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Published: October 8th 2007
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Lucky Buddha
Lets hope I end up lucky on this trip Hi all,
Day 1 - Monday 1 October
Arrived in Bangkok to find that although cloudy it was still 31 degrees and very humid. As it was already early evening by the time we had dropped the bags off at the guest house in true British style it was straight to the pub to sample the local beers. After meeting a Dutch bloke called Will we took the short walk to the famous Kho San Road for yet more beers. It was here that I spent the rest of the evening being chatted up by an extremely good looking Thai girl who claimed she was a student (honestly). At about midnight due to my onsetting jetlag I had to break her heart and return home alone.
Day 2 - Tuesday 2 October
By the time I woke up due to jet lag it was already mid afternoon. One of the ways to get around Bangkok is to use a tuk tuk a small three wheeled motocycle type. The drivers are absolutely crazy darting in between the traffic at high speeds. You just hope you dont crash as with no seatbelts or any protection your bound to end
up with some broken bones. We hired one to take us sightseeing and see some buddhist statues. We saw the standing buddha a huge gold statue about 15m tall, and the lucky buddha which is supposed to bring you good luck. The only downside to hiring a tuktuk in Bangkok is they stop on the way at various shops that try and sell you things at rip off prices. What should take 45 mins turns into a couple of hours but we escaped without making a single purchase.
After all that culture it was time to hit the bars again. We had met a German bloke called Dennis at the standing buddah and after bumping into him again we sampled the local whisky Sangsum. Its quite a sweet drink and apparently you always have a strange night when you drink it. Somewhere along the way we also picked up an aussie girl and another couple of Brits. I then remember looking at the time and it had gone 6 in the morning, so much for my idea of getting an early night.
Day 3 - Wednesday 3 October
Not surprisingly I was awoken by reception at midday
asking if I wanted to stay another night. After agreeing I was just about to go back to bed when Russ told me that just before leaving last night hed agreed to meet everyone at half 12. After much cursing I dragged myself out of bed and and went to see who would turn up. Not surprisingly everybody else had had more sense and given the meeting a miss. I was just about to go when Dennis comes running down the road looking really green and appologising that hed overslept. The next two hours were then spent in a cool pub trying to get our heads together.
Once recovered we were ready to tackle Bangkoks famous Grand Plalace the Kings residence. After arriving we couldnt see the entrance so decided to follow the walls around until we came across it. 55 minutes later in 32 degree temperatures covered in sweat we found the entrance and as you can probably guess it was 20m from where we had initially started in the opposite direction. As it was now near closing we skipped it and went to visit the reclining Buddha nearby instead.After all the walking the rest of the evening
The Kho San Road
You can buy just about anything here was spent by the hotel pool and relaxing as we had to be up at 6:30am for a trip we had booked tomorrow.
Day 4 - Thursday 4 October
Bleary eyed we set of on our trip for the day. We were off to the bridge over the River Kwai and to see some tigers. Our group consisted of three couples (from spain, new zealand, and canada) a canadian girl called Erin alongside Russ and myself.
After seeing the film many times I was surprised to find out that it was actually the RAF that blew the bridge up in a bombing raid in 1945. But it was definitely worth a visit even though it was hard to picture how the conditions would have been at the time.
Following that we stopped of at a waterfall to cool down for a while. Erin and myself decided we could climb half way up without getting too wet. Needless to say in seconds we were drenched but the bus driver didnt seem to mind.
After that was the best part of the trip a visit to the tiger temple. Abandoned tiger cubs that would otherwise die have
been rescued by the monks and due to their stress free environment and constant human interaction they are safe to touch without getting your fingures bitten off.
After returning to Bangkok we all agreed to meet up for dinner at 8. After a few drinks the girls all wanted to go to a ping pong show in Pat Pong (If you dont know what this is best you dont ask). Obviously us blokes couldnt let them go alone so we tagged along as well. All ill say is that it was interesting.After introducing the whisky Sangsum to everbody it was 4am before we eventually called it a night.
Day 5 - Friday 5 October
After missing the grand palace on wednesday it was an early start to catch it before we left Bangkok. There were more buddhas and temples to see and more photos to take. On the way home we heard an almighty bang across the road. Looking over a tuk tuk had crashed into the back of a taxi. As I was saying earlier it wasnt a prettty sight.
After 5 days in Bangkok its good to leave to more calmer places. Although fun
after a while you can get fed up of people lying to you and constantly trying to scam you.
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