Bangkok,
Thailand
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Got an overnight train from Malaysia up to Bangkok which took about 20 hours. Being the posh travellers that we are we decided to go first class so we were fine and comfortable and despite the vicious rumours, nobody offered us anything dodgy to drink or decided to throw a sleeping gas cannister into our berth! So after we exited the train station the chaos began of people doing their very best to rip us off. Apparently the taxi drivers in bangkok are supposed to run meters but we only managed to get them to run a meter once, and during this cab ride our taxi driver put up onto a guy who told me I had to pay whatever the driver told us to pay and not what was on the meter. Well unlucky for him, he just got what was on the meter! Then there is the lovely tuk tuk drivers who will give you a free tour of Bangkok, oh but guess what, they will bring you to all these shops and pretty much force you to buy something. Again we managed to avoid this but it leaves a bit of a bad taste in your mouth all the same. We ended up staying in Ko San Road, which I think every backpacker in Bangkok stays in, so as you may guess it was super touristy. I even saw more western guys with asian women than I had imagined, its quite a pathetic sight about seeing an old western guy with his teenage thai "girlfriend".
The Grand Palace is a must see in Bangkok, it was beautifully maintained and I hadn't seen anything like it before. We ended up staying 5 days in Bangkok, waiting for our Vietnam and Laos visas to come through, and I have to say I was glad to see the back of the place by the time we were leaving......
