I’m done with the dentist for this trip and now I have my Bangkok smile!  😁  We extended our stay by three days to finish all the work. The dentist had three crowns made overnight because he wasn’t happy with how the three of them fit yesterday and then he took the sutures out. I’m celebrating with a cocktail and canapés at the hotel.

We decided to move up to the 34th floor for our extended days. The view was spectacular. Neil took lots of photos of the city and river, which was always changing. We did some minor excursions such as visiting Icon Siam shopping center and Asiatique. I don’t have the energy for my usual writeup, so just enjoy the photos in the gallery. Many have descriptive titles and captions. Thankfully, Neil took over writing up our activities while I was temporarily out of commission.

Neil here, as a guest contributor. While Nan’s been alternating between ice packs and napping I’ve gone out for some nearby exploration. While planning the trip last month we thought we would visit some of the famous sights we saw almost 30 years ago, but once here, neither of us felt much interest in seeing them again. Instead, I’ve been enjoying the little out-of-the-way local places meaningful to the neighborhood residents. But before I get to that, let me insert an update because I did go to one of the old places after all… 

Bonus excursion: Saturday morning I took the Orange Line Express Boat up to Phra Arthit Pier then walked to Khao San Road to see my old stomping grounds from 30 years ago. Apparently, it comes alive at night because at 10:30 am it was almost a ghost town aside from vendors setting up for business. Even so, I hardly recognized it with McDonalds and other Western franchise businesses now present. I remember it being seedy and full of restaurants iconic of Thai charm and low backpacker enticing prices. It seems to have gone upscale for a new breed of spring break mentality party hounds. Even with no crowds and wide spaces there were already a few aggressive hawkers who stepped in my way so I’d have to pay attention to them to avoid collision. I’ve seen basically the same thing in other countries. 

So now I have fond memories of a long-gone era and the current generation has created something new. Yes, personally I lament the loss, but I’m also happy it brings jobs and money for the Thai people who depend on this place for a living. As I’ll show below with my Vishnu Temple safari, I can still have the kind of sightseeing experience and personal interactions I prefer in my travels. 

Little out-of-the-way places, my favorite!

Thursday the 20th, after breakfast and another infinity reflection photo in the elevator (Nan: another one??), I decided to visit Yan Nawa Fire Station,  the big fire station I saw from the window of a bus a few days earlier. When I arrived mid-morning, a couple of the guys were washing a snake. They were happy to talk with me and let me take pictures. They explained it had been caught in a rat trap and it may have had poison on it, hence the soap and water bath. It didn’t make sense to me until they were finished and they dropped it into a big cage with a pile of other snakes, some of them as big around as my arm. Once a month the department of forestry picks them up and releases them into the wilderness. They usually have 20 or 30 snakes each month. After bonding over snake washing, they gave me a quick tour.  

That afternoon I realized I should have asked if I could buy a souvenir firefighter T-shirt. So I went back. When I arrived, the chief happened to be the first one to see me and he explained the guys from the morning were now on stand-by downtime. He invited me into his nice air conditioned office where we talked using my phone’s translation app. I think the app must be pretty bad because half the time we were looking at each other thinking what he just said makes no sense. Eventually, another firefighter (Mr. Kladsaard??) came in and his app worked better.

Chief Singchai is on the bomb squad (you can see it in English on the shirt he’s wearing) and in addition to fire and rescue (both people and snakes), they can also act as police. With the big hotels and high-rise condos, they have multiple ladder trucks, tankers (2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 liter), and engines they can deploy. You’ll see a bunch of scooters parked in among the big trucks so I wonder how fast their response time can be, unless maybe some firefighters use the scooters to weave through snarled traffic or side alleys to get there soonest?? 

There were no T-shirts I could buy, but when they found out I’m coming back around February, they each gave me one of their personal shirts hoping I can swap it and bring them back a Maui shirt. Maybe I’ll bring a third Maui shirt and swap with someone who’s my size. When we come back, the chief wants me to come home and meet his wife and kids. I sure hope the app gets better by then.

On the way to and from the fire station I explored the neighborhood a little bit. There was a well-loved Chinese shrine on a corner and nearby was an old-fashioned Chinese apothecary shop. I’d gone to one like it in Los Angeles about 30 years ago when I was under the care of “Chinese Mamma,” an old-school semi-retired acupuncturist. 

In addition to the mostly Thai population, the neighborhood has quite a few of Indian heritage. Much to our delight because right away we found an excellent little Indian restaurant frequented by locals not tourists. Seeing on the map there is a Vishnu temple within walking distance and since its beautiful beguiling gold spires were visible from our room, I decided to check it out if I got a chance. 

After Nan’s morning nap and in between my two fire station visits, we took the hotel ferry boat to Icon Siam shopping center.  Wow, what a fantastic place. Visually stunning, even to the point of being disorienting. This is where you will find all the elite shops you’d see in the high-end district of any European capital. The shop workers have an aloof professional demeanor that I suppose is expected of them. This is the opposite end of the spectrum from Big C or MBK where you find the Thai working class people. Nan and I could fit right in at the fancy mall, but honestly an hour was plenty. We find much more enjoyment with people of any social class as long as they have open loving hearts. 

