Celebrations for the King of Thailand

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The Beginning

The journey started with a drive into Manchester City Centre and storing the car in a secure place we proceeded toward Picadilly Station to get a train to Manchester Airport. At the airport no luggage to check in, the airport was also eerily quiet with no queues to be found so walked straight into the lounge to wait for our flight. Travelling with just a backpack is very invigorating and gives a small sense of freedom. A one hour and half connecting flight from Manchester Airport to Paris, with a lay over, then a 12 hour flight finally arriving in Bangkok. Air France looked after us well, The food was good and a little sleep was had but as you can imagine it was a snoozing only situation with a movie or two playing throughout the night.

After a lengthy passport check we were on our way. The airport was somewhat on the gigantic scale and felling travel weary and the train signs eluded us so, noticing a sign for a bus we made our way over to the counter dodging people offering taxi's and limo's, to book our tickets on the AE2 bus to Khoa San Road where the beloved Rikki Inn is located. At this stage this is the only Hotel we have booked for our trip. Everything else will be ad hoc from here in.

Right...so Hotel...?

The first gadget was used on arriving at Khoa San Road, namely the GPS on the trusty Nokia N95. All the maps downloaded and a quick straight forward entry for the hotel, had us on our way to the Rikki Inn with out so much as a jitter. This is going to be a handy piece of kit should we find ourselves lost in the massive city called Bankok.

Most people travelling on a budget head for this area, there is certainly a lot going on in this area as well to warrant a visit. Khoa San Road burst with life and you can easily find a bed for the night here.

The Rikki Inn was welcoming and the room was clean and tidy and adequate and gave access to the roof pool which was a very nice place to chill out by and rest.

Is it me or is it busier than usual...?

The first thing we quickly became aware of was the bustling and activity going on. There were stalls and displays everywhere. Later in the day they would shut the main street down (Trok Mayom Road) for celebrations as it's the King's birthday. A massive street party is to be had and The food is of good quality and really cheap.

Everyone is running about in pink tops and completely excited and having plenty of fun in their celebrations. (FYI; Pink is a sign of health and well being). The main street is shut down, with displays of all the things that the country does, didn't realise you could have so many ministries. All the locals love it and having a great time. Even saw them with pink passports at the ministry for the foreign office getting their pink passports stamped by all the different countries there. Completely Mad, but such fun.

Will be having a swift sleep and getting ready for the party tonight. The weather can be described as "Quite warm". We are also planning the next leg of the journey on to Koh Tao.

First Evening in Bankok

After Dinner and some beer Eilidh decided to call it a day and have an early night. I, however, decided to check out the Brick Bar. "The Brick Bar" features live music, the music is fairly varied and will find something for everyone as the bar features blues, reggae, pop and ska on different evenings and the bands are a mix of local Thai outfits with just a few farang bands chucked in.

But the bar is really a truly impressive red brick baronial hall of splendid proportions with a massive ground floor, huge wooden tables and matching benches, cushioned nooks and crannies, a very long bar, a pool table, and room to happily accommodate 400 mad young locals and visiting tourists. I was extremely impressed and had a good evening supping on ale and enjoying the music. I wish I knew what that Thai tune was they kept playing!

With the days events catching up with me and feeling a tad tired I headed back to the hotel and settled into a sleep for the night at around 0015.

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