Advertisement
Published: September 14th 2007
Edit Blog Post
It's very strange. No matter where we're going or when it is, we always find ourselves back at Khao San road thinking "How on earth did we end up here again?".
Of course anyone who's done South East Asia will know exactly what I'm talking about. And anyone due to come back should definitely try a Pad Thai 4 egg ("4 EGG??"). But only for a major protein boost if you've just sliced your leg open on a fast moving spearhead.
As we are reaching the end of this ever more awesome holiday, it was time for some of the more cultural divulgences that we are bound to remember in years to come. So after getting suitably plastered, we visited the Pat Pong district for a Ping Pong show.
Now. You may think that naked women pulling various objects (ribbons, flowers, razor blades) out of a particular part of their body is the least erotic or entertaining thing since a yodelling Jon Voight vaulted that herd of camels back in '92. Well, at least I was suitably plastered to not feel too disgusted or sorry for the ladies doing it. I guess it's good for a cultural work
out. It is, after all, one of the things that makes Bangkok worth visiting.
Thankfully, for the benefit of our residual impression of Thailand, the next day was a day worth replacing previous experiences with. After visiting a war museum with the genitalia of prisoners of war faithfully recreated in clay and chicken wire (okay... maybe didn't start too well), there was the massive (albeit slightly sombre) sight of the Death Bridge over the River Kwai. It was named so because of the number of people who unfortunately expired while building it, but I initially assumed it would be because of the ease that clumsy tourists can fall into the bottomless pits of Death, never to resurface except if the maws of hell were to open and spew back all the evil since the beginning of time. Erm. That should have been "the river".
The next part of the trip took us to an elephant trekking site - I know that's been done, but this one was much better. The bastard driver didn't steal our bananas again, so we got to feed the elephants ourselves. Imagine if you could tear off a banana and pick it up with
your nose. People would want to feed you. So that was awesome. Though I think I may get recurring nightmares of grey serpents blowing smelly air in my face before trying to steal my backpack.
The most impressive bit was the Tiger Temple. Basically some temple grounds with a whole load of animals in (the second coolest being wild boar and the mental sounds they make), but the coolest by far are a load of tigers they've reared to be friendly to humans. Got loads of pictures of me touching but not quite getting near enough to them, then some really cool ones of the babies, that you can actually play with. They're just like big kittens. They even have a bit of rag they won't let go of. Also met a mental eagle (or something like that) trying to stare me out. It won.
When tigers yawn, they sound like people - in case you're wondering.
Anyway. This looks like it'll be the last entry from Asia, thank you to everyone who read it, and for any support that people may or may not have given me, especially Vikki, who has sat next to me in
an internet cafe every day, for all the blog support, and for being such a good partner in every sense of the word. I've had a really amazing time and I think everyone should try to do this one day.
Xiao all.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.039s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 10; qc: 18; dbt: 0.0156s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb