We managed to avoid public transport to Bangkok by squeezing ourselves and packs into the back seat of Aui's car. We couldn't help but observe the amount of luggage Aui and Fred had filling their boot space for just a weekend away - as much as ours and more.
We took up William's advice and stayed at the Palace Hotel, 400 Baht a night for a nice clean room with hot shower with enough pressure to rip your skin off, aircon, TV, sliding wooden curtains, firm mattress, original 70's furniture, dial-telephone, tiled walls and floor and too many other quirks to list. Overall very good value, just a block away from Khao San Road and the main entrance is flanked 24 hours a day by prostitutes of varying age and condition. What more could you ask for.
That evening Aui took us to the cinema where we watched 'Jumper' in what was basically a quadruple-bed with blankies. Very cosy and costly but a nice way to relax into Bangkok. Will never go to a normal movie theatre again!
After a couple of days window shopping, our resolve breaks and we start a spending spree. In comparison to the Islands and HuaHin, Bangkok was a lot more enticing with their prices, including massages at 180B. Fuelled by the discovery that the minimum charge for shipping anything back to NZ is based on 1m3 volume, there was only one place to go...Chatuchak market. We let our enthusiasm overpower our rationale and purchase a nice wooden Buddha wall hanging right at the beginning of our visit to the markets. Spend the next few hours lugging it around 3 football fields full of markets in exhausting heat.
Much to our surprise, chatuchak doesn't have everything we were after, so with Fred safely back in KL, Aui takes us to the night market where, with her help to bridge the language barrier and direct some hard bargaining, we buy some more artwork. Jonathan finally buys a guitar to travel with at Saphan Put Market, which is more frequented by locals than tourists.
In many of the touristy areas there are a number of professional beggars hoping you'll trip over them and feel sorry. All advice given is to ignore them and definitely don't give them money. Probably the hardest to walk on by was a woman with 2nd degree burns over most of her body. Sitting in a wheelchair in the blistering heat, just the simple act of swallowing appeared to give her much discomfort. On a slightly more bizarre note, one guy of interest displayed half a foot, still wrapped in a bloody bandage... guess he must have just chopped it off in order to earn himself a bit of coin.
One of the coolest things about the Banglamphu (Khao San Rd) area is that it is a great place to people-watch and watch people people-watching. One of the most interesting occasions was dinner at Chabad House, frequented by many Israeli travellers. With the number of security guards and activity in the place we were convinced that a bunch of Jews staying there were on a stag do, and that the groom was the son of a diplomat or religious leader. Wonder what the people watching us were thinking.
Finally pluck up the courage to jump on board a Tuk Tuk. Generally avoided these as modern air-conditioned cabs prooved a more comfortable, less life-threatening and usually cheaper alternative. Crazy young guy behind the handlebars put on a show for us. Managed to severely embarrass him by catching his wandering eye in the rear view mirror - leering shamelessly at the chick on bike next door.
We must have walked up and down Khao San Road at least 20 times by the end of our stay and grown very fond of it despite its relentless assault of the senses. Louisa succumbs to her hair's constant "afrocity" and decides to give dreads a go. Somehow we managed not to be too tempted by the great selection of clothing and jewellery with their attractive prices.
During our stay in the city we did learn some common Thai phrases including "Tuk Tuk, where you go?.. ping pong show I take you, cheap, cheap" and "Mr Mr special deal for you take a look cheap cheap". These solicitations are best treated as rhetorical. Even a hint of a response will result in becoming engaged in a never ending conversation, or being chased down the street.
With the free wi-fi now replaced by a ridiculously expensive prepaid card system, and the coffee still lacking in any redeeming features, Starbucks seems to have plotted its own demise. We were very happy to discover Coffee World instead. Coffee equally mediocre, but at least they provide free wi-fi and the chocolate waffles are pretty tasty too.
The need to sort out Indian visas led us to a day of trying out all the forms of public transport, including the BTS and Subway - both hassle free alternatives to the very congested streets and insistence of most taxi drivers to negotiate a fare rather than use the meter. After lodging our visa applications, Louisa managed to cause a scene at the embassy by confusing the light switch for the exit door button and the room was momentarily in darkness. Doh!
A quiet beer to round off another day accidentally leads to another and another. Before we know it we're fully participating in the tourist party scene on Khao San Road with the help of new found friends, 2 Israeli girls, 2 Welsh girls, 2 English girls and an English guy celebrating his last night in Thailand before catching a 5am flight. In the wee hours of the morning, we befriended a bunch of young Thai lads with guitars sitting in the middle of the now empty Khao San road. Spend a good half hour having a singalong including such classic hits as 'creep' by radiohead and 'black' by pearl jam. At the end of the session the owner of the guitar declares his love for Jonathan. Sometime throughout the evening we get padded down by a pair of police who seemed to be more interested in finding Jonathan's arse cheeks than anything illicit.
Although we spent the next day suffering the first significant hangover of our travels, our Khao San road experience was now complete and thankfully we were leaving for the restful city of Chiangmai on the overnight train.
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