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Bangkok
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As we descended down upon Bangkok the first thing that caught our eyes was the factories on the outskirts of the massive city. We were still waking up as we had touch down, and our Austrian Cpt. reminded us that possession of illegal drugs is punished with death in Thailand.
We were assaulted by a horde of cab drivers as we left the airport. And we ended up paying three times the amount we really should have paid for the trip to our hotel. But no worries. We found our hotel and the lobby was grand. Tobias was in awe and said something like: sure its here?. The hotel was cool although our double bed worried us both. And Tobias complained that I was being a bit too friendly at one point but we (he) coped?! Breakfast was included and we almost made it every day, but I never found that getting up before 10 fits in the whole concept of holiday. So we also missed it a couple of times :-).
One of our most important lessons learned in Bangkok is that being a tourist, most times means that you are to spend money. Even the Buddhist ceremony we sat in on cost us 100 baht per person. And that Bangkoks cultural life for you. The big temples down by the river are all in a sad state and even though reconstructive work is being done (at a VERY slow pace) it seems more like patching up than actual reconstruction.
But shopping is great, we spent like two days in one of the biggest malls down there called MBK "Mah Boon Krong" and never saw the end of it. Great bargains! T-shirts was like 100-200 baht and obviously they were all original i even got a certificate of originality with my Folex. Bargains i tell you :-D.
They say that once you get into Bangkok, get the hell out! That is partly true.
But when we left i personally was glad! The smog in that city is worse than anything in the world. When we arrived at the airport it was an almost clear sky, but as we neared Bangkok we thought it was getting cloudy, that was our first encounter with the smog. It is everywhere from the minute you step out from your hotel till you enter again. Its in your hair, clothes and lungs. Toby seemed almost envious every time i lit a cigarette.
The main contributor of all the smog is the converted scooters that they call Tuk-tuks, up to 5 people can fit in there. But the exhaust pipe is working overtime all the time. The tuk-tuk drivers themselves are no better at blowing more than dirty air XD, the only places they seem to know for baring and clubbing is some questionable backyard brothels. If we go in they get gasoline so everyone's happy. Not us though, but we soon realized that if you don't tell them exactly where your going you will end up in either a brothel, tailor or some family who will get you everything you need. On that notion the song that goes: "One night in Bangkok and the world stops turning" is absolutely correct. The old government passed a law that orders every bar, club and so on to close at 1 am, so the world really stops turning between 1 am and 5 am when everyone gets up. Some places keeps open during the night, but me and [mi] mate never really found or looked for 'em.
When we left for Koh Samui in our deluxe sleeping bus, it was like a burden was lifted of our shoulders and our almost Gollumlike faces lit up and likewise all our fellow travellers'. But looking back it was an experience that was a good experience because you learnt something and it was interesting at the same time.
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Endelig landede min rejsekammerat og jeg i Bangkoks internationale luftnavn! En dejlig en af slagsen med god aircondition. Udenfor moedte vi en mur af varme. Vi havde ingen problemer med bagagen, saa vores eneste opgave var at finde vej til vores forudbestilte hotel. Det foregik med taxi, stadig var vi "groenne" som turister og startede derfor besoeget i Bangkok med at blive snydt: Vi gav 800 Baht (ca 140 kr) hvor vi ku have noejedes med 200 Baht.
Men vi naaede Asia Bangkok Hotel og det var skoent!
Sky som vi var ville vi ikke gaa for meget i byen foerste aften, men blot smage lidt paa det de laver i det asiatiske koekken. Paa gaden i Bangkok blev vi konstant jagtet af taxaer og isaer "tuk-tuker", som er en art ombyggede scootere paa tre hjul med plads til max fire passagerer. De kunne sagtens runde de 70 km/t og det var vildt. Vi susede ud og ind mellem de stoerre biler. En gang saa vi en 'tuk-tuk' blive paakoert af en taxi, heldigvis overlevede alle indblandede.
