Ceci est le septième épisode de notre voyage en Asie, après les préparations, les vaccins, le premier jour à Hong Kong, la découverte de Kowloon, encore un peu d'Hong Kong et premiers pas à Bangkok.
Deuxième jour
Le samedi matin, nous refaisons un nouveau programme : au lieu de marcher comme la veille, nous allons prendre le métro aérien qui nous mènera à mi-chemin du centre historique, puis nous marcherons en direction du palais royal, qui sur la carte est indiqué comme visitable (au moins le parc qui l'entoure), et du zoo. Au début tout se passe bien, le système du métro aérien n'est pas trop compliqué à comprendre (bien que moins moderne que le métro d'Hong Kong, bien sûr). La marche qui suit aboutit rapidement à de grandes avenues mieux entretenues que ce qu'on a vu la veille, ce qui n'est pas pour nous déplaire. Mais du palais royal, tout ce que nous voyons ce sont des gardes armés de mitraillettes devant une entrée apparemment fermée. Plus loin, il y a un beau bâtiment non indiqué sur notre plan décidément bien foireux. Et puis finalement, nous trouvons le zoo.
Le zoo
J'aime beaucoup les zoos - enfin, surtout les animaux. Celui-ci n'est pas très grand et pas parfaitement entretenu, mais il a un joli étang au milieu et pas mal d'animaux exotiques. Le plus surprenant, ce ne sont pas les animaux dans les cages, ce sont ceux qui sont en liberté : des lézards géants de deux mètres de long se baladent dans les allées, des oiseaux ressemblant à des hérons colorés se perchent au sommet des arbres. La végétation est très belle aussi, notamment les palmiers géants. Certains animaux sont étrangement familiers, comme les girafes dont on peut toucher la tête depuis une plateforme.
Une fois la visite du zoo terminé, la journée ne l'est pas. Nous envisageons donc de prendre un tuk-tuk jusqu'au fleuve qui n'est pas très loin, puis de descendre jusqu'au quartier historique sur un ferry mentionné par notre guide touristique. Pour le tuk-tuk, pas de soucis cette fois-ci, il y en a plusieurs à la sortie du zoo et nous avons maintenant une idée des prix. Le trajet est moins acrobatique que la veille. Par contre, prendre le bateau s'avère plutôt difficile.
Le ferry, quelle bonne idée
Là où nous arrivons, il y a deux "ports", deux petites plateformes sur le fleuve, à dix mètres d'intervalle. Les deux sont désertes quand nous arrivons et il n'y a aucun panneau. Pensant nous être trompés d'endroit, nous redescendons le fleuve vers un autre port assez proche, mais une fois arrivés nous nous rendons compte qu'il s'agit d'un endroit où s'arrêtent des gros bateaux-spectacles. Nous retournons donc à notre point de départ.
Cette fois-ci, il y a du monde sur l'une des plateformes, et dans l'ombre, nous découvrons un panneau qui nous avait échappé. Presque rien n'est en anglais mais par déduction, nous comprenons qu'il faut prendre le bateau avec un drapeau orange qui arrive de la gauche. Quelques minutes plus tard, un bateau qui correspond arrive, mais s'arrête à l'autre plateforme. Nous nous apprêtons à nous précipiter quand une personne présente nous demande où nous allons ; nous donnons l'endroit, et elle nous fait signe de rester où nous sommes et d'attendre qu'un bateau arrive sur cette plateforme-ci. Nous attendons donc, et quand le bateau arrive, il s'avère qu'il voyage dans le mauvais sens. Nous avions raison : nous aurions dû attendre sur l'autre plateforme. Nous déménageons donc, et nous avons le plaisir d'attendre une demi-heure de plus.
Après ça, le trajet est facile et même agréable. L'arrivée se fait sur une autre plateforme, qui, de façon surprenante, aboutit au milieu d'un petit restaurant. Il faut traverser le restaurant sur un passage en bois rehaussé, en baissant la tête pour ne pas se prendre des bouteilles d'eau et des éclairages qui pendant du plafond, et nous débouchons à l'air libre, à un endroit impossible à trouver si on ne le connaît pas. Entretemps, la nuit est tombée. Nous prenons le temps de faire de magnifiques photos nocturnes du temple éclairé de l'autre côté du fleuve.
Avec tout ça, le temps a passé, et quand on arrive aux temples à visiter, tout est fermé. Nous faisons un petit tour à pied du quartier, histoire de voir si il n'y a vraiment pas de possibilités de prendre d'autres photos des bâtiments éclairés, mais nous terminons bredouilles. Nous nous apprêtons donc à reprendre le bateau dans l'autre sens. Nous retraversons le restaurant et attendons sur la plateforme. Au bout d'une demi-heure, sans bateau et sans personne d'autre qui attende que nous, nous demandons à la dame du restaurant qui passe sans arrêt à côté de nous quand est le prochain bateau ; elle nous apprend qu'il n'y en aura plus ce soir-là. Depuis le temps qu'on poireautait, elle aurait pu nous le dire plus tôt...
Du coup on sait très bien qu'on est trop loin de l'hôtel pour un tuk-tuk, donc il ne nous reste plus qu'à prendre un taxi. Justement, l'un d'eux dépose un client tout près. On se précipite, on donne l'adresse au chauffeur, mais il refuse de nous écouter et se contente de répéter "tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk !". Argghh... Heureusement pour nous, un Thaï serviable vient nous aider, nous demande où nous allons, parle au chauffeur et finalement celui-ci accepte de nous prendre, visiblement à contre-coeur. Et on retrouve l'hôtel avec plaisir.
Troisième jour
Ce matin-là, nous sommes bien décidés à voir au moins une partie de la partie historique de la ville, et nous mettons sur pieds une nouvelle stratégie : nous allons prendre le métro jusqu'au fleuve, puis le ferry, maintenant qu'on a compris le principe. Nous partons assez tard, mais tout se passe étrangement bien. Nous visitons le temple qui était fermé la veille, "... Wat" ; c'est un complexe assez grand et carrément superbe. Il y a notamment un Buddha couché très, très grand (dix ou quinze mètres de long - encore heureux qu'il est couché !). Tout est parfaitement conservé, très coloré et doré, un peu répétitif peut-être, mais se balader dans cette mini-ville au coeur de la ville a quelque chose de très spécial. Entre les temples, il y a ces sortes de pyramides colorées, ces portiques, des statues d'hommes priant ou d'animaux, et même quelques animaux vivants (des chats en l'occurrence). Tout à coup, je me dis que peut-être, en effet, ça valait la peine de venir...
En sortant de là, nous avions l'intention de visiter un autre complexe qui avait l'air encore plus grandiose et se trouvait juste à côté. Sauf qu'il était déjà trop tard (vers 15h !) et l'autre temple était fermé. Nous étions assez désappointés je dois dire, on ne s'y attendait pas. Mais une femme sur place nous dit qu'il faut aller voir le "buddha géant" qui se trouve "juste là-bas au bout de la rue"... Vu la taille du buddha couché, on s'est dit que le buddha géant, on ne pouvait pas le louper. Eh bien si. Malgré les indications de la dame et malgré notre malheureuse carte, on n'a jamais trouvé le buddha géant. A la place, on s'est perdus dans un petit marché local où il était difficile de se déplacer, et quand on s'est retrouvés dans un cul de sac, on a fait demi-tour et on a simplement repris le bateau pour rentrer à l'hôtel. A nouveau, c'est le resto, toujours aussi délicieux, qui a sauvé notre soirée.
C'était notre dernière journée à Bangkok ; le lendemain, on prenait l'avion pour le Cambodge. Comme je l'écrivais dans le billet précédent, je crois qu'au final, on a tout simplement raté notre rendez-vous avec cette ville et on ne l'a qu'entrevue, pas nécessairement sous son meilleur jour. C'est un peu dommage, mais voilà : ça arrive !
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This is the seventh episode of our trip in Asia, after the preparations, vaccinations, our first day in Hong Kong, our discovery of Kowloon, a little more Hong Kong and first steps in Bangkok.
On Saturday morning, we made new plans: instead of walking as before, we decided to take the skytrain which ran halfway to the historical center, then walk towards the royal palace, which was indicated on the map as visitable (at least the surrounding park), and then see the zoo. At first everything went well, the skytrain system was not too complicated to understand (though less modern than the subway in Hong Kong, of course). A quick walk led us to some major avenues much better maintained than the part of the city we had seen the day before, which was quite pleasant. But when we arrived at the royal palace, all we saw was guards armed with machine guns and a front entrance apparently closed. Further on the same road, there is a beautiful building which is not listed on our plan decidedly crappy. And finally, we find the zoo.
I love zoos - or rather, I love zoo animals. That zoo is not very big and not very well maintained, but it has a nice pond in the middle and a lot of exotic animals. The most surprising animals are not in the cages, they are those who are free: giant lizards two feet long roam the aisles, birds resembling colorful herons perch on the treetops. The vegetation is very nice too, especially the giant palm trees. Some animals come very close to people, like giraffes whose head you can almost touch when standing on a platform.
At the end of our visit, the day was not over yet. We therefore decided to take a tuk-tuk to the river which is not very far away, then down to the historic district by ferry - ferry lines are recommended in our tour guide. We didn't have any trouble taking a tuk-tuk this time, there were several of the at the zoo exit and the ride was less acrobatic than the one before. On the other hand, taking the boat proved to be rather more difficult than anticipated.
