Advertisement
Published: June 29th 2009
The ropey nightclub
if you look closely you can see ghost jay & ghost sophie in the frontBack in Bangkok again we were stopped as soon as we got off the bus by the Police doing random bag searches for foreigners. They were looking for drugs, guns and bombs apparently but thankfully we don't go in for any of these things so we were ok. They were really nice and told us that they had found a rucksack full of drugs this morning on an Italian so that would have been a bad start to his day! After the search we ventured out the station and waited by the bus stop for the bus we'd decided to catch to Khao San Road to keep the costs down.
Unfortunately we'd hit the bus stop at rush hour on a Friday night.. this meant that the bus stop was packed but worse than this the traffic going past was hardly moving. Lots of buses came and went but of course none were the bus we needed.. we even started playing a game on what bus would come next because it seemed that the same buses kept going past over and over again.. 3... 3... 37... 73... 3... 73.. you get the idea! After waiting 1.5 hours next to the
busy road breathing in fumes we were getting to the point of wondering if this bus would ever come.. the one we wanted did come along but he was finishing for the evening.. damn it!
Eventually we consulted the book of knowledge and found out we could get a bus to Siam Square, change there and then go up to Khao San Road. Not as ideal as our direct bus but at least we'd get there as time was getting on now and our tummies were rumbling. So we got an alternative bus, sat down and then of course the bus we'd actually wanted to get went sailing past... these are the reasons people hate public transport!! After being stuck in the traffic for another 1.5 hours to go about 2km up the road (yes we could have walked faster but our bags were heavy and it was very hot) we changed buses and arrived in backpacker heaven or hell (depending on your age) at 9pm.
We decided to head for the guesthouse we'd stayed in before because for the bargain price of 270B we got tv and air con which was a good deal to us. We
Sophie outside MBK shopping centre
her favourtie as we can actually afford stuff here unlike the others! checked in and went straight out to sample some of the yummy street food we'd been aching for since leaving Cambodia. After that we were both pretty exhausted from sitting on or waiting for a bus all day so headed off to sleep in air con comfort for the first day in months!
We really like Bangkok but always get that feeling we don't make the most of it when we are here and this was again true this time around. We both think that it's because we always feel we will be coming back here in the future so there is no need to do everything all in one visit and save some things until we return. This time around though Dale was keen to see the giant reclining Buddha that lives in Wat Pho just next to the Royal Palace. To get there we decided to try out Bangkok's river shuttle which proved to be very quick and easy and just a 10 minute ride there on a packed boat. This is clearly the fastest way to travel in Bangkok with the exception of the skytrain.
Wat Pho is a lovely mazelike Wat so we wandered
around enjoying the glamorous mirrored tiles that decorated many surfaces. We were there for the main reason of seeing the huge reclining golden buddha though so paid our 50B to get into the temple but first got a sneeky peek though the windows and were amazed at just how big this thing is! It is HUGE! The Buddha fills the length of the building so you go in at it's head and walk down to it's huge feet which are decorated with mother of pearl in a very elaborate design which is very beautiful. We skipped the ritual of putting money into various bowls along the wall because if we did this in every temple we visited we'd be home already!
That done we had a leisurely walk back to our guesthouse passing the strange amulet/car boot market on the way. These street markets make us laugh as they are literally like big car boots all across the city.. people come along with their rugs and lay out all sorts of old tat that people do seem to buy. You see parts of 80's computers, radios, old glasses, odd shoes and many other random things.
Our other big
adventure here was to visit the Chatuchak Weekend Market Sophie had loved so much on her first visit to Bangkok years ago. This market is awesome with every imaginable thing you could ever want to buy in it and she loves walking round and round and round. Dale on the other hand did not love this experience quite so much! He is very patient when shopping with Sophie but like most other women she has to check out everything for sale before making any purchases, this is especially important when she only has a very small amount to spend and has to spend it wisely. Dale is fine to do this until we pass the same shop for about the 10th time and she still hasn't bought anything.. his patience starts to wear a little thin then! In the end Sophie ended up getting a few nice bits to liven up her tired travelling wardrobe and after 5 hours thought that Dale had endured enough. Even breaking up the boredom to go and pet the puppies & kittens didn't do enough to keep him sweet for that long! It is at times like this she really misses her mum &
sister as they could have got at least another 4 hours out of it walking round & round browsing at the lovely stalls selling things they really don't need!