Efter at have shoppet en del moedte vi den friskeste tuktuk-mand. Han lod til at kunne tale engelsk og paa vores kommando om at koere os til en billig restaurent kom vi til en af slagsen, troede vi. Det var selvfoelgelig en af de allerdyreste, den type hvor man betaler meget for al for lidt mad, og vi foelte os snydt. Men ellers ok oplevelse. Efter maden ville vi tilbage til hotellet, men da vi traadte ud fra restauranten blev vi straks overfaldet af den friske tuktuk-mand, som i mellemtiden havde reduceret sit sprog til et enkelt ord: (lydskrift) [Seksuaaal]. Det ord sagde han saa utroligt mange gange og viste os et par flyers af afklaedte kvinder. Vi modstod og sagde han skulle koere os tilbage til hotellet. Han koerte 300 meter, og fortsatte forbi vores hotel og satte os af 300 meter laengere nede af gaden... ved en trappe. Saa det var ingen succes, altsaa angaaende forstaaelse af lokale i Bangkok.
Dog havde vi laert noget: Man skal ikke regne med at alle Thaierne forstaar engelsk og de er glade for at sige [seksuaaal].
Byen som saadan er meget trafficeret og utrolig forurenet/fyldt med smog. Jeg taenkte, naar jeg trak vejret, at det muligvis kunne sammenlignes med at indhalere fra en meget gammel bils udstoedning. Nu er jeg jo ikke ryger, saa maaske havde jeg svage lunger, men Rasmus var nu enig i ligningen.
Straks man kommer til forstaderne og det mere bilfri miljoe er luften til at taale. I midtbyen har "tuk-tukerne" stor skyld i forureningen.
Alt i alt noed vi begge opholdet i Bangkok. Vi fik begge shoppet en del og dermed handlet paa gammeldags vis ved at 'prutte' om priserne. Stadig forsoegte de fleste saelgere at snyde en, men efter et par dage kunne vi skaere prisen helt ind til benet, gerne en tredjedel af den oprindelig pris.
Skuffelsen var moedet med den aeldre kultur, som vi havde hoert meget om hjemmefra. Templerne i Bangkok skulle vaere utrolig flotte, men vi fandt dem daarligt vedligeholdte, meget ens/kopiagtige og enkelte steder saa vi nye templer/statuer blive opfoert. Maaske skal man laengere nordpaa for at finde noget mere interressant og aeldre kultur.
Thai'erne er utroligt smukke mennesker, slanke og med meget fine traek i ansigtet. I det hele taget mere feminine hvilket bedst klaedte kvinderne. Til at starte med kunne vi overhovedet ikke kende forskel, men efter at have vaeret i Thailand en snes dage kunne vi genkende forskellige ansigtstyper fra hinanden.
Den stoerste skuffelse var maaske bylivet. En irriterende lov befaler at de fleste steder i nattelivet lukker kl 01.00, og saa er festen slut. Vaerst var at vi om aftenen ikke moedte nogen lokale som ikke var paa arbejde - og de der arbejdede koerte tuktuk, taxi eller solgte deres krop. Sidstnaevnte var der alt for mange af, hvilket ikke var en overraskelse.Men vi havde da haabet at luderne havde nogen at konkurrere med ud over hinanden.
Vi fandt en trovaerdig tuktuk-driver og bad ham koere os til en natclub med "normale" unge mennesker. Foer vi traadte ind af doeren foelte vi at det saa rigtigt ud det her, men synet indenfor var en horde af prostituerede der bare sad paa deres stole og ventede. Og der var ingen andre maend. Overraskelsen skulle fordoejes, med en oel af respekt for vaertinden.
Asia Bangkok Hotel var helt i top og ikke saerligt dyrt. Vi foelte os som rigmaend naar vi gik paa shoppingtur og diverse, saa det var fedt. Men vi matte begge paa toenden efter indtagelsen af den asiatiske mad. Jeg overhoerte muligvis ogsaa Rasmus' fornuftige ord om at vandet ikke skulle drikkes fra hanen :-) Vi kom til at savne normal dansk mad, eller bare ordentlig koed i det hele taget og ren luft!
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