Upon arrival at the point where the harbour was supposed to be located, there were actually two small platforms on the river, ten meters apart. Both were deserted and we did not see any signpost. We thought we might be at the wrong place so we walked along the river to reach another harbour we could see a little further, but when arriving there, we realized it was only harbouring large dinner boats. So we walked back to our starting point.
Meanwhile, some people had arrived and were sitting on one of the platforms, and we noticed a sign that we had not seen earlier. Almost nothing was in English but by deduction, we understood that several boat lines were stopping at that harbour and we had to catch the boat with an orange flag coming from the left. A few minutes later, a boat corresponding to that description arrived, but it stopped at the other platform. We were about to rush and catch it when someone asked us where we were going, we named the place, and that person told us to stay where we were and wait for a boat that would stop on our platform. So we did as we were told. Only when the boat arrived, it turned out that that one was going in the wrong direction. The guy's advice was wrong: we should have waited on the other platform. So we moved, and we had to wait another half hour.
After that, the trip was easy and even enjoyable. We disembarked on another platform, which, surprisingly, was located in the middle of a small restaurant. One had to cross the restaurant on a raised wooden walkway, lowering one's head so as not to hit water bottles and lights hanging from the ceiling, and the walkway ended in a place quite impossible to find for one who doesn't know it. Meanwhile, night had fallen. We took some time to make beautiful pictures of a temple illuminated at night on the other side of the river.
With all this time had passed, and when we got to the temples to visit, everything was closed. We had a little walking tour of the neighborhood, just to see if there was really no possibility of taking night pictures of the beautifully lit buildings, which wasn't the case. So we went to take the boat in the opposite direction. We crossed the restaurant and waited on the platform, close to a few customers and a waitress coming and going. After waiting for half an hour, no boat had arrived and no one else had come to wait for one, so we asked the waitress whether the next boat would come soon; she answered that there would be no more boat for the evening. She could have told us earlier...
At that point, we knew that we were much too far from the hotel to take a tuk-tuk, so we were left with finding a taxi. Right then one taxi stops not far from us. We rush, we give the address to the driver, but he refuses to listen to us and simply repeats "tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk". Argghh... Fortunately for us, a helpful Thai that was passing by asked us where we were heading, talked to the driver and finally convinced him to take us, although rather unwillingly. And back to the hotel.
That morning, we were determined to see at least a part of the historical district, so we set up a new strategy: we would take the subway to the river, and then the ferry, now that we knew how it worked. We left rather late (enthusiasm for city adventures was running low at that point), but everything went strangely well. We visited the temple which was closed the day before, "Wat Po"; it's a fairly large complex and downright gorgeous. It include a reclining Buddha which is very, very large (ten or fifteen meters long). Everything is perfectly preserved, very colorful and golden, a little repetitive maybe, but walking in this mini-city in the heart of the city is truly very special. Between the temples, there are kinds of colorful pyramids, porticoes, statues of praying men or animals, and even some live animals (cats in this case). Suddenly, I realised that perhaps, it was worth all the trouble...
When we left there, we intended to visit another complex which looked even bigger and was next door. Except that it was already too late (around 15.00) the other temple was closed. We were pretty disappointed I must say, we did not expect it. But then a woman at the door told us that we must go to the "Giant Buddha" who is "right there at the end of the street"... Given the size of reclining buddha, we thought that the giant buddha must be quite a sight and pretty easy to find. I wish it was. Despite indications of the lady and despite our terrible map, we never found the giant Buddha. Instead, we got lost in a small local market where it was difficult to move, and when ended up in a dead end, we turned around and we simply took the boat back to the hotel. Again, it's our favourite restaurant, always delicious, which saved our evening.
It was our last day in Bangkok; the next day, we took a plane to Cambodia. As I wrote in the previous post, I think in the end we just missed our appointment with the city and we only had a glimpse of it, not necessarily in the best light. This is a shame, but here it is: that's adventure, too!
Second day
On Saturday morning, we made new plans: instead of walking as before, we decided to take the skytrain which ran halfway to the historical center, then walk towards the royal palace, which was indicated on the map as visitable (at least the surrounding park), and then see the zoo. At first everything went well, the skytrain system was not too complicated to understand (though less modern than the subway in Hong Kong, of course). A quick walk led us to some major avenues much better maintained than the part of the city we had seen the day before, which was quite pleasant. But when we arrived at the royal palace, all we saw was guards armed with machine guns and a front entrance apparently closed. Further on the same road, there is a beautiful building which is not listed on our plan decidedly crappy. And finally, we find the zoo.
