Bangkok (Thailand)

• Mattislost's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Bangkok

Trip Start Feb 28, 2008 Trip End Jul 06, 2008 Next
Entry

  Bangkok, Thailand
Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Hi All,

I hope you are all well. I am good apart from the fact that I have somehow managed to get a cold in the 30 degree heat!!! Sorry about not updating the blog sooner, but I didn't really have the chance in Bangkok - It's a bit of a party city!

I couldn't sleep at all on the 10+ hours flight from Heathrow, so I was knackered when I landed in Bangkok. It was 34 degrees when I landed - not particularly comfortable when you are wearing jeans and trainers and carrying a massive backpack! I got picked up from the airport and taken to the Ban Sabai Youth Hostel (remember this name for later). Once I had dumped my bags I went for a wander. I did not see one other white face the whole time, which was suprising seeing as I was meant to be round the corner from the biggest backpacking area in Bangkok. When I got back to the hostel I found a couple of guys (Ollie and Tim from Henley, nr. Reading) that I recognised from my flight over. It turns out they were sharing a room with me. We decided to go and find Khao San Road (KSR), supposedly 200m away. We ended up walking for 45 minutes and ended up in some dodgy Thai backstreets! We decided enough was enough and headed back to the hostel. Only when I checked on the internet did I realise that the hotel we actually wanted to be in was the Baan Sabai Hotel (check the spelling above)!!!

The following day we got a taxi to KSR. It was a 45 minute taxi ride away, and at least 10km! We ended up sharing a hotel room in the Khao San Palace Hotel. A nice place, with a pool on the roof. We were there for about 10 minutes when there was a knock at the door. It was two cute girls that the guys knew from Henley, Philly and Livvy. We went up to the pool with them and met another 3 guys from their town, Charlie x2 and Nick. In the evening we went to a place called the Hippie Bar for some food, but we found out that nowhere in Thailand was selling alcohol until 9pm the following day as they were electing the new Prime Minister of Thailand tomorrow. One of the locals called it a 'big erection'! Mum: Censor this bit for the Nan's!!! After dinner we went to a ping-pong show. It was pretty grim, but none-the-less entertaining! We had a ring-side seat to see ping-pong balls, blow darts, razor blades, and needles coming out of something where they should never be to start with! One girl wrote "Welcome to Bangkok" in fancy handwritting without using her hands (if you know what I mean)! The award for most disturbing act and accompanying song goes to the girl who smoked a cigarette through something that shouldn't be used for smoking to the delightful tune of 'My Heart Will go on' by Celine Dion! After the show we went to watch the Man U game before finally finding somewhere that would sell us 'top secret beer' at about 1.30pm. He made us promise that we wouldn't tell the police where we got it from if they came!

On Saturday Philly, Livvy, Tim, Ollie and I, all piled into one tuk-tuk to head to Chatuchak market. The driver pretty much kidknapped us and took us to James Fashion, sellers of 'high fashion and jewels' apparently. The drivers get fuel vouchers for bringing customers to the shops. Once we had been thrown out for winding up the shop assistants we we finally on our way to the market. The market has over 8000 stalls selling pretty much everything - food, clothes, nik-naks, etc. I didn't buy anything due to the lack of space in my backpack! I did have a very nice blueberry popsicle though, bought for the equivelent of about 15p! On the way back we passed Chitrlada Palace where the King of Thailand lives. It's just behind the zoo! When we got back we went for beer, food then more beer, before heading back to the hotel with a bottle of Samsung whiskey.We sat out in the lobby chatting to everyone and anyone - the pick of the bunch being a wasted Geordie called Paul! After midnight the boys went to a nice rooftop bar called Gazebo for a couple of shisha pipes (grape flavoured tabacco) and a Heiniken tower (about 6 pints) between two people. After that it was a bit of a blur!

On day four I woke up with a stonking hangover and headed to the zoo with Ollie and Tim.We saw some cool animals but they were kept in crappy conditions. It was a bit sad really. In the evening we met up with a couple of new arrivals, Ollie (no. 2) and Scott, also from Henley, before heading out for beer. We went to a street bar, which was literally 3 ladyboys selling booze from a pickup truck! We had to move on when the police turned up!!!

The next day I went to see some sights with Sarah - a girl the my room-mates had met the night before, but were too hungover to go out with! We went to the Grand Palace which was impressive, but it got boring pretty quickly. It was just one golden temple after another. After that we went to the Golden Mount. A spiral of hundreds of stairs leading up to another temple. From here we would have had a great view of Bangkok if it wasn't for the smog. After booking a minibus to the Cambodian border I dragged the guys out of bed for a swim on the roof at about 5pm! A few hours later the guys did some shopping from the street stalls whilst I played footie with a cute Thai kid. KSR is crazy! It is unlike any other place on earth. You can't walk 5 yards without being offered a suit, a bloody annoying wooden frog, a ping pong show, or a Thai massage with 'boom-boom' (use your imagination!).
After that we went to Gazebo for a Heiniken tower before I headed to bed early due to my 6am start the following morning.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family Pictures

Bangkok Zoo 1	Bangkok Zoo 2	Khao San Road by day	Khao San Road by night
Royal Palace 1	Royal Palace 2	Royal Palace 3	Royal Palace 4
The view from the top of the Golden Mount

Slideshow Print this entry Share

Next Entry