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Published: June 22nd 2008
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After spending about 5 days in Bangkok the first thing i will say is that its very difficult to sum up in a few paragraphs. One thing it certainly isnt is dull. We arrived on our flight from Bali at 2am and scrambled down the Khao San Road area to find somewhere to kip. After inspecting a few fairly dingy spots we found a half decent place and got a few hours kip. So, the next morning we were ready to tackle this crazy city. We decided to get straight into the action so we headed for China Town. It was a facinating place moving at 90 miles an hour, with all sorts of wheeling and dealing going on all over the place with hundreds of traders selling Gold to the many street food traders with every type of culinary delight (and not so Delightful) available. I came to Bangkok with the intention of trying as many different types of street food imaginable, but I leave with my tail between my legs as eating off some of the stalls seemed genuinely like Russian Roulette. Still, no food poisoning so far here so hope for the best. Bangkok is smelly. Thats for
sure. Now there are good smells, from the smell of incense outside a Buddist Temple to the smell of Foods all around the many markets here, and there are bad smells, now I dont need to describe or explain the origins or nature of the Bad smells but suffuce to say on the balance of average the bad smells far outway the good!!! Oh yeah, and it is a bit dirty, Bangkok County Council have a lot to Answer for....
Siam Square is the main shopping and Business district in Bangkok and we headed there to see if we could replace some of our drab treadbare backpacker clothing for something a bit better. The Siam Square area is in stark contrast to china town and the other market areas as it is ultra modern with many multi storey shopping Centres and skyscrapers and its serviced by the Skytrain ( A bit like the Luas excepy it goes over rather that through the city). One night, close to this area we were out for my birthday celebrations, as were heading back to the place we were staying we were walking along the main road and there was a small stretch
of footpath which was not very well lit up. As we walked through this area, there was something coming towards us. We thought it was another person and Kept walking. At the last minute we stept back out of the way and realised that it wasnt other people walking towards us. It was an Elephant. No shit, down town Bangkok, Saturday night, just strolling along on the footpath.
We were staying in the Khao San Road area which is a hub for much of the nightlike action. This area of Bangkok is certainly lively although a few nights would be more than enough for anyone. We spent a day at the massive Chatuchak market, which has thousands of stalls selling everything imaginable. Things are so cheap here. How are we going to adjust to Irish Prices when we come home I dont Know. It was so hot and Humid at the market and the most we could bear was a few hours and we left with Maire vowing to return before we leave Thailand. Bangkokians ( yes, I believe thats what they are called) have been very friendly and curtious to us (with the exception of a few taxi
and Tuk-Tuk drivers) and generally seemed as Curious about us as we were about them.
Now we are not the biggest Muesum or Historical fanatics to say the least but we had to visit a few sites in Bangkok while we were here. The Grand Palace which was home to the King of Thailand up until a few years ago certainly is an impressive site and really worth a visit. It a little bit more Jazzed up that your ordinary run-of-the-mill delapadated palace or Temple and so well worth a small entrance fee and changing into more suitable clothing at the entrance to ensure we werent exposing any Flesh! From the Grand Palace we headed up the road to the Wat Pho temple to see the giant 60 metre Budda which was fairy impressive as well.
So,on our last night here we headed to the Ratchadamneon Boxing Stadium to see some Thai Boxing. We had ring side seats for the eight fight card. Now, most of the kick boxers are really small, and quite young but they really go at it. Each fight is five rounds and for the first 2 rounds they kinda sound each other out
before tearing into each other for the last 3. All this in front of a big crowd of very passionate Thai's who roared for every knee, foot,elbow or fist whick struck a blow. We got an opportunity to visit the match dressing rooms after a few fights and Maire had her picture taken with the Baby faced winner of the Biggest fight of the evening. It was a really good nights entertainment, the kind of no frills experience we were looking for here in bangkok. So we head North to Chang Mai Tomorrow and are "looking forward" to the overnight train.
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