Dusit Zoo

I remember Bangkok being this hot the last time I came with Joshua. In fact, it was so hot then all I wanted to do was swim. However,now that I am living here, I figure I better start doing things on week-ends.

Since I stayed in town because of my golf game yesterday, I decided to see 2 sites in the same area of Bangkok, namely the zoo and the teak palace or Vimanmek museum which was used as the royal palace between 1902 and 1910 by the king, his three Queens and his many consorts and children.

I found the zoo to be the perfect size. It was very walkable and I spent lots of time finding a shady area and just sitting down watching kids play or looking at a fascinating newborn monkey who was quite scrawny and small but doing his or her darndest to copy his parents swinging and cavorting. Unfortunately, he was a little too small and it was scary watching him try out these manoeuvres. For some reason, I was also fascinated by the big animals and must have spent hours watching the hippos and elephants. Actually, it ws quite strange seeing elephants in the zoo since I see them all over Bangkok all of the time.

After the zoo, I virtually went next door to the teak palace. It was expectedly awesome and seem to have thousands of rooms all made of teak. It also had the first bathtub in Thailand but the servants had to run up and down their own winding steps to bring water up to the top floorto put in the bathtub. Paradoxily, I did see a maid coming down these stairs with a scrubrush and pail.

Getting home proved to be a bit of a challenge. Taxis, unlike most cities ,can refuse passengers and seem to do so all the time. It was impossible for me to get a cab home. In fact, there were about 10 taxis lined up outside the palace and when I told them where I wanted to go they literally just laughed. I hopped in the tuk tuk you see in the picture and luckily he granted me an audience and let me ride with him! That was after a lot of gesturing, laughing and throwing around lots of money. We ended up behind a bus with black belching smoke which probably took three years off of my life since I am the only Bangkokian who does not wear a face mask. I finally made it to the BTS, 60 baht poorer but thrilled to be in the airconditioned skyway which I usually absolutely detest.

Tomorrow, I am hoping to take the train to the first capital, Ayyuthaya which is 85 kilometers north of the city and a 15 baht (45 cent) trip away. Stay posted to see if I make it.