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Boiling Bangkok
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We landed in Bangkok 4 hours later than planned due to the delayed flight from Singapore, but set about trying to make the Intrepid meeting at 6pm. After poorly negotiating a taxi into the city we set off for the hour and a half journey to the hotel, wary that it could take a lot longer due to the traffic over here.
First impressions were that this place was hot, humid and a lot dirtier than the clinically clean Singapore we had just left, the odd random smells coming into the taxi reminding us of this every so often.
At the hotel we checked in, dumped the bags and were only half an hour late for the meeting with our group and leader (or facilitator as they like to be known) Nicki. After apologies for being late (though we were not the last) we were given the lowdown on the trip (with accompanying booklet, which has been very useful so far), told the rules, given an Intrepid sling bag (to try and avoid plastic ones) and introduced to our traveling companions. I'd best list them all as they'll probably be mentioned throughout the next month of blogging.
Claus & Doris - Mid 60's Germans living in Melbourne Australia.
Carlos & Alex - Brits our age and doing similar RTW trip after jacking in their jobs
Nick - 40 something Brit living in Toulouse
Hannah - 22 yr old Scottish lass from Elgin
Hayley - another 22 yr Scottish lass but not connected with Hannah.
Annie - 20 something American, going through Med School
Karin (now to be known as Heidi) - Late 30's German nurse
Missing 25 yr old French Canadian girl - soon to be introduced as Marie
So that was the group, an eclectic mix of all ages and nationalities, totally different to what we were expecting to be honest.
Obviously all a bit shy and quiet we set of for our evening meal on a public bus, costing the grand total of 5 pence. The restaurant was a back yard sort of place with tables and chairs scattered around, and a huge menu selection. We settled for a Pad Thai and Red Curry washed down with a few beers, the place didn't look that hygienic, but the food tasted good, I guess it was just going to take us a while to settle into the Asian vibe after NZ & Oz.
After dinner a few of us decided to head down the famous Khoa San Road, where almost instantaneously we were accosted to sit at a roadside bar serving ridicously cheap cocktails in what reminded me of sandcastle buckets. After sharing a few of these our guards had all dropped a bit and we were all having a good laugh together, which boded well for the next 29 days we would have to spend in each others company.
A bit gung ho after the cocktails we decided to hire some Tuk Tuk's (crazy 3 wheel motor bikes with a covered seat at the back for 3 passengers) to the infamous Pat Pong,
So began a race through the streets of Bangkok with us hanging on for dear life in the back as the drivers popped wheelies and made crazy passing manouvers, all to the shouts of "Faster Faster Tuk Tuk man" from Hannah, the mad Scottish girl. Pat Pong was a bit seedy for our liking so we headed back to Khoa San Road almost as soon as we had arrived, and after a few more bucket cocktails took our final Tuk Tuk journey for the day back to the hotel.
after an okay breakfast the next morning we headed out on our first excursion of the trip, a speed/long boat trip around the back waterways (khlongs) of Bangkok to Wat (think temple) Po. The boat was basically a long thin hull with big uncovered motor on the back spinning a long steel pole with a propeller on the end, quite a cool way of getting around if a little noisy. We cruised around the back waters of the city looking at the run down shacks on stilts literally sagging into the water, next door to some quite nice concrete built houses with air con units and garden balconies, a city of contrasts. We also stopped to feed a writhing mass of catfish next to a jetty that would even eat out of your hand if you were brave enough.
After we got dropped of by the boat we walked across to Wat Po, Bangkok's oldest temple and home of a 46 metre long reclining (lying on his side) Buddha. After being given the etiquette rules of removing shoes, not pointing feet towards the Buddha and dressing respectfully, we headed inside to take a look at the man himself. It was a very impressive sight, a huge laid out Buddha covered in gold leaf stretching the full length of the temple, which in itself had very fine paintings on the wall. We took quite a few snaps but is hard to show the size of this thing, especially when it won't fit on the camera screen, but check out the feet which are inlaid with mother of pearl, Buddha Bling !!!
After finishing the Wat Po excursion we were invited to tour the Grand Palace which we thought we should see as it one of the main highlights of Bangkok, but only as long as Helen could be sneaked in with ¾ trousers on and I zipped back on the legs of my trousers (they take dressing respectfully very seriously here). We managed to get in and had a look around the artifacts museum first, which had an array of jewels, coins, dress and swords, most impressive of which was the Emerald Buddha's outfits for the three seasons of the year, wet, hot & cold. These were pure gold outfits made to fit a 4 foot high Buddha made from one piece of Jade, whom we would see later. Next we walked around the grounds of the palace, being given the historical and cultural background on the many buildings and stupas (minarets) dotted around, most of which are gold or at least painted gold and ornately decorated with mirrors and ceramic (mainly recycled stuff).
The final stop was to see the emerald Buddha in his hot season regalia. We dumped the shoes outside again and went inside to take a look at the small green Buddha perched on the top of a very ornate altar with loads of gold artifact surrounding him. It's sort of a cross between the altar of a church and Aladdin's cave at these places, highly ornate and the more gold the better.
A bit buddha'd out after all this we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the Khoa San Road area, checking out the fake T-shirts and DVD market stalls. One road seemed to be devoted to wedding dresses, possibly to cater for the Thai bride industry, who knows?
Flagging a bit now, after a long day of sightseeing, we took a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel, packed our bags, and took our last look at Bangkok from the rooftop bar with a well deserved soft drink. Neither of us would say we really liked Bangkok, being too hot, dirty & smelly for our liking, but we are coming back and may be in a different frame of mind after 1 month around Asia.
Next stop was Chang Mai in the North and to get here meant taking an overnight sleeper train which was in fact a nicer experience than we had anticipated. Waiting at the train station was a little hot and sticky with hundreds of people just lying on the floor awaiting their trains, but we passed the time eating deep fried bananas with the rest of the group until it was time to board.
The sleeper train itself was quite nice inside with a pair of double seats facing each other which converted into a large single bed and then a fold down single bed above. We settled in for the journey and read our books and munched on some crisps until Nicki confirmed that the disco carriage was definitly happening tonight,so we strolled down the train to see what all the fuss was about. There wasn't much going on at all apart from one of those cheapo rotating disco balls with lights and some very dodgy music, however the cart sold beer and there was a very amusing ladyboy waitress prancing around the carriage, nore than enough entertainment for the night then.
We had a fair few drinks, Maud having to go with a wine cooler, wine and sparkling water and other natural ingredients (Yuk), as it was the only equivalent to beer, and had a good night chatting with the German girl Karin and some Dutch guy who just came and sat down next to us. Very bizarrely he looked about 25 but was only 15, spoke perfect English with a South London accent
At last order we retired for the night, knowing we would be waking in Chiang Mia the next morning.
Latest Comments (1)
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Can you email or call me, Gray (reply)
May 21, 2008 07:17 EST by grayanddan
Hi You guys, looks fab in Thailand and isnt tuktuk racing fun even though a tab dangerous if you roll one!!! When you get back and learn to drive Alex a tuktuk engine will be the biggest engine you will get insured on in this country!!!
We are thinking of the christening on the 16th August. are you around? Call me or email me if you can, cheers fella and have fun you 2 xx
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