Bangkok
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2003
1
9
24
Trip End
Jun 10, 2003
Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, May 16, 2003
The heavy monsoonal style-rain started at around 6am. Bucketing down. I started making alternate plans - how do you get your passport off a
motorbike rental guy who is 19km away, and you have his motorbike, and he won't return the passport til you return the bike....
Thankfully it cleared up at 7.30am, so by 8am I hit the road (Jack) to Krabi. The road had already started to dry out so it was a good result in the end...
I dropped off the bike, got my passport, and organised via the same bloke a lift to the airport. He gets on the phone. Soon after his Mum rocks up with a 4WD, and I pay the equivalent of $10 for the 20 minute ride with his Mum to the airport. Good onya Mum.
I arrived at Bangkok Aiport - bizarrely between the runways (which are quite widely spaced) they have built of all things, a Golf Course. It makes Moorabbin Public (built right next door to the airport) look sensible, as this course in Bangkok is actually BETWEEN the runways.
I caught the airport bus into town, then had to cab it to my hotel, which is further out than I hoped. Then it was back into town for camera shopping. I purchased a magnificent Canon, similar to the one I destroyed on Phi Phi, but about 2 models newer.... unfortuntately no one would give me a note to say that the other camera is not repairable, hence I'll have to post that one home for the insurance claim.
Bangkok traffic is like no place on earth. It is sheer madness in volume and skills. I won't be hiring a motorbike here.
Down to Silom Road for dinner, the most excellent Prawn Balls.... then down to the Patpong Market area. Its actually a good market, and not as seedy as I somehow imagined. Plenty of normal westerners doing shopping, so not as intimidating as portrayed. Yes there are the girlie bars around, but also plenty of normal things.... the girls don't hassle you on the street, but the market owners (who grab your arm to show you watches, DVDs or CDs) and Tuk Tuk drivers (you want lift, massage) do hassle you to the point of wanting to flatten anyone who talks to you.
STIFFY KNEE, TEMPLE DAY and FRIDAY NIGHT HARNESS RACING AT MOONEE VALLEY
Very stiff knee this morning - I was hoping for more improvement by now. I decided that today was Temple Day so caught a river taxi into town down to the Grand Palace area. I was told by a local that the Palace was closed until 1pm (Fridays are apparently big for the Buddhists), so I should go to Wat Traimit (Temple Traimit) instead in the interim.
The taxi driver dropped me off at the wrong temple, but I wandered in
anyway. It was actually quite nice, with a garden and two large temples with 3m gold Buddhas in them.
As I left I couldn't get my bearings, so I jumped into another cab. He proceeded to get us lost, so I jumped out. Another local offered to help me out by suggesting I catch a Tuk Tuk, and head to the Lucky Buddha and Golden Mountain temples. He suggested a Tuk Tuk because it would be cheap - the Tuk Tuk driver would stop by a factory on the way through, and because he would have a tourist in the back, he'd get a free petrol voucher. I was skeptical but jumped in.
The Lucky Buddha was very ho hum, so on the way to the Golden Mountain, we stop off at the 'factory' - a Tailor.... I walked in the door and before they could start I said "right, I don't want a suit, I don't want anything."
They handed the Tuk Tuk driver his voucher, and we were off in 30 seconds. The Golden Mountain was also quite ho hum, but at least it had a view, and a Manoa Soda seller. Driving in a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok is crazy. Its an open 3 wheeler - hot, uncomfortable and extremely polluted... you can feel the grime on your face.
I caught a Taxi to the Grand Palace. The first thing they told me was that I'd need to hire some pants, as apparently my 3/4 qtr length ones, which reveal my shines and ankles, were offensive. They are skinny but the ain't that bad... so I get to hire for free a pair of heavy nylon tracky-dack style things - perfect for those steamy Bangkok days.
The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo are remarkably beautiful. Acres of
majestic buildings, Chedi, spires, temples.... just bloody hot that's all. Wat Pho is down the road, and features a 15 metre reclining Buddha inside a temple. I walked down to that one, with yet another local offering me advice on where to go and where to buy clothes and when things are closed. If everything was as closed as everyone says it is, then nothing in Bangkok would ever be open.
Unfortunately my favourite Wat, the Wat You-Talking-About-Willis, was
closed.
Back to the hotel via river taxi to clean up and peel the grit from my face, as I feel disgustingly dirty... I then went down to Silom Road for dinner. Found a great Italian place which did a decent Lasagne and really good fresh Gelati.
Alas the night ended quickly. Just before I finished dinner, a rather decent bout of Bangkok Belly decided to visit. It seems the Prawn Balls from last night weren't that great after all. 'Harness Racing' on a Friday Night at Moonee Valley if you get my drift...... nuff said.
