Hanging in Bangkok

After leaving my family, I headed to another neighborhood in Bangkok to meet up with a friend of mine who was visiting from DC, Little Wounded Mouth (LWM).  I gave LWM this name after he suffered some wretched dental issues a few years ago.  Cue the song That’s What Friends are For…

We were staying in this awesome apartment on the other side of the river.  Here is a picture of our pool. 

After drooling over our new digs and catching up over a few drinks we set out to explore our hood.  We were in a primarily residential neighborhood so we got to see many things that we wouldn’t in the heart of the city.  Our apartment was next to a public park that was workout central.  The back corner of the park was filled with weight machines and the park was surrounded by a running area.  We started to notice regulars after a few days, including this Carrot Top look-a-like who was definitely a bit off.  Each day he’d run past us gnawing on his fist with a crazy glimmer in his eye.  Hmm, this sounds like another friend of mine who will remain nameless, but that’s another story for another day.  This character also enjoyed stretching his long and bony leg on the 8 foot tall chain link fence, practically doing splits against it.  Obviously, we looked forward to seeing him each day and thankfully on most days we did. 

Another highlight of our hood was this BBQ joint named…

It was delicious and will definitely be added to the mix of tasty treats that will be featured at my post Asia supper club.  Take a look at this little piece of Heaven. 

OK, the pic might not look as appetizing with raw meat featured, but trust me when I tell you that it’s delicious.  The broth is used to make a noodle and veggie soup, which happen to go perfectly with some fava beans and nice chianti.

After gorging ourselves on as much food as our stomachs could handle we waddled back to the house and slobbered on the couch in preparation for a big day on the waterways of Bangkok.  We hired a boat to take us along the river to see some local villages and of course some wats.  Check it out. 

On our return back to the apartment we noticed some trees around the roof of our building and became obsessed with finding our way to the top.  One sketch elevator and a few flights of stairs later, we were on the roof, enjoying one of the most spectacular views of Bangkok.

Full moon. 

The freaks come out at night….the freaks come out at night. 

Look at how perfectly we centered the dome building.  Genius! 

Yeah, we entertained ourselves for hours on that roof.  We got a late start the next day and hit Chinatown for maximum pandemonium. 

Here is the Marble Temple in the neighborhood of Dusit.  The King’s residence and the Bangkok zoo are also in Dusit. 

This is the street leading up to the King’s residence.  We heard that the streets are lined with lights at nightfall so we headed to the zoo, which is across the street, to kill some time. 

The zoo is a beautiful space with a lake in the middle surrounded by a footpath.  We took a stroll around the lake and happened upon these little gems hiding in the bushes.  This was clearly designed for kids, but it seemed a little creepy to us. 

This gorgeous palace was across the street from the zoo and perfectly visible from the other side of the lake.  Sunset is almost here.  That means it’s almost time for the lights. 

Shabam!  This is how the King rolls. 

I used my point and shoot camera to prop up my SLR for some of these shots and in my enthusiasm to catch the lights from another angle, I dropped my point and shoot to the ground.  This was the final blow.  The camera was done.  R.I.P little camera.  I loved you and will miss you.  Thanks for all the memories. 

We couldn’t let a little thing like a smashed camera rain on our parade.  It was time for some Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing).  What can I say except that it was awesome.  The ring is surrounded by stadium seating and includes a band consisting of drums, the horn used to mesmerize a cobra and some bells, which follow the tempo of the match.  When the kicks are coming harder and the fighters are at their most ferocious, the music speeds up and throws the crowd into a screaming frenzy.  Needless to say, this was totally up our alley.  Here’s the band.  They may be small, but they had us in the palms of their hands. 

The fighters engage in rituals prior to fighting to warm up and get into the zone.  This takes as long as each fighter needs.  

These kicks are no joke.  This poor guy is out cold. 

Time for the stretcher.  This brave fighter was able to walk out of the ring, but some of the other fighters weren’t so lucky. 

After the fight we were all pumped up so it was time to hit the roof again for some combat poses. 

OK, enough fighting.  Time to get centered. 

And go visit Mary Poppins. 

No, this never got old.  We couldn’t get enough of these roof shots.  On LWM’s last night in Bangkok we were up on the roof for a final farewell when it became abundantly clear to me that I had about 3.5 seconds to get off the roof before things got super disgusting.  With no time to spare I threw myself into the bathroom and immediately took it to Crazytown.  The best word for what came out of my body is lava because it was explosive, fiery and red.  Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. For the rest of the evening I was either losing all control of my bodily functions in the bathroom or writhing around in the bed shivering and sweating bullets.  How fun for LWM.  He was a total trooper and did his best to take care of me.  It was not pretty folks.  I also missed the opportunity to catch up with an old buddy from high school who happened to be in Bangkok.  LAME!  I couldn’t take any chances though because without warning, at any moment, one orifice of my body was demanding center stage in the bathroom. 

So anyway, enough about me, tell me about you. 

Haha, sorry to thoroughly gross you out with that story, but it had to be told.  I suffered from that wretched prawn that poisoned me for the next several days.  Let’s just say I’m on a prawn breather now. 

Safe travels back to DC, LWM!  I had a great time hanging with you in Bangkok.  Thanks for visiting and taking care of me in my hours of need.  Eric, I’m so sorry that we didn’t get to meet up, but I’ll see you this summer in LA fo sho!  Yay, here’s a shout out to my LA peeps! 

Next stop….Chiang Mai.  See you soon.