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Bangkok
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DAY 1 SUN Our QANTAS flight to Bangkok was uneventful, except for the presence of famous TV personality Bill Peach who spent the entire trip stretched out across four seats. I watched the in-flight movie, "Bird on a Wire", while Margaret dozed noiselessly beside me.
We arrived in Bangkok at 10.05pm (1.05am Sydney time). The immigration officer who greeted us was somewhat less than friendly, throwing our passports at us with a disdain that seemed to express his view of tourists from down under. Our subsequent encounters with other Australian tourists made his behaviour appear less obnoxious than it did at the time. Despite having declared everything except our underthings, we were waved through customs without a second glance.
The ride to our hotel, the Royal River, took about forty minutes. Drawing up outside the entrance we were overawed at the opulence of the accommodation in which we were to spend the next four nights. Our room was equally impressive and we collapsed gratefully into the king sized bed.
DAY 2 MON Margaret awoke at 5.30 am this morning. Assuming rather optimistically that we would sleep in, I had ordered Continental breakfasts for 7.30am. The wait seemed endless. From our balcony we watched sand barge "trains" being slowly towed down the river by small tugs. We heard for the first time the cacophony of whistles, toots and roaring engines that would greet us every morning while we were in Bangkok.
Refreshed and replete after a very welcome breakfast, we caught the free hotel shuttle boat to the River City wharf (a half-hour trip down the Chao Phrya River). After buying a Nancy Chandler guide to Bangkok in the Royal Orchid kiosk we headed off to do some shopping. We were making little progress in working out where on earth we were going when we were approached by a well-dressed Thai gentleman claiming to be a Thai journalist recently returned from Perth. Impressed by his helpfulness, we gratefully accepted his directions to the Central Department Store (with a side trip to the government-controlled Amarin Gem Shop). He hailed a tuk-tuk, gave the driver directions and negotiated the fare, 40 baht ($2).
The Amarin Gem Shop was a small jewellery store guarded by an impressively uniformed "policeman". Seduced by our free Cokes, we bought a 14 carat gold chain. We departed this den of temptation, Margaret reluctantly and me hastily, and walked several hundred miles to the Central Department Store. The variety and plenitude of goods available were astounding but no more than could be expected from the largest department store in South-East Asia. We eventually dragged ourselves back into the street, but not before buying shoes, sox, shirts, belts, pants and tapes and devouring waffles and sandwiches in the store restaurant.
Despite the speed of our tuk-tuk and a near fatal collision with another of its breed, we arrived at the River City wharf several seconds too late to catch the 2.30pm return shuttle. With two hours to kill before the next boat, we pretended to be guests of the Royal Orchid Hotel and made liberal use of the hotel toilets. Two orange drinks in the Royal Orchid Coffee Shop left us 160 baht ($8) poorer, though less wilted.
We tried boarding a public boat but were directed to the shuttle wharf. At this early stage of our holiday we had not realised that public boats stop at public boat stops, not hotel wharves. As I was loath to pay 160 baht for a tuk-tuk to the Royal River, we had to wait until 4.30pm before we could catch the next shuttle.
A stomach-stuffing buffet in one of the many restaurants adjoining the Royal River foyer rounded off a very tiring day and we retired to our sumptuous penthouse apartment at precisely 10.05pm
DAY 3 TUE We crawled from our bed at 6 am this morning to prepare for our first major tour. After a hurried Continental breakfast we boarded the 7 am shuttle to River City. I was barely able to conceal a feeling of panic due to an intense desire to spend a few hours in the bathroom, however my upset stomach had subsided by the time we disembarked from the boat, only to be replaced by another variety of anxiety when we could not find our guide. Fortunately we found him just in time to board the coach before it left at 8 am
The bus ride through the city and suburbs was fascinating. Many of the "houses" in Bangkok are very dilapidated and the occupants appear to live in them until they collapse. The government has built huge blocks of apartments to replace some of the shacks, however these new buildings are even less appealing than those they replace. After the grey, crowded uniformity of the city we were overjoyed to enter the countryside with its rice paddies and stick-legged houses.
We stopped at several wats during our journey, the first being Wat Phra Meru and the second, containing a large, black Buddha, Mongkol Bo Phit. Our penultimate destination, Ayuthaya, proved to be fascinating, its skeletal red brick walls and towers giving little indication that the city had once been as bright and glowing as the buildings in the Grand Palace. As is my custom, I pocketed a small red brick from the ruins, little realising that if every tourist did the same Ayuthaya would cease to exist by 1993.
From Ayuthaya we drove to Bang Pa In, former home of generations of Thai kings. After exploring the many ornate and colourful buildings we clambered onto the coach for the last leg of the onward journey. Some time later we reached the jetty and, after accepting some flowers and being photographed with a pretty Thai girl, we boarded a rather luxurious vessel for the five-hour cruise back to River City. At the end of the trip the photo was offered to us bonded to an attractive souvenir plate. Only 250 baht, what a bargain!
We arrived back at the River City terminal just in time to miss our shuttle boat and had to hang around for an hour before the next one arrived. It was not until our return to Bangkok after Phuket that we learned how to get back to the hotel by other means.
DAY 4 WED After booking our River Kwai tour for 12/10/90 we had breakfast downstairs. Back in our room I discovered that the cleaner had accidentally thrown away my bag of duty free film. The bell captain thoughtfully offered to replace the plastic bag and it took some effort for Margaret to explain that we were more interested in the missing rolls of film. Margaret was suffering a bout of 'flu which left her aching and unwell. We were hopeful that the Dorix antibiotics she was taking against malaria would rapidly overwhelm whatever germ was plaguing her.
On our boat trip yesterday we met an American widow from Noo York named Pauli Murphy who was, to say the least, very talkative. She was looking forward to a night on the town with her gay friends. At 1.30pm we began our trip to the Grand Palace. Jack, our guide, was even more informative than Ken, yesterday's guide. Unfortunately our bus left from the Royal River and we were unable to continue our tradition of missing the shuttle boat. We have noticed that, contrary to guidebook warnings, Thais appear to be extremely punctual. The shuttle arrives at 6.30pm and leaves one minute later.
As we drove through the teeming streets of Bangkok, Jack warned us of the people he contemptuously referred to as "the cheating men" who, while pretending to be Thai journalists recently returned from Australia, offer their help to unsuspecting tourists. This help, he told us, consisted of hailing a tuk-tuk and directing it to a "government" gem store, from which he would receive a commission. When he asked whether any of us had had such an encounter, we shrank into our seats and tried to look as though we were too sophisticated to fall for such a ploy.
We found the Grand Palace to be breathtakingly beautiful and marvelled at the bright colours and intricate designs. The most awesome of the temples we visited was that of the Emerald Buddha where, despite the traffic noises from outside and the tourist noises inside, a deep spiritual silence prevailed. At the refreshment break I bought a bottle of pasteurised ginger beer. Weak, watery and flat, this beverage was bottled in the King's royal ginger beer plant in the grounds of his fairly new palace. Not nice, but cheap at 10 baht.
On the return journey we stopped at a large gem store. I thought Jack was referring to James' Store until I saw the sign. Upon alighting we were greeted by several bevies of fawning sycophants anxious to separate us from our baht. We watched an engrossing film about gemstone mining before being herded into a room full of people making jewellery. As we left a score of uniformed salespersons joined the group to escort us into the large James' shop. Marg and I approached a counter laden with fancy rings where a saleslady asked us where we came from. Informed of our nationality, she suggested that we might like to see something cheaper. Affronted, we bought absolutely nothing. I availed myself of a complimentary beer and was able to take two sips before being ushered into a waiting minibus.
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