Advertisement
Published: January 27th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Bangkok
Braving it on a Tuk Tuk Asia here we come! This was my first visit to Asia and I wasn't sure quite what to expect, so when armed polic came trotting past Kathryn in the airport I wasn't overly purturbed!! As it turned out 30 minutes later, the whole terminal was invaded by yellow shirted opposition supporters bent on removing the then Prime Minister from power; at all costs. What a great start to Asia!!
It certainly pays talking to people. After the police ran past, the taxi ranks were closed off leaving hundreds off tourists, us included, stranded at the airport. In Thailand, unlike other countries we've visited, very few of the local population commanded good verbal english. Lucky enough I quickly befriended a Thai lady who had flow in from Abu Dhabi, and at the mercy of unregulated taxi drivers, agreed to share a cab into the city, which, luckily cost no more than usual. We even received an offer to stay the night at her place, a suggestion Kathryn was rather suspicious about, so we declined the kind offer! I thought it could have saved us money.
Just off Kao Soi Rambutri Road is Soi Rambutri, a backpackers delight where we were
Bankok - great food
The road side food stall outside our motel was fantastic! advised to stay by Gordon, Kathryn ex-boss. It was one of the most colourful, vibrant places we visited, and, though it wasn't close to the city center, it is well positioned to visit the standard tourist attractions by taxi or tuk tuk. Add in the cheap, clean guest houses complete with a/c, tv and on suite bathrooms, it was absolute luxury.
The food and market stalls in Bangkok were superb especially if you love spicy curries, in fact the Thai red curry I had the first night we arrived was so good I promptly ordered it the next morning. Other good meals were Tom Yum (sweet and sour soup),mango and sticky rice and the fruit, yoghurt & museli bowl for breakfast; all were dirt cheap.
As we had no real itinerary in Asia, the plan was simply to go with the flow, and day 1 was spent wandering the city following sign posts for temples and statues. Before long we were conned into the back of a $5 tuk tuk (3 wheeled motorbike) and given a tour of the city, a nerve racking experience itself when crossing 6 lanes of traffic, or hurtling the wrong way up streets.
Bangkok nightlife
The city never stops even at night Breathing in the toxic air was not enjoyable and that night my headache was bad enough that I swore to take taxis from now on. The catch with the cheap tuk tuk ride is the compulsory stops at the local taylor and Tourist office insisted by the driver so he can claim free fuel coupons. Well, after brushing off the taylor, we agreed to go to the Tourist office as we had to book our trip to Kho Phi Phi. Inside, the greasy agent, after telling us Bangkok was on the verge of anarchy, attempted to sell us a holiday for £1600. Kathryn, not missing an opportunity, turned the situation to our advantage by writing down the detailed itinerary which we booked ourselves for a tenth of the price! Rule: when visiting Bangkok do not trust anyone, they are all schemers!
Over the next couple of days, other than visited the largest shopping centre in South East Asia to buy a mobile phone, we wondering around the city visiting sights and temples before heading back to Soi Rambutri for our daily massage, curry for dinner and a couple of beers.
Now, I am a massage novice. The first
Bangkok
One of many golden buddah temples night Kathryn had to convince me to try out a foot massage after we had done a lot of walking. Grudgingly I laydown on the couch, had my feet washed, and thoroughly enjoyed a fantastic foot massage. The next day after a trip out to Ayutthaya I was back ready for a full body massage; I nearly died! The girl couldn't have weighed more than 45kg but she nearly ripped me in half. At one stage she had me on my stomach and was trying to bend my legs so that my feet touched my head!! I'm not a 14 year old female gymnast, I'm a 34 year old, beer guzzling male. I will try it again but maybe not the Full Monty.
At this stage of the holiday the protestors raged on resulting in Bangkok airport remaining closed. With limited choices we took a taxi to the train station where we ended up booking a coach down to Krabi on the south west coast, a short ferry ride away from Ko Phi Phi.
At a loose end for the rest of the day we jumped on a train to Ayuthaya, once Thailand's glorious former capital, Ayutthaya was
Ayutthaya
Whick pink bike should I take? oft-referred to as The Venice of the East and its beauty and wealth being of legendary proportions. Sacked by the Burmese, they left little standing even melting the gold off the temples. With time against us, we walked into town and hired bicycles for the afternoon, both pink girls bikes with little baskets in the front. To make it worse my seat kept fall down leaving my knee's around my ears. Riding through the well-maintained, atmospheric historical park was great fun and well worth the visit. We even rode into an elephant complete with head dress and little man sitting in a basket on its back. To add to the cliche of Asia, we came across a temple where a Kung Fu film set in place!
The contrasts in Thailand were vast; travelling by train we saw a flood light golf course on one side of the wealth spectrum, and overcrowded slums on the other. I guess developing economies all over the world have the same problem.
The next evening we took the coach down to Krabbi. Leaving at 7pm and arriving 8am the next morning, we prepared ourselves for a suspiciously long night. Well, at 5am the
Ayutthaya
We stumbled across this elephant in the ruined city next morning we found out why when we were booted out of the coach and made to wait in a transit area for 2 hours for the next coach to arrive.
Tired an exhausted we crawled in to Krabbi and waited for the ferry to the island of Kho Phi Phi!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0533s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb