Bangkok
That's right it's been over three year's since I was in South East Asia but I never got around to doing my last entry on the trip. It may not be as detailed for obvious reasons but this post will be testament to my memory.Wednesday 9th
Today was basically a day dedicated to travelling to Bangkok from Suhkothai. We arrived in Bangkok sometime in the afternoon. The [Northern] bus station is not in the centre of Bangkok so we had to get a taxi to the Khao San rd area (real name Banglamphu). It took ages, I think close to an hour. We landed in the heart of Khao San, the street literally and went from hotel to hotel but one after the other were booked out. So we ended up at the worst place of our trip and one of the most expensive to boot!
Very very touristy area, lots of restaurants, massage places, bars and shops selling fake t-shirts and souvenirs, and worst of all - the suit shops! These people do not leave you alone and they are so bad at getting you into the store, "Hey you!", how are you going to bait me with a line like this?
Most hotels were full so we ended up at this piece of shit place. Wasn't fun lugging two bags up 5 flights of stairs either.
We knew we didn't wanna stay at this joint any longer than we have to so we went for a much longer walk to find more suitable accommodation, which we did and booked it for the next few nights. Much easier to do without dragging our luggage.
Thursday 10th
Interesting day to say the least. Eventhough we'd both been to the Palace and Emerald Buddha on our trips to Bangkok with our parents we still wanted to do it again. We decided to walk there because it seemed not too far and we'd rather not deal with tuk-tuks. It was a big walk, so deceiving on the map. Within 5 minutes (when we were looking at the map) we were approached by a man telling us all these things that we should see blah blah blah, he seemed genuine and just wanting to help us, until he started saying the Palace is closed and we should take a tuk-tuk to this place and that place - immediately we knew this bloke was full of shit and was trying to scam us, we read all about this. So we said no thank you and walked off.
He wasn't the only one who tried it on us, two more tried for fucks sake.
We knew there was a dress code about going there and even enquired beforehand at our hotel asking if we were suitably dressed and they said yes. I had shorts that went past my knees and I even cranked them down a bit more before we went in and Kay had leggings on with a top going past her bum. However, once we got in Kay was rejected for not being properly dressed, they wanted her to go and hire some pants to wear, what a load of shit. We said "fuck this" and left. It was ok because we were going to Wat Pho (where I hadn't been) anyway and it's down the road from the Palace. Very annoying to say the least especially because we took precautions.
Wat Pho has the same dress code yet there was no problem! Anyway, it was a lovely pagoda. Not too crowded considering. On the way back I decided to have a bite to eat, I got what I thought was a meat wonton on a skewer, I ate one and was chewing wondering what is this? So we cracked the next one open and it was a quail egg inside, I don't really eat eggs!!!! It was ok, but not my thing. Kay however loves quail eggs.
Interestingly all of the restaurants in the area all have Isan (Northern Thai) style roast chicken, which was beautiful, I had it a few times; yet I never saw this dish in Northern Thailand.
Friday 11th
Huge huge day! We were up very early to be picked up for a day to the floating markets of Damnoansadauk which is just outside Bangkok. It was a little disappointing to be honest, I found it's primary function was for the tourists, it wasn't very big and there weren't that many boats in the canal selling stuff. We also went on a boat ride through the canals, nothing special. It was a very hot day as well.
After the floating markets we got to Kanchanaburi which was the sight of the Burma [Death] Railway built during WWII. We went to the museum about it and had a look at the train that goes of the 'River Kwai Bridge'.
It was mid afternoon by now, it would seem we were running late because by the time we got to the Tiger Temple we had less than an hour to spend there. We were faced with a choice, view both the adult tigers and the cubs or touch one or the other since we were short of time. We chose the touch the adult tigers. The Tiger Temple had a very strict dress code which was enforced, these two silly English women weren't allowed in for their lack of clothing and another girl was lucky she could borrow a sarong to wrap around her legs.
It was a surreal experience to be able to touch real life tigers one after the other. I don't know how they get them so docile. The tiger's fur was quite rough and very thick. A very good experience. Although I wish we had more time there.
I'd recommend that you don't do this tour and that you make your own way to Kanchanaburi to see the railway and Tiger Temple. Probably best to spend a night because it was at least 3 hours each way in the mini-bus, hence the early start and late return.
As such upon our return we were starving!!!
Saturday 12th
Today was dedicated to one thing - Chatuchak weekend market - the largest market in Thailand and the largest weekend market in the world. I had accumulated a bunch of clothes along the way (found Vietnam to be the cheapest) but I still wanted some more items and Kay wanted clothes as well.
