Bye Bye Bangkok
Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, November 30, 2007
After taking us so long to get here, we seem to be heading out of Bangkok very soon. The hustle and bustle is reminiscent of being back in London, with a few minor exceptions - like the constant sound of wooden frogs, continual calls of 'where you go?' from Tuk Tuk and metered taxis (who don't use their meters...), amazing street food that puts half the restaurants to shame, and of course, the smog that builds to clouds in the middle of the main roads.
Made our way over to the shopping district, braving the Tuk Tuk. Tearing through the streets, nipping in and out of traffic. A bit more pricey than a metered taxi (if you can haggle them down) but great fun, if a little hairy... It's just a shame that the canopy pretty much limits your view to the road and which ever car it looks like is going to hit you next... The Shopping district is pretty compact, and includes the Siam Centre, MBK and Siam Square. It's pertty much like Bluewater, Lakeside, and the West End all rolled into a few blocks to the east of Bangkok. The air-con'd hallways make it easy to spend hours just wandering up and down taking in the wealth of shops selling real/knock off clothes, electronics and pretty much anything else you might imagine. The experience was marred a little by my flip flops turning in to tourture devices and causing excruciating pain with every step, this was helped by some retail therapy and ice cream - and they really love their ice cream parlours here, you can even get an ice cream fondu! We ended up seeing Beowolf 3D in the luxury of Siam Paragon's IMAX cinema. We cosied up in the sofa seats with our complimentray blanket and bucket of popcorn and really enjoyed the 3D experience. Honestly, if it's on in 3D at the IMAX in London, go check it out (don't take the kids though... Grendal is quite disturbing - right up your street Pryce and Giles).
The follwoing day we wandered down to the Grand Palace, however, we didn't heed 'the book's' advice to cover up and after a while, decided that we'd come back another day dressed in the proper attire. Instead, we decided to make the most of the river ferrys and braved Chinatown one more time to try and see some more of the markets. We wandered up through the winding streets and managed to find some amazing Dim Sum, which we should have gone back for more of - Hong Kong Noodles is a winner... Ended up back near our first expedition down there, amidst the breakers yard shops and general random electrical goods (100m of insulated copper cable anyone?)
After a bit of tooing and froing over dinner, we decided that we'd head up to Chiang Mai with a stop off at Sukhothai the following day by train, to try and take in some more of the scenery. The next morning we headed out to the streets after the advice from our guesthouse that if you flag a Taxi down, he's more likely to use his meter... great advice, if only 3 days late :) After a couple of hours wait at Hualumpong Train Station, with an hours delay, we started on our journey north on a fumey diesel 'Special Express' train. We were in 2nd class which was pretty comfortable although pretty chilly with the air-con on full blast all the way. trains are pretty cheap as well, the tickets cost about six pound each for the 6 hour journey, and included some 'in-flight' refreshments in the shape of drinks, lunch and some snacks. It's a bit better than the long distance government buses, where you still get a steward serving you drinks and offering you cookies...
Staying at the Lithai Guesthouse in Phitsanulok, which is really cheap. Shared bathroom a bit like camping outside, but clean rooms and comfy beds, for three pound a night, you can't complain. Hopefully no bed bugs though, because Shelley's been eaten alive so far...
Hope things are good back home. Noticed some people wearing Santa hats the other day, which is our only sign that Christmas is getting close, I'm sure London is filled with the sounds of carols and Oxford Street will be lit up already...
Lots of love
Peeps and Shelley
xxx
