Bus 47

Whoa...another exciting day that started off with a breakfast/lunch at one of the local stalls (Pad See Yue & Pork Noodles in Soup) - unbelievably cheap: two dishes and a Sprite for THB65 (CHF 2). That's great - isn't it? :)

mmmhhh...yummy - We really love the food here.....BTW food - I am food sitting here in the lobby of the Hotel writing this Blog. Already last night I got stung all over by mosquitos while writing... And now already again I am suffering under the attention of the mosquitos! :-/ Argh....Mishell is just enjoying a pedicure next to the Hotel!

Mishell: As you can clearly see from the picture, I too, suffered from the attack of the Mosquitoes - which the Pedicure lady found very amusing (that my feet were covered by mosquitoe bites). I didnt find it quite so funny. :-p

Today, we decided to go more local and use the Bangkok public transport to get around! It was great...after our lunch break we strolled to the next bus stop and asked some locals for the bus number to one of the sights here in town. I have to say that most of the locals not involved in the tourist business are really friendly and helpful and don't try to cheat your or sell you some rubbish as the other ones do..... :)

The lady we asked had no clue which bus we should take, so she asked another lady who asked another lady with family and they discussed for a while and came back smiling to us and told us in broken English "4 and 7".... So we thought bus '4' or '7'. After one stop on bus 7, we found out they meant bus "47". Luckily, not too much longer, along came bus number 47......

Bus 47 is not your most modern of busses.. but riding on the local bus is a really cool experience because you get to see quite a few things while sitting in there for 40 minutes. I was as well reasoning about when was the last time in Switzerland that busses with wooden floors were in use?

hmmm...must have been a while! so it feels a bit like a time travel here....! and you get to buy the tickets in the bus from a lady...we made the experience that the older the bus the cheaper the fare (bus 47 was THB 6.5 per person, CHF 20 rappen or sth). The bus is used mostly by locals, school kids, granny's, monks etc.

So Bus 47 took us literally half-way across town, through a lot of smog, hospitals, schools, a whole street of mechanic/car repair shops,....some very interesting passengers,...and finally - 'Wat Po' (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha), which was probably about the last stop as we were the ONLY TWO left on the bus.

(We even got a special goodbye-wave from the Conductor and Bus Driver who must have been laughing about these two mad tourists sitting for about 40mins across Bangkok city in a crappy, old bus). However, we must say, it was well worth-it for those who like to 'see AND SMELL the local sights'. You can't get more local than this.

After learning that the Temple of was built around the 1600's, we moved on to the next temple - across the river - called 'Wat Arun', i.e. The Temple of Dawn.

A quick pit stop and plenty of refreshing juices later (In Picture: Dragon Fruit Juice, Roselle Juice similar to Hagenblütten Tee), we were ready to attack the next form of Public Transport in Bangkok - the Ferry.

The Ferry ride across the river costed THB 3 p/person (CHF 1 rappen) and was pretty cool.

The Temple of Dawn, as we found out, was a rather special temple as it's not just one of those you walk around,...but have to climb UP....and very STEEP UP. The view, however, from the top of the temple was well-worth it. Especially at 4pm,...close to sunset. :)

One thing we learned from the past days is 4pm in Bangkok also = TRAFFIC JAM. We therefore decided to go for the ferry option back to the city..which was a pretty good decision.

The Chao Phraya river of Bangkok is a seriously busy river with A LOT of traffic going up and down (4-5 lanes) the river.

Sunset on the river of Chao Phraya

To get back to the hotel, we had to catch another bus after the ferry...and this time, a fully air-conditioned one (!!). This, as we realised, has a premium and costed THB 12, i.e. nearly double of the natural air-conditioned, metal-box-with wooden-floor-junk-on-wheels version.

But after a long day out in the humid weather, you'd be grateful for some cold air blasted down your face!

We decided to end our trip in Bangkok with a bang - on the rooftop of the 'Lebua State Tower', otherwise known as 'Sky Bar'. But before that - more street food! :) This time we had Pad Thai, Fried Rice and some vegetables...courtesy of the fancy street-hawker stall across the fancy State Tower (think back alley, dark lighting, but at least no cockroaches or rats in sight). Think we nearly licked the plate clean.

Guess the Thais like their salads! Pigs entrails, anyone?

The view from the Sky Bar was a great way to say goodbye to Bangkok as well as Patrick & Karin, as we parted our ways. They are headed up north towards Chiang Mai tomorrow, whereas we are headed Southwest to....Phuket!

Nightview of Bangkok

Mojito & Caipirinha in Bangkok