And the end is a new beginning

Getting Some Street Pad Thai on the Khao San Road
Walking Down the Khao San Road We were back at where everything had started. Same same, but different. We now felt like we were Southeast Asia veterans. The long drive from the airport to downtown seemed so familiar, as it was the third time doing it. We knew what this place was about, and now after two quick flirtatious nights which served as waypoints to other destinations, we were going to check out Bangkok en force.

This time, we stayed at the famous Khao San Road, probably the best known backpacker location in the world. The place definitely lived up to it's billing: several streets chock full of hostels, cheap restaurants, travel agencies, tattoo parlors, bars, and all other sorts of amenities which every backpacker needs. The streets were always busy with travellers, day and night, and a carnival-esque atmosphere pervaded. Perhaps that's the sort of thing that happens when enough pairs of fisherman's pants are united. Interestingly, the Khao San road area has also gained a following with many of the local Thais who frequent the bars and clubs without any alterior motive. It also seems to be the Haight-Ashbury of Thailand for the Thais, as the most hippy-ish looking folks were the locals.

We spent our days checking out many of the sites, such as Wat Traimit which holds a huge several meter-high golden Buddha and the Royal Palace which is closed to the public and is pretty much uninhabited currently. We did a lot of walking around, really trying to get a feel for the city, and sweating buckets upon buckets in the humidity which seemed intensified by the tall buildings. Another way to experience the city was in riding the Skytrain and the Riverboat, which we used whenever we could. Unfortunately, though those forms of public transport are quick, cheap, and offer great views from different perspectives, they aren't extended out enough and don't hit all the important places, most notably the area of town that the Khao San Road is on. That meant a fair amount of time haggling with tuk tuk and taxi drivers for fair rates and hours stuck in the horrible Bangkok traffic.

Bangkok can be overwhelming - it's hot, loud, crowded, chaotic, but the hedgepin which puts things over the top is that here, more than in any of the other places we'd visited in Southeast Asia, you have people coming up to you offering travel help if they see you pause or following a map. It doesn't matter if you're in a touristy area or not, they just seem to come right up, offering advice as to their opinion of what to see. Unfortunately, from many sources, this sort of behaviour is usually the opening step to many of the scams which float along the city, so Jason and I kept on shooing anyone who would to come up to us unsolicited. It was possible that some of the people may have genuinely wanted to help, but we weren't taking our chances.

Our suits which we had been measured for at the start of the trip were ready, and after 2 more fittings, they were perfect. Donald Trump had better watch out!

After a night in the Patpong area (which was as seedy as advertised), we stuck around the Khao San part of town for the next two nights in much chiller bars, enjoying shows by the local musicians and the general atmosphere on the road - never a dull moment. One of the highlights of our nights out was when sitting in a chill garden-bar, taking a breather from a steamy disco, we were approached by a waitress who said that there were two Thai girls who wanted to talk to us. The waitress saw the look of apprehension on our face formed from a month of often experiencing such sorts of uninvited attention and said "Oh don't worry. These are nice Thai girls, not prostitutes". Sure enough, they were two students who wanted to practice their English. It was a good trade as we pummelled them with questions about Thai culture and customs, getting explanations for many of the things we had seen and experienced over the past few months. They were eating some of the spiciest stuff we had ever tried.

Alas, our time in Bangkok quickly came to an end. It was the end of the of the Southeast Asian leg of my trip. Jason would be going back home to the states, and I would be off to China for the next phase.

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