A day in Bangkok

Seeing as you have to stop somewhere in Asia when you fly from Australia to Europe, Tanya and I decided it would be rude to rush off - so we stayed for almost a week in Thailand. This was my first out-of-airport experience anywhere in Asia and it was wonderful.

The dry season doesn't mean it doesn't rain.

In Bangkok, the heat and humidity were impressive even though it's currently the dry season. The heat is even more impressive because the streets are so packed. I couldn't get over how full the streets were - of people, cars, motorbikes, food cooked and eaten, trucks piled high with goods, heckling tuk-tuk drivers, rubbish thrown, soup ladled, fruit on ice. This continues day and night. The markets were buzzing with activity and all manner of different things for sale, silk next to to plastic tiaras. The air is thick with humidity, the smell of the amazing food, exhaust, and voices.

Bangkok!

Purely by chance we arrived on the occasion of the Chinese New Year. 2013 is the Year of the Snake! Having heard there would be lion dances we made our way to Chinatown. Indeed there were dances and better yet it was the final of a lion dancing competition! So we were seeing the best of the best lion dancers in Bangkok. They were incredible. Two people made one lion, in what I hesitate to describe as an infinitely classier version of a two-person horse costume. I say that only so you get the idea of the configuration. The lion, once dancing, took on a life of its own: blinking and roaring, rearing up and crouching, and all while balanced on a series of high poles, between which the performers jumped, often acrobatically, and with absolute confidence and precision.

Lanterns out for Chinese new year.

Bangkok is also a city of temples, and we wanted to see them. Owing to our lion-watching experience, and then to a rather long and involved search for lunch, we ended up very limited on time, but were delighted to discover that we could still visit Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It was incredibly beautiful; a moving place, and a calm pool of peace in the middle of the roaring, wild, gorgeous city.

Tanya near Wat Sathat.

Near Wat Sathat, Bangkok.

Tanya learning Thai phrases in the lift.

Flying out of the smog layer that sits over Bangkok.