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Hot and hounded in Bangkok
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Spent the last four days off the Khao San Road in hot Bangkok. Stayed in a cheap and basic hostel on an alley just off from the sights and sounds. It's great at night when you're trying to avoid stepping on cats in the dark! Bangkok is scorching and the fumes from all the traffic whizzing everywhere makes the air a bit thick. Mind you it smells better than the smell you sometimes get from the drains, well I think its the drain anyway... Khao San is busy and full of backpackers and street vendors trying their best to sell you anything and everything. At night it becomes a neon haven with every bar, guest house and restaurant sporting a lovely big sign. The food here is tasty as long as you don't eat on Khao San, the streets just off it sell much better quality dishes at better price found a really nice place just beside where we staying called Renee's, paying under 2 euro for something that you could get in Ban Thai is always good with with me.
On our first full day we saw the tourist sites of the Grand palace and the Wat Pho temple. Don't think I've ever seen so much gold, ornate would be the tip of the iceberg. The palace is filled with buildings full of intricate design and again lots and lots of gold design. Didn't get to see the king though as he moved out some years ago obviously was tired, wanted a change in decor, after all what can you do with gold home decorating-wise.
After we walked a few streets to the temple Wat Pho which contains a reclining GOLD 50m Buddha lying on his side, don't know how they managed to get it the building to be honest. There were a few other hundred gold Buddhas around the place but not of the same stature, you know what they say, seen one giant Buddha, seen them all.. Everywhere you walk in Bangkok you constantly get asked for tuk tuks or taxi's. Makes a change from Dublin that's for sure. Becomes a bit of a pain after awhile though as you just get a little tired of them especially when they tell you whichever attraction you're heading to is closed, so far I've found them all suspiciously open each time....
Yesterday we took a tour to Kanchanaburi to see the river Kwai famous from the film "Bridge over the River Kwai". We visited a war cemetery with thousands of an allied solders headstones who died after being forced to build the railway. After we walked along the new bridge, the famous old one having been blown up in 1945 though no one seemed to mind however, lots of tourists walking up and down the three planks that cross with no barriers, safety precautions are bit circumspect sometimes around here... We traveled down the road and jumped on a train which crossed over the bridge but to be honest you couldn't really see much. After lunch we went to an elephant farm and rode an elephant. Not sure I completely agree with it, the animals didn't look like they were in too bad condition and most of the directions the elephant took was from Thai commands. At one point we were about to go down this steep hill and obviously the elephant didn't really fancy it as it let out huge roar (or trumpet whatever sound they make) took some persuading from his handler in the end. We then took a bamboo raft down the river and one of the guys decided he wanted to swim in it (mad eijit), wouldn't get me near it. Visited a nice little waterfall on the way back as well.
Last day here in Bangkok before we head out tonight on a 13 hour bus ride to Vientiane in Laos, the fun of it... More thumbnails ...
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