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Destination Spotlight: Bangkok
With half of Ishtar's favorite destinations in the East, it's no wonder she's roamed Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia during her 77 journeys. Two things she cannot resist? Indonesian bamboo music and night bazaars.
You'll start your journey of enchantment at the airport, which will greet you with sparkling floors and garden beds. Try not to stay where tourists abound: your experience will be so much more authentic. The Royal River Hotel, right on the banks of the Chao Praya, unequivocally contributed to our experience.
Navigating on the river is the quickest, least polluted, and most fun way to get around. A round-trip anywhere will cost you 20 baht; I encourage you to hop onto one of those water buses with no particular destination in mind. Be amazed at the different faces of Bangkok: magnificent wats reside next to haphazardly constructed shacks; steely glass skyscrapers seem to question their less-than-glamorous neighbors; the enormous golden back of a Buddha appears, suddenly swarmed by a zillion pigeons in need of a perch.
Depending upon how much time you have, you may also wish to push farther north to Chiang Rai or to the Golden Triangle, the area bordered by Myanmar and Cambodia. The Night Bazaar is another mind-boggling experience, and although there are many throughout both cities, the best one to see is the Kalare, which is mostly indoors and three stories high.
Back in Bangkok, Jim Thompson's Thai House proved to be more interesting than described. The Royal Grand Palace, which is on the same grounds as the Wat Phra Kaew, will have you looking up for the better part of 2 hours. And if you've never been on an elephant, Thai tours all include day excursions to elephant farms, where the ride is the most exhilarating of the activities. If you prefer less intimate contact with animals, try the oxen ride, where you'll catch a glimpse of the beautifully clad northern tribesmen.
Must-do: Chinatown! Nothing, absolutely nothing, can prepare you for this assault and marvelous immersion into a people and their daily struggle to survive. You become so entranced in this seemingly endless dance of life that you forget that you are walking down interminable streets, that you are sweating, that you are tired.