Zoo
I love zoos - or rather, I love zoo animals. That zoo is not very big and not very well maintained, but it has a nice pond in the middle and a lot of exotic animals. The most surprising animals are not in the cages, they are those who are free: giant lizards two feet long roam the aisles, birds resembling colorful herons perch on the treetops. The vegetation is very nice too, especially the giant palm trees. Some animals come very close to people, like giraffes whose head you can almost touch when standing on a platform.
At the end of our visit, the day was not over yet. We therefore decided to take a tuk-tuk to the river which is not very far away, then down to the historic district by ferry - ferry lines are recommended in our tour guide. We didn't have any trouble taking a tuk-tuk this time, there were several of the at the zoo exit and the ride was less acrobatic than the one before. On the other hand, taking the boat proved to be rather more difficult than anticipated.
The ferry, what a good idea
Upon arrival at the point where the harbour was supposed to be located, there were actually two small platforms on the river, ten meters apart. Both were deserted and we did not see any signpost. We thought we might be at the wrong place so we walked along the river to reach another harbour we could see a little further, but when arriving there, we realized it was only harbouring large dinner boats. So we walked back to our starting point.
Meanwhile, some people had arrived and were sitting on one of the platforms, and we noticed a sign that we had not seen earlier. Almost nothing was in English but by deduction, we understood that several boat lines were stopping at that harbour and we had to catch the boat with an orange flag coming from the left. A few minutes later, a boat corresponding to that description arrived, but it stopped at the other platform. We were about to rush and catch it when someone asked us where we were going, we named the place, and that person told us to stay where we were and wait for a boat that would stop on our platform. So we did as we were told. Only when the boat arrived, it turned out that that one was going in the wrong direction. The guy's advice was wrong: we should have waited on the other platform. So we moved, and we had to wait another half hour.
After that, the trip was easy and even enjoyable. We disembarked on another platform, which, surprisingly, was located in the middle of a small restaurant. One had to cross the restaurant on a raised wooden walkway, lowering one's head so as not to hit water bottles and lights hanging from the ceiling, and the walkway ended in a place quite impossible to find for one who doesn't know it. Meanwhile, night had fallen. We took some time to make beautiful pictures of a temple illuminated at night on the other side of the river.
With all this time had passed, and when we got to the temples to visit, everything was closed. We had a little walking tour of the neighborhood, just to see if there was really no possibility of taking night pictures of the beautifully lit buildings, which wasn't the case. So we went to take the boat in the opposite direction. We crossed the restaurant and waited on the platform, close to a few customers and a waitress coming and going. After waiting for half an hour, no boat had arrived and no one else had come to wait for one, so we asked the waitress whether the next boat would come soon; she answered that there would be no more boat for the evening. She could have told us earlier...
At that point, we knew that we were much too far from the hotel to take a tuk-tuk, so we were left with finding a taxi. Right then one taxi stops not far from us. We rush, we give the address to the driver, but he refuses to listen to us and simply repeats "tuk-tuk, tuk-tuk". Argghh... Fortunately for us, a helpful Thai that was passing by asked us where we were heading, talked to the driver and finally convinced him to take us, although rather unwillingly. And back to the hotel.
Third day
That morning, we were determined to see at least a part of the historical district, so we set up a new strategy: we would take the subway to the river, and then the ferry, now that we knew how it worked. We left rather late (enthusiasm for city adventures was running low at that point), but everything went strangely well. We visited the temple which was closed the day before, "Wat Po"; it's a fairly large complex and downright gorgeous. It include a reclining Buddha which is very, very large (ten or fifteen meters long). Everything is perfectly preserved, very colorful and golden, a little repetitive maybe, but walking in this mini-city in the heart of the city is truly very special. Between the temples, there are kinds of colorful pyramids, porticoes, statues of praying men or animals, and even some live animals (cats in this case). Suddenly, I realised that perhaps, it was worth all the trouble...
When we left there, we intended to visit another complex which looked even bigger and was next door. Except that it was already too late (around 15.00) the other temple was closed. We were pretty disappointed I must say, we did not expect it. But then a woman at the door told us that we must go to the "Giant Buddha" who is "right there at the end of the street"... Given the size of reclining buddha, we thought that the giant buddha must be quite a sight and pretty easy to find. I wish it was. Despite indications of the lady and despite our terrible map, we never found the giant Buddha. Instead, we got lost in a small local market where it was difficult to move, and when ended up in a dead end, we turned around and we simply took the boat back to the hotel. Again, it's our favourite restaurant, always delicious, which saved our evening.
It was our last day in Bangkok; the next day, we took a plane to Cambodia. As I wrote in the previous post, I think in the end we just missed our appointment with the city and we only had a glimpse of it, not necessarily in the best light. This is a shame, but here it is: that's adventure, too!
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| Clic on the pic to see all our photos from Bangkok. |
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