Day 2 of My 1st Songkran

Yesterday I wrote about Day 1 of my 1st Songkran which I spent in Silom. Today I spent Day 2 in Khaosan Road, which is the backpacker district of the city. I was able to take a lot of pictures along Charoen Krung Road in Chinatown, which I walked through on my way to Khaosan, but I’ll post those on another day. Here are a few photos of Khaosan.

Compared to Silom, Khaosan is definitely a whole lot smaller. The water fights in Silom were a lot more intense, but I was a whole lot wetter in Khaosan because the shop owners were spraying and throwing cold water at the revelers non-stop. There were also parts of the road where you could sit even without entering one of the bars, so I wasn’t as tired as I was yesterday.

I thoroughly enjoyed the water gun fights in Khaosan. Below is a video of me ambushing tourists like me celebrating Songkran. Super Mario and Spiderman make a cameo at the end.

I left Khaosan at around 3pm. I got lost on my way back, but I didn’t mind too much because I was able to take some more pictures. I can’t wait for Songkran next year. I plan to bring Vince over, and possibly Pia too. They’re going to have a blast for sure!

Day 1 of My 1st Songkran

I’m super thrilled that I got to experience my first Songkran in Bangkok this year. Songkran is the start of the Lunar New Year, and it is also celebrated in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Songkran is the probably the biggest festival in Thailand, and it also one of the most fun (read: wettest). Everyone at the office has been talking about Songkran since I arrived 4 weeks ago.

According to Bangkok.com, “Songkran is the occasion for family re-unions, temple visits and annual house cleaning. Traditionally, Thais perform the Rod Nam Dum Hua ritual on the first day of Songkran, which is officially the National Elderly Day. During the ritual, young people would pour fragrant water into the elders’ palms as a gesture of humility and to ask for their blessings. The second day of Songkran is officially the National Family Day. Families would wake up early and give alms to the monks, then ideally the rest of the day would be spent sharing quality family time together. An important religious ritual on Songkran is ‘Bathing the Buddha image’, in which devout Buddhists pour fragrant water over Buddha statues both at the temple and at home. More religious Thais would engage themselves in Buddhist ceremonies and merit-making activities throughout the holidays.”

Aside from the traditional ceremonies, Songkran in Thailand is well-known because almost everyone in the country, especially in Bangkok, throws water at each other or engages in water fights. The water is supposed to cleanse you of your misfortunes from the previous year, and helps you start the new year fresh. With the amount of water I had poured on me today, I’m pretty sure I had more than a few years-worth of misfortunes cleansed.

I decided to spend the 1st day of this year’s Songkran in Silom. Silom is half business district, half seedy bars. It’s the perfect place to have a water-fight festival. Though I had my GoPro with me earlier, I unfortunately wasn’t able to take a whole lot of photos. I was too busy spraying random tourists with my Doraemon water gun.

Here’s a video of me running into the oncoming crowd and spraying them with water.

Tomorrow I’ll be in Khaosan, which is the backpacker district. That should be just as fun. I’ll try to go a bit early so I can take pictures with my regular camera without worrying about it getting drenched.

The Bangkok MRT

Yesterday I wrote a quick guide for the BTS Skytrain, the light rail system that is elevated above Bangkok’s streets. Today I’ll write a quick guide for the Bangkok MRT which is the city’s subway system.

The BTS and the MRT intersect at a few stations. Below is a pic of the interchange between the BTS Asoke station and the MRT Sukhumvit station. The entrance to the MRT is to the right of the blue roof behind the stairs leading up to the BTS.

Below is the entrance of the MRT Sukhumvit station.

Here’s the escalator going to the lower platform where the ticket vending machines are.

There aren’t a lot of shops in the MRT station, but you will see a few ATMs. Some of the stations are connected to the Metro Mall, and other malls as well.

Like the BTS, you have the choice of getting your ticket from the ticket booth or from a ticket vending machine. The lines for both seem to be about the same, though there are more vending machines than booths.

The ticket vending machine is easy to use. You select your destination station in #1, you insert your payment in #2, and get your ticket and change in #3. The single-journey ticket is actually like a medium-sized plastic coin. It has an electronic chip in it that contains your fare.

Once you have your ticket/plastic coin, you go through the station gates and proceed to trains which are 1 level lower. The signboards will let you know which side your train will be on. It helps to know what the end station is, though there are station maps posted everywhere.

The platforms are very clean, and I think all of the stations have a protective barrier between the platform and the trains.

The subway trains are packed on weekdays. Here is what it looks like early on a weekend though.