Shopping was also on the agenda the following day (much to Dale's delight!) when we ventured to Siam Square aka home of 5 shopping centres! We actually needed to visit the Apple shop and Sophie needed to get some new contact lenses so we ventured into all but one shopping centre to compare them all. It is quite beyond our belief that there is any need for this many shopping centres in one area, especially when they all have pretty much the same shops in each but we enjoyed the air con and sliding along the highly polished floors and took our time window shopping in Chanel, Cartier and the like. After we got bored window shopping we went over to the centre where we can actually buy things.. MBK! This is the champion of shopping centres for us because it is cheap and cheerful just what we like. It was in here that Sophie just went to look at a handbag, got caught up in the whirlwind of the
sales assistant and walked out with a bag she neither wanted or needed.. but was secretly quite pleased as it is gorgeous ;o)
We decided on a night out while here.. we really don't get that many so went all out putting on our poshest clothes (make that cleanest!) and getting dolled up! For our night out we ventured over to Patpong and the infamous red light district for a bit of a giggle. After walking up and down the market we dived into a girlie bar thinking there would be a ping pong show on in there.. no not in this bar! Instead it was a pick up bar and a girl (man/kathoy/ladyboy!) promptly sat down at our table and began talking with us. We'd paid quite a lot for our drinks so couldn't leave them and didn't want to be rude so continued with the conversation politely making it quite clear we were not there to pick up a girl but to see a show and were clearly in the wrong place. At the point that the girl started massaging Sophie's arm and asking for a drink we decided to down our drinks and rushed out of
there before getting ourselves into something we would struggle to get out of!
Thankfully there was a bar just next door where the infamous ping pong show had just started so we went in there to see what all the fuss was about... Not a whole lot as it happens so if you are looking for the night of your lives don't head here while in Bangkok! We really weren't expecting a fantastic show or anything but we have never seen such a bored and unenthusiastic group of girls (men!) on a stage in our lives. They ran through the various acts of pulling razor blades out vaginas (interestingly a man did this one!), blowing candles out with a straw and so on along with the ping pong where she (he!) pinged ping pongs out into the crowd to be caught by the few people that were in there.. we just ducked as soon as they came our way! The best act was a girl who managed to peel a hard boiled egg inside her and we only say it was the best act because at least she looked like she enjoyed what she was doing.
After a
while we got a little bored of watching the acts, we also didn't like the fat Western guys buying girls like they were going out of fashion so left there for a 'normal' drink in an Irish bar where we could read English newspapers and realise what we weren't missing! To finish the night off we returned to the sanity of Khao San Road to eat a bag full of bugs and drink street beer until we could stomach no more!
Our final days were spent catching up with our friend Jay from the UK who we'd met at the start of his trip in South America, and were now saying goodbye to as he returned home. We also fitted in a trip to the cinema to watch Transformers on the most amazing screen we've seen with fantastic sound, comfy seats and cheap popcorn that really should put the cinemas back home in the UK to shame.
It was supposed to be both ours and Jay's final night in Bangkok (this time around for us) so yet again we hit the bars and partied the night away in various places along and around Khao San Road discovering bars
and nightclubs we never even knew existed. Sophie had to call it a night at a modest 1am leaving Dale & Jay to drink the night away in the 24 hour Central Bar until the sun came up...
Needless to say we didn't end up leaving the following day but spent it sleeping off terrible hangovers and wondering where the stupid glowstick bracelets had come from and waved Jay off to catch his bus later that evening. We did manage to pull ourselves together the following day and had a last minute change of plan to go straight up to Chiang Mai instead of stopping at Khao Yai National park which we might save for another trip here...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.023s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0826s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
