ride this afternoon, and the driver takes me to the nearby boat dock where the boat is waiting. Before I go we take a photo together near one of his tour buses, and he gives me brochures from his tour offices in the other cities that I plan to visit. I thank KP for his kindness. What a nice man!
So within a few minutes I am seated on a long tail boat. They are aptly named, in that the large engine has a long driveshaft that extend out behind the boat. The entire engine and driveshaft move to the left and the right for steering. These boats were made famous in a James Bond movie in the 70s. This one is much larger than the one 007 was in. The boat takes me mostly on a tour thru Khonburi, the area on the east side of the river. We go thru a series of canals, lined with Wats and nice houses. This is not a busy commercial area similar to the other-west-dies of the river. It is much quieter here. Some of the homes are almost western, and many houses had a Buddhist shrine near the river. We eventually exit back out into the river and head south for a couple miles. The river here is wide, with mostly commercial cargo traffic and some boat yards. We soon head back north, and I am dropped off at Central pier, which is adjacent to the Skytrain (the same station that T and I were at).
I take the Skytrain 4 stops, and get off near World Trade Mall. I wander around just looking at the shops and people. It is almost Chinese New Year, and there is a large dragon suspended in one part of the mall. At one of the higher floors there is a computer area where software is sold. From the prices it appears that counterfeit software is a booming business and is not hidden at all.
I then walk north to the river, and catch the riverboat back to the hotel. Later T meets me at the hotel and we go to Mall Bangkapi to find a restaurant for dinner. We decide upon Japanese style, with a conveyor belt that comes by the counter with an assortment of sushi amd also food to cook in your countertop cooking pot. It is all you can eat for 189B, and inludes fish, beef, chicken, veggies, etc. What a great meal! Afterwards we walk to the night market located next door where after much walking around I find some swim trunks (my last pair finally gave-out when I was in Manila). Cost was only 150B.
It is now getting late and so we get a taxi which drops T off at her home nearby, and then takes me back to the hotel.
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