THOSE BLOODY PRAWN BALLS, CRAP TAXI DRIVERS, and HAVE I MENTIONED THOSE BLOODY PRAWN BALLS
Bangkok is not a pleasant city to feel ill in. The heat, humidity, dirt and wafting smells make it rather uncomfortable to walk around with when you've got a dodgy stomache.
I posted the broken camera home for the insurance claim and changed hotels to a more central location. The taxi drivers here are really attrocious - you ask them if they know where a place is, they say "yeeesss" and head in that general direction, only to drive around in circles until such time as you find out from a map where they are going wrong.
Today was very much a rest day, with basic food and a wander down Silom Rd. My tip for you - when in Bangkok do not eat the Prawn Balls at Samboon Seafood Restaurant, even if the Lonely Planet suggests it.
RUINED IM AYUTTHAYA, CRIKEY ITS SILOM BOB, and FIRST CLASS WITH A DRUNK CONDUCTOR
Today I headed to Ayutthaya, temple ruin town, about 90 minutes by train from Bangers. It was a third class train, painfully slow, open at the back (so you could see where you'd been) but yet entertaining as an old guy near me was collecting cans from passengers and crushing them. (1 Baht a can perhaps like the old Cash-A-Can days).
There were only 4 westerners on the train (myself, 2 Canadian girls, and a third Canadian girl who actually lives in Taiwan) so we decided to split Tuk Tuks and wander the ruins. They were a good bunch of happy snappers with a rollicking sense of humour - one saying at one stage "cover your bits, we're passing a radio control tower - CANCER!".
They gave me a rough time about the Crocodile Hunter, saying "Crikey that's a big one" all the time, whereas my only reply was that Canadian Bryan Adams is hardly a world cultural icon. A fair comeback I think.
The ruins are fantastic - more spectacular and accessible than Rome as you get to walk on them and in and around them. The whole town is full of ruins, and is very picturesque, though most of the Buddhas have their heads chopped off. Waaaaay back in time, when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya, they chopped them all off as they knew it would upset the locals.
Although I managed to get us lost, we went to 5 different sites before heading back to the train station just after 4pm. You end up completely covered in muck because of the orange dirt everywhere. In what turned out to be a cultural highlight, we drank beer on the train platform while waiting for the 5.30pm to Bangkok.
Upon entering the train the conductor shuffled us towards the back of the train, out of the third class carriages to the first class Conductors and Train Police compartment. At that stage I thought travelling with three western girls had its advantages. The conductor checked our tickets, but no one elses, and proceeded to sit next to us, cracking open the beers (for himself).
As the trip went on he started asking questions in very basic English, asking us where we were from, how old we were, do we have babies, where are we staying, what was our names, are we all "friends". He was attempting to point out that I was very much a lucky man travelling with 3 girls, though I had said that my "fairn" (thai for girlfriend) was at home in Australia. They too pointed out that they had their own "fairns" (apparently the word covers boyfriend or girlfriend, so lord knows what you say if you're gay) but he just seemed to giggle more and drink more beer, and say how
"beautiful" the girls were and how "handsome" I was. His only two adjectives in English I believe.
For 90 minutes, he'd drink more beer, and ask the same questions over and over again. In the end I said my name was Bob Hope (I'd read Bob turned 100 on this day) and that because I was staying near Silom Rd, I became Silom Bob. Thats when the train stopped - so we were stuck on the train with a pissed conductor asking stoopid questions over and over again, sitting with all of the Train Police. We noted that the Train Police were all carrying guns, and thought as to how much it would take to bribe one of them to shoot the conductor. In the end our conductor friend got more and more drunk and more and more amorous (thankfully not to me) so when the train started up again, we jumped off at a stop well outside of Bangkok and jumped in a cab. As per usual the taxi driver also got us lost so it was a long trip back.
I headed back to the Hotel for a clean up as I was disgusting, and then headed down to Khaosan Rd for some cheap t-shirts. Khaosan is the major backpacker haunt, hence t-shirts are the cheapest in Bangkok there, as all the vendors think everyone is down to their last dollar. I've got at least two left...
I'm actually quite good at spotting if people are following me, and felt that I was being followed. So I circled around to spot a weird old lady, with what looked like a joint in her hand, puffing away about 5 metres behind me, staring. So I've made sure I knew where my wallet was, and did some "circle work" over about 40 metres (basically walking around 10 metres, circling back, doing the same again) to find her still behind me.
So I turned and walked straight at her at full pelt, eyes fixed on her with a mad stare so she knew I was aware of her. She looked away and kind of stumbled out of my way as otherwise she would have copped the hip and shoulder, and I briskly walked off into a shop and lost her.
Very strange where life takes you. I'm currently up to the "beat up weird old ladies" phase of it.
