The land of the smile

Gate to Chinatown

I always wondered why they call Thailand the land of the smile. Yes for sure, people are very friendly, but when traveling with regular commuters on the Skytrain in Bangkok, I don’t see many smily faces. But yesterday it hit me: it’s not the Thai people smiling, it’s tourists like me smiling on the street, walking around in the sunshine in a nice climate, enjoying good food, visiting beautiful sights, ... hence the land of the smile.

Wat Saket

Royal Pavillion Mahajetsabadin

The last few days in Bangkok have been very busy, but I did manage to make some new discoveries by just walking around in the city. I made a huge 17km walk from my hotel on Silom Road towards Thon Buri on the other side of the river.  I started by walking to China Town and passing through its small alleyways full of little shops selling virtually everything you can imagine.  I had my daily breakfast of fresh-cut pineapple wrapped in 2 plastic bags there.  From Chinatown I continued toward the Golden Mountain (Wat Saket), one of my favourite temples in Bangkok.  The climb up always clears my thoughts and if my mind is not clear enough yet when I get to the top, there’s always the 9 rounds around the peak of the building which will then certainly do the job.  Across the river from Wat Saket lies the Royal Pavillion of Mahajetsabadin, which was closed today, just like many other sights.

Khao San Road

I also noticed in the road that almost all Thai people were dressed in black.  I remembered reading somewhere that their deceased king will soon be buried.  Many roads around Wat Pho and the Royal Palace were closed and regularly cars accompanied by police bikers passed at high speeds.  Probably some important people bringing their last regards to the king.  Near Democracy Monument it got even worse and there were only people dressed in black, I actually stood completely out.  Thus I went to the nearby Khao San Road, where I didn’t stand out.  Many tourists walk there, though at the time of the day I was there, it was still quite calm.

Rama VIII-bridge

Thonburi Locomotive Depot

Back to the mourning crowds near Somdet Phra Pin Klao Road then and across the bridge to the other bank of the Chao Praya River.  From this bridge I had a very good view on the astonishing Rama VIII-bridge.  Thon Buri was much calmer today as Bangkok was.  I continued along Somdet Phra Pin Klao Road and took the turn at Arun Amarin Road.  There I suddenly got surprised by a heavy rainstorm.  Well… surprised?  It is raining season!  Luckily for me I was just next to Magiccoff, a small coffee bar and so I entered and drank a very nice iced coffee.  When the rain stopped and my coffee was finished I followed Arun Amarin Road a bit further down, across the bridge, arriving at what would become the height of my day: Thon Buri Station & Locomotive Depot.

It was unbelievable what I experienced there.  Thon Buri Locomotive Depot is a maintenance depot which is still in service, still I could enter it and make pictures of the 5 very old well-maintained Japanese-built steam locomotives as well as a selection of different thirdclass-cars and diesel locomotives, without anybody asking me any questions.  Apart from a big sign ‘safety first’, there wasn’t lots of safety measures to see.

Safety first?

Even very basic personal track safety rules were not being applied there and so it was no problem that I walked around next to the greasy tracks in my flip-flops not wearing an high-visibility vest.  Well of course I had some responsibility and I always looked well around me to be sure no trains were moving while I was passing the tracks.  While I was walking around there, another heavy rainstorm started, but the depot gave me enough shelter so I could continue my visit.  It was very interesting to see how the very old trains were better maintained than some of the more recent trains.  Reason is probably that the old trains are only used for special occasions, whereas the older ones are used on a daily basis.

Steam Locomotives

Car parked Thai style

Walking towards the station after my visit to the depot, I noticed some other strange things happening on and around the tracks.  For example: a car was parked on the tracks next to a level-crossing!  Anyway, my feet started to hurt so I decided to go back towards my hotel.  I walked to Wat Rakhang (rakhang means as much as “bell”), taking a ferry to Tha Chang Pier across the river and connecting there to the River Express to Tha Oriental, where it was a 5 minute walk to my hotel.

I freshened up and had the usual at my usual bar: a 1-litre cocktail-pitcher.  As I don’t want to be too much of a man of habits, I choose a Singapore Sling today, rather than a Cosmopolitan.  I met a German couple there, we started talking, started drinking shots and…  The next day I had a serious hangover and my head felt like it could explode any moment, so I stayed at the hotel the entire morning.  In the afternoon I met up with a friend at IKEA Bangkok as he needed some help buying curtains and after that I returned to the hotel to pack for the next day.