TJ's Travel Adventures: Working from Bangkok

Technically I was working remotely in Bangkok. But working remote is often a great opportunity to do some traveling. So I worked during the week and and sketched up a rough itinerary for the weekend. Since it was not my first time in Bangkok, I pretty much knew what to expect… motorbike taxis, drinking coffee from plastic bags, Volkswagen vans converted into electrified mobile bars (you know, your usual city stuff).

Because I was staying in Bangkok for longer than a weekend, I decided to go a bit more local. Instead of settling into the usual hotel scene, I took a friend’s advice and looked into getting an apartment for my stay. For way less than the typical hotel, I rented a condo, that had a gym, security guards, ultra-fast wifi and great views of downtown Bangkok. Definitely the way to go and I now also recommend it to others.

Since I was trying to be more of a local on this trip, I decided to take my tours of Bangkok a bit off the beaten track. With three main destinations in mind, I hired a professional local (AKA my Tour Guide, Nettie) and we headed outside of Bangkok’s main tourist bubble.

Bangkok's Train Market:

I had read about the famous Mae Klong Train Market somewhere in my travel studies, and ever since I’ve wanted to visit. More so the idea of it than the destination itself, this is one of those places that you have to visit to really appreciate the attraction.

Asian markets themselves are inherently interesting places to visit. Wild, buzzing stalls, outrageous colors and even more outrageous things for sale (fish heads, cow’s tails, worms and frog’s and all sorts of other unique stuff)- the experience is always memorable. But this Thai market is exceptionally interesting, as it shares its market-space with a daily-running passenger train.

Vendors spread their produce and goods across what they call their market space. Customers come in, peruse the different items on display, and make their purchases for the day. Life goes on as normal/hectic as it would in any market space, until the whistle sounds… that’s the three-minute warning.

Three minutes to break down, three minutes to move, three minutes of perfectly organized chaos. Retracting awnings, pulling tables out of the way, collecting all the items for sale… and exactly three minutes later, a freight train rolls over what was just a fruit stall.

How's that for a close call !!

The market people claim the territory as their own, and the train tracks say it belongs to the railway. But instead of battling over the space, the two somehow peacefully coexist. The only people that cannot get over the two industries coexisting are the tourists (of course). Camera wielding foreigners run alongside, behind and sometimes in front of the moving train, trying desperately to capture that un-capture-able experience of the Train Market. You can see for yourself in the video below:

Equally as amazing as the three-minute breakdown is the 30-second recreation of the market space. As soon as that final car is passed, the tables pop up, awnings snap open and the sales go on as usual. Thailand, always amazing.

The Floating Market:

Continuing on with our Bangkok adventures, Nettie brought me to another local market, this time on top of water instead of train tracks. The famous "Damnoen Saduak Floating Market" in Ratchaburi province, is exactly what it sounds like; Vendors pushing products from their wooden boats, cruising along the river making sales as usual. The strangest thing about this market (minus the fact that they’re selling from boats) was what the vendors were offering. Some were selling the regular fruits, vegetables and daily essentials, but other boats were preparing gourmet Thai dishes, roasting ducks on board, selling coconuts and even local beers- pretty much anything/everything you could imagine. It’s not every day you can buy a beer and plate of Pad Thai from a floating boat vendor (at ridiculously cheap prices no less!).

The Tiger Temple:

Our final destination of the day perfectly topped off my extraordinary Bangkok experience: The Tiger Temple. With a trip to Bhutan’s Tiger’s Nest Monastery coming up next week, I only thought it appropriate to visit Bangkok’s Tiger Temple first.

Like most people, I’ve never experienced a tiger first-hand, outside of a zoo. Though I have been on big game safaris in Africa, there were certainly no tigers present. At this temple, however, there were massive 400-500 pound tigers not only outside of cages, but roaming the grounds freely… with no restraints!! The only restrained tiger I saw was a cub, but that was for obvious yet-to-be trained reasons.

So there I was, walking through this Buddhist monastery, sharing the temple grounds with full-grown tigers. The monks had these majestic creatures so well trained and tranquil that you could actually touch them at different points of the day. The tigers were on a pretty set schedule, mealtime & nap time, followed by playtime and roaming time, so it was clear when the best time to interact with the animals was. As you can see below, it probably would NOT be a good idea for a tourist to get in the middle of playtime!!!

Interacting with the tigers was one of those experiences that was so outlandish, it almost felt surreal. Adding in the fact that it was mixed with Buddhist monks in an actual Buddhist monastery- it was like something out of a movie. My tour guide Nettie did an amazing job showing me around all these crazy Bangkok sites, and I can honestly say I got the unique, off-the-beaten track experience that I was hoping for. Trains and Markets, Tigers and Monks: I think 'peaceful coexistence' was the theme for this trip!