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Published: January 24th 2007
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Khao San Rd
Shortly after arriving The flight over to Bangkok was long and made more painful by the fact that I was sitting next to a rather large, and increasingly smelly, man. Thankfully, I had the aisle seat or it would have been a lot worse. I managed some sleep on the plane and woke up around sunrise while we were over India. I was able to see towards the Himalaya and there were several large peaks poking up through the cloud layer, but it was hard to say if they were the 8000m peaks. Our descent and landing into Bangkok were uneventful and we pulled up to the gate more or less on time. Upon stepping onto the jetway I was pleased to discover that it was hot, but not oppressively so. The new airport in Bangkok is giant, and does not seem to be anywhere near capacity so it was a long, but surprisingly deserted walk to customs. I had no trouble clearing, though, and I was soon on my way to get some cash and find my bag.
Bag in hand (thankfully), I walked out into the mob of people in the arrivals area. I brushed off a couple offers for taxis
Tuk Tuk
The ever present tuk tuks and finally managed to find the airport shuttle desk. I paid my 150 baht (4 dollars) and waited about 20 minutes before it arrived. Not everyone got on so I was glad I rushed to the front of the line as soon as I saw the bus arrive. The ride into Bangkok was eye opening to say the least. It's a giant, sprawling city. Highrises (some quite large) stand amid temples, slums, and everything in between. There is also a thick haze of pollution that's clearly visible from the elevated freeway. I was surprised that we made it to Khao San Road without encountering any real traffic delays. I stepped off the bus about 40 minutes after getting on, which I thought was quite reasonable.
On the bus I had been chatting with a Dutch girl and she showed me the way to Khao San Rd (two blocks away). She already had a reservation at a guest house so I went with her there and inquired about prices. It was a bit more than I was hoping to pay, but I didn't really want to deal with finding something else, so I checked in. To put this in perspective,
I'm bitching about paying $10 for a large room with a bathroom. To get the equivalent in Europe I would have paid $30-40. I explored the main backpacker area a bit before going back to my room to take a nap. I got up around 5 and then met up with the Dutch girl for a 20 baht (60 cents) pad thai dinner. The only problem with the things is that they don't really fill you up. There isn't much in the way of protein. Afterward, we walked around and I bought a pair of sandals for about 8 bucks and then we stopped to have a beer at a gas station. Yeah, I was a bit concerned about all the tables they had set up around the pumps (complete with candles), but they seem to have been doing this for quite some time without any explosions so I figured it was ok. Afterwards, we headed back and called it a night early.
Now, I was not particularly diligent about updating my written journal while I was in Bangkok and so I don't have much to say about the next couple of days. They all pretty much blended together
and I have no notes to refer to. Essentially, I spent most of my time in Bangkok reading and walking around the area immediately around Khao San Rd. There are tons of used book shops nearby and so I had a steady supply to read. I got through Eragon and its sequel Eldest and now I can't wait for the third book. Although, I have to admit they seem to have borrowed quite a bit from Star Wars plot wise -- adoptive uncle killed, nephew looks for revenge, but they're still a great read. Then I read Dune which I had never gotten around to before along with a couple other random books.
Eventually I got around to buying a ticket to go to Ko Pha Ngan. For about $20 it included the overnight (VIP) bus and then the ferry over to the island. It wasn't the cheapest deal around, but I had read quite a few stories of people getting their belongings stolen on the cheaper operations so I was content to spend 20 bucks to go 500 miles.
I spent the rest of my time in Bangkok hanging out and shopping for warm weather clothes (t-shirts and shorts mostly). I knew I would be coming back to Bangkok and so I wasn't worried that I hadn't really seen any of the sights. I think it was nice to take a couple days to adjust to Asia. My impressions are that it's very different from what I saw in Africa, which surprised me for some reason. Nairobi felt dangerous. Bangkok feels as safe as any European city aside from the hazards of crossing roads. The people are really nice for the most part. Even when they try to sell you something and you say no they still have a smile on their face. I haven't had packs of salesman following me around like I did in Africa either, which is a definite plus. It's a lot easier to fend off calls of "Tuk, Tuk?" than someone following you whereever you go saying "My friend, my friend, why don't you want to buy this?"
Stay tuned for Ko Pha Ngan.
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deleted_23747
Hope you post more on how Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro are different than what what you're seeing now.