Bangkok

Trip Start May 05, 2008
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Trip End May 09, 2009


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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

We've spent the past 10 days here in the crazy city of Bangkok trying to figure out the rest of our trip. We have met up with one of Tavi's friends, Dragos, who's been working here at a university for the past 2 years. It was nice to have someone who has a better perspective on the local culture and could explain some of the finer or more obscure points of it. Our impression of Bangkok is that of a city of contrasts. It has modern sky-scrapers and malls that rival those of Singapore or Kuala Luimpur, but nearby along the canals of this Venice of the east, one can find slums that would not seem out of place in a big Indian city. One thing Bangkok is not is boring. We have never seen such a bewildering variety of street food vendors for example, and the 365 temples are a fairly original sight, though it must said very glitzy. We visited some of the most famous, including the Royal Palace, the glitziest of them all.
Bangkok's nightlife is something else, especially when one considers the role of the sex industry in it. As a farang, one becomes the focal point of a lot of attention from skimpily dressed girls (and ladyboys), who compete for your money even when you express no interest whatsoever in their services. That is of course unless one goes to the area where Japanese tourists go, in which case one has the curious feeling of suddenly becoming invisible in the middle of the very same skimpily clad prostitutes. Of course, it's not all about that; there are many areas in the city where pubs, live-music bars and street parties are the norm. Yes, when it comes to fun and games, Bangkok really is something else.
We have taken the decision to change up our trip. People back at home will scoff at this, but we've grown tired of travelling through hot weather, especially throough developing countries. No, seriously, months in a row of +30C temperatures, combined with humidity, dust and pollution can really take their toll on the body. So, we are not going to Vietnam anymore, though we are still doing a foray through Cambodia to see Angkor Wat which has been one of the goals of our South-East Asian trip all allong. Instead, we will be flying to Hong Kong on the 17th, from where we will be travelling north through China to Beijing, then pass briefly through South Korea on the way to Japan. This plan, while slightly more expensive, will hopefully give us a beter understanding of the world as it will take us through some of the most culturally sophisticated regions of the world, as well as through one of the economic beating hearts of our planet.

Please see pictures....khorb koon kha (Thank you!)
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