After high tea and our afternoon swim (pool, not river), we decided to finally go see Asiatique to get some good photos at sunset. Hahaha, a dramatic little thunderstorm decided to visit Asiatique pretty much the same time we did. I got a beautiful photo of it building up as Nan boarded the shuttle boat. But it all worked out fine. The rain hit within 5 minutes of our arrival and we wandered around the shops while the rain came down. I got some chicken satay skewers from a pretty Thai food service worker who had perfected the universal bored teenager look. We were finished about the same time as the rain tapered off. Among throngs of shoppers squeezing past each other in narrow passageways I was once again reminded I am not a herd animal.

Friday the 21st at about 3:40 am local time was the Summer Solstice. We didn’t look it up until that afternoon, but it turned out Nan and I both felt it because both of us awakened about 3 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I generally meditate under such circumstances anyway and it was sweet. Around 5:20 there was enough light to start the time-lapse sunrise video. It was pretty, but I think I like the previous morning’s sunrise video a little better.

After breakfast we got a quick photo with some of our favorite servers, Mr. Pornsak, Prim (aka Dutchess Primrose), and Tin (I wish we could have gotten Beu in there as well). Nan set off for the dentist and I decided to do a Vishnu Temple safari. I called it that because rather than take the big busy streets I wanted to take the smallest alleys and walkways I could find. I figured there may be dead ends and wild animals, and I wasn’t disappointed. 

As soon as I crossed the street from the hotel the fire trucks roared by responding to a call. Very auspicious. Not long later, down a small alley I chanced upon a wedding reception for a sweet young couple. I wish them a long happy marriage! Later, down a small sidewalk with an overgrown cemetery on one side (dating back to the 1800s??) I came across a sweet old couple who had had a long happy marriage. They had three very young kittens to bring them joy in life. I pulled out my phone and showed them photos of my daughter’s three goofy cats and they were delighted to see them. Simple pleasures transcend language.

The Vishnu temple was beautiful and obviously a central part of life for many people. Not a tourist in sight. I was very respectful and lingered for about half an hour enjoying the serene peaceful beauty.

I then passed small neighborhood Wat Prok Yannawa but didn’t go inside because some kind of Moms and Kids event was going on. I was attracted to the shade at nearby Teochew Cemetery Park where I wandered for a little while. The graves looked to be newer than the ones I passed earlier. The park was well tended and I saw several people out for a walk or exercise. Nearby was a small fish and shrimp farm. Had a worker been present I might have asked if I could let a shrimp pinch me to see what it feels like. Many years ago I sat in a little jungle stream near Panelque and the shrimp came out and crawled all over me and it tickled so bad! Their pinches didn’t hurt because they couldn’t get a grip. As big as these shrimp were, they looked pretty weak.

From there I followed a canal because why not? Eventually, I started seeing beautiful street art murals on walls and fences done by the neighborhood residents?? Following intuition I found some canal catwalks with more beautiful murals. I stayed on the catwalks until I finally reached Wat Yan Nawa where I and busloads of tourists enjoyed the colorful splendor. I took a few photos inside before one of the workers told me it’s not allowed. I’m glad I got the statue with the sunglasses before they stopped me (hint, he’s tall dark and on the right).

I rode the hotel ferry back from Sathorn Pier, standing there leaning over the rail as usual even though I didn’t even pretend to be taking pictures since there were no other passengers. When Nan got back from the dentist she took a short nap while I worked on photos and then we went down to happy hour canapes and a stroll along the riverfront. I’ve been capturing another sunset time-lapse while writing this. You can see how I put the little tripod on an inverted table on a chair, powered by long USB cable which also acts as a safety line just in case. I’ll post the best videos to YouTube if you’re interested.

In summarizing my recent activities: infinity reflection photos, snake and fire truck photos, boat ride photos, following canals to who-knows-where, and ducking down potentially dangerous side alleys just to see what’s there, … the evidence seems to suggest Neil is just a big kid. Oh well, at least I play well with others.

Breakfast on the Terrace 3x Time-lapse 1:10

We enjoy the boat traffic and the birds chasing each other. I jokingly said we should walk through the frame and then said ‘why not!’

Bangkok Boats at Sunset 60x Time-lapse (0;36) 

Looking northerly from the 34th floor. This is shortly after a rainy cloudburst at sunset, and some dark clouds still linger. Because of the rain there were fewer party boats than usual.

Sunrise from the 34th Floor 60x Time-lapse (0:57) 

This is the last sunrise before the 2024 summer solstice. It was a beautiful morning!

Solstice Sunrise 60x Time-lapse with Boats on the Chao Phraya (1:05) 

Taken from the 34th floor starting about 5:20 am when it looked so clear. Summer solstice was at 3:40 am local time that morning.

Sunset 60x Time-lapse Chao Phraya Boats Long Version (3:23) 

The full moon high tide has the river flowing backwards. If you look carefully you can see the water flowing upstream. We’ve seen the water level change a few feet in a matter of hours with the current being quite swift.