Since we had to go to the main Bangkok train station and decided to get a tuk-tuk to Chinatown so we could have lunch then walk to the station from there. The traffic was terrible, the ride took ages. It was probably 10-11am and alot of the restaurants weren't open, we were in despair! But we found one and it was great, really good price as well.
Chatuchak was huge, so many stalls and sections. Probably spent a good 5-6 hours here and it resulted in absolutely nothing for me. I'd say it's more of a local market, I was after fake clothing and it had none. Kay bought one or two dresses. That was it!!!! The pet section was cute, fun playing with the kittens and puppies.
Sunday 13th
Another day dedicated to shopping although this time it actually was fruitful. We went to the MBK Center in Pathum Wan. Finally got what we wanted (for the most part) and I would think so because we spent 5-6 hours here. Structurally it's a modern shopping center but inside it's like a market where there are stalls all over the place, it's packed with them.
I got a bunch of shirts and t-shirts and a R4 card for my mum and sister's Nintendo DS with a whole bunch of games, it was around the $30 mark if I remember correctly. Kay bought an external hard drive, it seemed to be a good deal but when we got home it was pretty much the same price, so no loss really but not a great deal.
Monday 14th
We went to the old Thai capital of Ayutthaya today, which was sacked by the invading Burmese in 1767 after which the Thai's moved their capital to present day Bangkok. I loved reminding Kay about how her ancestors could've been involved in this event.
The main station was a bit of a walk from our Silom hotel, we decided to walk there but be open to getting a tuk-tuk along the way, hence not appear desperate and if we were pissed off with them then we'd already be on our way. Drivers asked us but of course wanted too much so we just walked it, probably took half an hour. We had to wait a bit for our train so we ate at the station, I wanted some noodles and choose a picture as they didn't speak English but I ended up with the typical thick Thai style rice noodles, which i'm not fond of.
The train took around 2 hours, we were a little lost when we arrived because we didn't know where to go, but we could see that alot of people were going in a general direction so we followed and finally found a sign pointing the way. The old city is actually and island situated in a wide moat so you have to get a boat across, it didn't cost much.
When we got to the other side we hired some push bikes to ride around the sign and a couple of bottles of water (February+Bangkok = fucking hot!). We had a map to guide us although we did lose our bearings at one stage and had to ask a local for help, which we received so warmly, this shop keeper was so good to me, they even gave me a bottle of water for free because they could see I was hot and didn't have a water bottle with me (it was with the bike), they flatly refused any money.
The site was much larger than we had expected and unfortunately we couldn't spend as much time there as we would've liked because we had to be back at the station for our train back to Bangkok. We did see everything though, just not in depth and thoroughly rushed. Will definitely return for a proper day next time! I'd even say spent the night in the new city so you're not rushed like we were.
Well didn't we have a fun trip back to Bangkok, the train got delayed on the outskirts for an hour, now this was a normal Thai train, no air con, which is fine when it's moving and wind is coming in but when it's not oh my god, it was terrible! When we were sitting waiting I realised that I had the red dust from Ayutthaya all over my skin, we used some wet wipes to clean ourselves but even more came out that night in the shower, it was crazy.
We eventually arrived home and went straight to dinner. We got a tuk-tuk back but not without dealing with some arseholes, we got picked up on our way walking back. After dinner we explored Pat Pong, Kay bought some fake handbags, finally after so much looking and bargaining. She got a very good deal.
So we were in Pat Pong and what's it famous for? The infamous ping pong show, of which we indulged. The things they did were crazy but the place was a complete rort, they said drinks were 50B, which was semi true, the first drink was 50B then it went up and up for each drink after that. You only find this out when you get the enormous bill at the end. It was a fucked up situation, I could just see that if we didn't pay that sum then suddenly a couple of blokes with weapons would appear and we would be paying. So we just paid, it left a huge sour taste in my mouth. Probably cost us $100 for the half an hour experience. I'd certainly recommend that you ask for the price list before you sit down, make sure you know as much as possible.
The show isn't full of dirty old men as you'd expect, it was couples and more girls than guys watching. I dare say it's a typical touristy thing to do, without the kids that is.
Tuesday 15th
Our flight home was at 6:20pm so we had a bit of time to just relax and walk around Silom.
I didn't sleep at all on the flight home, I was completely fucked when I arrived home. Thai Airways is very good, I'd definitely fly with them again and would recommend them.
Overall I found Bangkok to be good and bad. It's a big busy dirty city on the whole. The worst thing was the amount of people wanting to blatantly rip you off and waste your time. It's a shame because Thailand is a great country and for the most part the people are amazing.
