Thailand: Bustling, Busy, Bangkok

With a population approaching 10 million, Thailand's capital city is bigger than New York or Los Angeles.  It  seems to be a city much more focused on the future than the past, though it protects a lot of important old buildings.  Its speedy elevated rail system whisks riders above the congested streets.  Descend to the street from a rail platform and you're in a world of fast-walking locals squeezing around vendors selling everything from small Buddhas to massage oils and Viagra.

In the March 17, 2013, Travel section of The New York Times, Thomas Fuller offered advice on what to do during 36 hours in Bangkok.  Click HERE to read to his article.  Our trip occurred before Fuller's article appeared and we did not stray too far from the most popular tourist areas.  Here are some snapshots from our few days in Bangkok in December 2012.

Above: This VW van shows up around 7 each evening, parks on a sidewalk and creates an instant open-air bar. It has a full menu of cocktails.

Left: A restaurant set up in a covered parking lot. During the day, it's full of cars. When the cars leave, carts bring in charcoal and propane grills, folding tables, folding chairs and chests of ice for chilling drinks. We had two kinds of whole fish here, one grilled and one steamed and both excellent.

Right: A broom vendor pushes his cart on Sukhumvit, one of the city's major shopping streets.  In the background you can see the street going beneath a raised highway. Toll roads built above the city allow relatively quick drives to the airport even from the heart of downtown.

Above:  A longtail boat zips along the Chao Phraya River, a waterway filled with commuter ferries, tourism boats and other watercraft.  The longtail boats have propellers mounted at the ends of long drive shafts that are connected to what looked like old automobile engines. The engines pivot, swinging the drive shafts and propellers to steer the boats.  We saw these in Cambodia, too, but only in Bangkok did we see how fast they could go.  Very fast, at least as compared to everything else on the river. And very noisy, too.

Right: The sidewalk outside the Grand Palace. The white towers are stupas.


Below:  Several photos inside the grounds of the Grand Palace, which is a former royal residence now used only on rare ceremonial occasions.

The Grand Palace is a must-see for any first-time visitor to Bangkok.  It's like Versailles in being almost unbelievably ornate, in being totally over the top.  Here, however, the royal residence itself is not open to the public.

Vietnam: Cosmopolitan Hanoi

        Hanoi is a busy, busy city.  Like stereotypical New Yorkers, the people on Hanoi's crowded streets and sidewalks have no patience for gawking tourists, tend not to return smiles and do not apologize if they bump into someone.  We were there for most of the last week of December 2012.  It was chilly but not cold, the air dirty with the exhaust of tens of thousands of motorcycles, motor scooters, cars and trucks.

        We stayed in the old quarter, which at first was incredibly confusing.  Fortunately, most buildings have posted not only their number but the name of the street.  This is handy in an area where street names can change every block or two.  

       Here are some photos from our time in Hanoi. 

Above: One of the few intersections in Hanoi where everyone stops for a red light.  Face masks are used by a lot of pedestrians as well as motorcyclists -- we think to protect against pollution rather than germs.

Right: Sidewalk produce vendors.






Below: No cars or trucks are allowed on this narrow street in the old quarter.

Left: Meat and various other animal parts at a street market.  I'm pretty sure that's liver in the middle.

Below: More foods laid out at a street market.

Left:  We stumbled upon some sort of ceremony at the One Pillar Pagoda near Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum.

Below: The Huc Bridge at Hoan Kiem Lake, the lake of the restored sword.
Legend is that the 15th century hero Le Loi found a sword in his fishing net here, a sword he used to chase the Chinese out of Vietnam. The sword later flew out of his scabbard and into the mouth of a giant turtle in this lake.

Right: Bridal couples flock to Hoan Kiem Lake to have their photos taken.  This couple was posing on the Huc Bridge.





Below: Neckties and scarves in a silk store in the old quarter.

Right: Containers of butter cookies are among the offerings at a shrine near the Huc Bridge.  Elsewhere we saw offerings of Pepsi bottles, cigarettes and a milkshake at shrines like this.