How many people can you fit comfortably in a Thai tuk-tuk? I think most people would answer 2. How many people can you fit in a Thai tuk-tuk for praticality? We somehow found a way to fit 6.
After arriving back in Bangkok after nearly two months of traveling, we spent an extra day exploring the sights, shops, and foods of Bangkok. After 5 of us hopped into a tuk-tuk with the notion of going to Bangkok’s Chinatown, our driver informed us it wasn’t open and proceeded to drive us around the city, dropping us off twice in weird alleys next to longtail boat piers which were out of our price range for our day of wandering. It took over an hour, but we ended up back at our hotel, each 20 baht poorer. We made the infallible decision to get yet another Thai massage (I think this makes 8 massages for me this trip). Nothing could go wrong with a Thai massage. Keeping up the pampering streak, we ate Thai food infused with smoked salmon for lunch, complete with a delicious and refreshing Thai tea. After lunch was the quest for a palm reader – something none of us had done before, but were willing to try to go into our stretch zone. We walked along Khao San Road, asking people where we might find such a fortune teller. No one was able to give us any information until a man at a small tourist shop told us that none of the gypsies would be out today since it was a Monday. Apparently it is a known fact that the police patrol the area more on Mondays, so those who sold on the streets weren’t out since street censoring is illegal. Strike two for our planned day’s activities. Since there was no fortune to be heard, we bought more elephant pants (because who doesn’t need more flowy pants?) and more fruit smoothies.
Later on, we decided to give Chinatown another go. The tuk-tuk drivers tried to charge us a ton of money since we were on the main tourist road, but we managed to bargain them down with a catch – all 6 of us had to ride in one tuk-tuk. I thought 5 was impressive before, but adding in yet another person contributed to the challenge. Now a tuk-tuk consists of a motorbike attached to a carriage (it looks like a cage) with one small bench that faces forward. Somehow we managed to squeeze all our limbs in, sitting on each other’s feet, sweaty arms draping another’s shoulders, and knees crunched in so hard that our extremities lost feeling. Our tuk-tuk driver, a young man, found our frugalness and space predicament quite funny, and spent the entire ride driving like a crazy maniac while we held on in the back for dear life and tried not to fall out of the open side. I sat facing the back so couldn’t see the traffic he was weaving through, couldn’t predict the sudden stops that jolted us into an even more twisted pile of limbs, and couldn’t feel anything but the acceleration of the carriage as we flew off into the unknown. Miraculously, after a few nervous outbursts and quite a lot of uncontrollable laughter, we finally made it to Chinatown.
It was as if we had been transported to yet another country. It was so different from the rest of Bangkok with the myriad of neon signs, side alleyways packed with street vendors, and mobs of people that took up all the space on the sidewalk. It was wonderful. We walked along the main road, dipping into small alleyways where we found incredible shops filled with snacks from the ground to the ceiling.
We ate some of the most delicious street food we had had in Asia so far, skipped out on the more questionable street food, and found what appeared to be a version of snow cones!
For just 15 baht (less than 50 cents) you could put up to 3 toppings in a bowl which would then be filled with ice and coconut cream. I filled mine with sticky rice, tapioca, and some type of potato. It was different than anything I tried, but delicious nonetheless. Bangkok definitely has much more to it than I oringially thought, and through a few mishaps and trial and error, a few more secrets of the city were uncovered.
Katie's Southeast Asia Adventure 