Inside the train there is also a video screen that shows advertisements. It also let’s you know what station you’re at and what station is next.

Once you arrive at your station, you get off and go up 1 level to the ticket platform. The signboards will let you know which exit to take depending on where you want to go. The exits will be another level up.

Manila needs subways. We need more mass transit systems in general. I really look forward to having more trains in the Philippines. It would be awesome to be able to travel across Luzon in trains as pretty as these ones in Bangkok.

The Bangkok BTS Skytrain

Traffic in Bangkok can get pretty bad. Sometimes I’ll wake up at 6am and there are already many, many vehicles on the road. Luckily for me, my hotel, the office, and my new apartment are all near the BTS Skytrain, so the traffic doesn’t really bother me.

Bangkok’s light rail system is very easy to use. It comprises both the BTS Skytrain and the Bangkok MRT. I use the BTS Skytrain everyday to get to work from the hotel. Once I move to my new apartment though, I’m planning to walk home instead. I need whatever exercise I can get, to be honest.

Below is a map of Bangkok’s mass transit system. Not all places in the city have access to a train station. As an example, the tourist spots of Wat Pho, Wat Arun, and the Grand Temple aren’t easily accessible by train. Plans are in place though to increase the number of lines and extend some of the existing ones.

Here’s quick guide on using the BTS Skytrain. I’ll write about using the Bangkok MRT in another post. The main difference between the 2 though is that the BTS Skytrain is elevated above ground and the Bangkok MRT is a subway system.

When you get to a BTS station, you have the option to either get a ticket through one of the vending machines, or through the ticket booth. I highly suggest you get your ticket through the vending machine, as the lines for the ticket booth are almost always as long as in the photo below. The booth is where you can buy the stored-value Rabbit card though, which is helpful if you’re planning to take multiple trips on the BTS.

There are 2 types of ticket vending machines. The one below is the most common one, and it only accepts coins. It doesn’t accept 2-baht coins though, which is a bit annoying but understandable considering that the 1-baht and 2-baht coins are very similar in size.

To use the machine, you first have to look at the Fare Information table which you see in the picture above on the right. Once you see the fare you need to pay to get to your destination, you press the button for that amount in #1. You then insert the coins in #2, your ticket comes out in #3, and whatever change you have comes out of #4. Make sure you select the right fare amount or you won’t be able to exit the station gates.

There are a few ticket vending machines like the one below that also accept paper money. These are very easy to use as well, though the lines are a bit longer here. Like the other vending machine, this one also doesn’t accept 2-baht coins. It accepts paper bills up to the 100-baht denomination.

All you have to do is select your destination on the touch screen under #1, then insert your fare in #2. Once you’ve paid, you take the ticket that pops out in #3, and any change is dropped into the container in #4.

Once you have your ticket, you proceed through the station gates. You tap your ticket on the blue square thing you see below, and the small monitor will show your ticket balance. Some turnstiles go both ways, so just check in case someone is trying to use the same gate as you.

Inside the gates you can see some shops, and occasionally there are ATMs as well. Don’t linger too long though, as I think there’s a time limit on how long you can stay inside the station.

Then you go up the escalators or stairs to the 3rd level. Once you reach the next level, you’ll see the train platform. Everyone is well-mannered and lines up. You have to be a bit careful as not all of the stations have platform gates like they have here in the BTS Asoke station.

Here’s what the train looks like when it arrives at the station.

People on the platform give way to people who are exiting the trains, and people on the train near the doors sometimes get off to make it easier for people in the middle to exit. In Manila, I had to fight with disorderly people on the MRT almost everyday. I’ve never even come close to doing that here, even during rush hour.

Here’s what it looks like inside the train on a Sunday. It can get even more crowded and packed on weekdays.

Above the doors is a panel that shows you where the train is. The red lights are the stations that have already passed, and the green lights show you the stations that are upcoming.

Once you get off the train, you have to go down the stairs back to the 2nd level. Signboards let you know which exit you need to take for various buildings and landmarks.

One of the things I love about the BTS is the Skywalk that connects some of the stations. The Skywalk is on the 2nd level next to the station entrances, and they are kind of like pedestrian overpasses only much cooler. This section of the Skywalk goes from the Ploenchit station all the way to Siam station — 3 stations away! I love it because it encourages walking, and it’s not as hot as having to walk on the streets below.

I really, really wish the new light rail lines they’re building in Manila would be more like this. There’s no hope for Manila’s MRT, but hopefully the new lines will be better. There’s always hope, I guess.