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Published: April 18th 2006
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OK....finally got here.
Arrived and pretty scared but incredibly excited about seeing James again. Took an age to get through to arrivals because in my half asleep state I panicked, realised I stupidly didnt have a penny in cash on me and ran off to withdraw some money thinking that I had to pay for a visa on arrival in Thailand when in reality anyone with a British passport gets a 30 day visa automatically.
I knew this, I've done it before but somehow I got confused and spent the best part of an hour desperatly trying to find an ATM. There were none. I had to go across the airport to departures to withdraw money from an exchange place only to arrive back in the queue that hadn't moved and get told by a lady I didnt need to queue in the first place! Great start!
James was waiting patiently in arrivals with a sign above his head saying "McGee" - a silly nickname he has taken a liking to! It made me laugh.
It was fantastic to see him again and we talked like we had never been apart. We waited in the airport for Helen,
a friend of ours from work and her girl friend Jo who shes travelling with for three months in Thailand.
They arrived, flustered and a little scared and overwhelmed. In theory they should have had a taxi waiting for them and a hotel booked, but STA being the way they are had reserved no such bookings and no record copuld be found, now there's a suprise!
We all caught the bus together and made our way to Khaosan Road where James had made a reservation. All fine and checked in, and the girls did the same. Went up to our room and just before we entered James told me to wait outside! Hes always up to something!
When I walked in I was greeted by the sweet smell of fresh flowers and was litterally bowled over by the amount of flowers. The picture only shows the bed which was scattered with rose petals and buds and smelled incredible. There were two bunches of tropical flowers, pink and gold on the pillows and the biggest bunch of long stem red roses Ive ever seen sitting on the chair. And to boot a nice bottle of Champagne. Naturally I
was speechless, which hardly ever happens! Such an amazing welcome, what a lovely suprise and what a lucky girl! James had visited the flower market earlier on that day. He said that it was filled with tropical and beautiful and unusual pungent flowers. I wish we'd had the chance to see it again but will have to wait to the way back.
As we were all shattered from the travelling we all had a pretty low key night and met to have some food on Khaosan, had a quick look around the market and then called it a night.
Basically we spent out first week in Bangkok. Pretty chilled out because the other three were suffereing a little from jetlag, I had no excuse because Bali is only 1 hour away, so I guess that just makes me lazy!
We did manage to go and see a few things. The royal palace was fantastic- I didnt get a chance to see it last time I was in Thailand so was really exciting. Its so beautiful and the pictures really express it far better than I can. It amazes me everytime how much gold there is on temples
and special architecture like the palace. Everything seemes to glow and sparkle with all the glass and mirror mosaics that adorn the surfaces of pretty much all the important buildings. It really looks beautiful.
We also went to Wat Pho, the temple of the Reclining Budda. Again just an outstanding series of archtecture and statues. The actual recling budda is HUGE, it stretches out in a long room, and the fingerprints if you will of the toes are inlaid with mother of pearl, and along the soles of the feet are pictures that tell a story again inlaid with mother of pearl. Really stunning.
Outside are beautiful fountains and gardens and pagodas made from ceramic flowers all in different colour.
While looking around the temple we bumped into a lovely old monk, who took us under his wing and tried to explain in broken English the history and story of Budda. He showed us lots of pictures and shared with us his Nam Chai Yen, which is basically iced tea with sugar-really delicious. He gave us bracelets and blessed us, and then invited us back to his abode! Naturally we obliged and can now proudly say that we have
seen how monks live. Quite a small living space but absolutely packed with buddas and framed pictures and a huge shrine in the main living area that dwarfed the rest of the room.
Nothing else seemed to matter in the room apart from the shrine- there was a seating area made out of wood covered with a throw that I automatically presumed would be a soft sofa, and my bottom paid heavily for my bad judgement! Also a book case full of books and pictures. He was so sweet, he gave us traditional beverages and showed us all his photo albums of his travells around Europe and Asia. We think he was quite a high ranking monk because he had lots of pictures with the King and even gifts and medals that had been presented to him by the King.
It was a really special expereince and something I will treasure always.
After a lazy day by the pool one day we ventured out to Chinatown. Even managed to stumble upon a Tescos! Which was not filled with the usual brands I can tell you-god only knows what was slithering around in the meat counter-yuck!
Found the most
amazing market, Chatuchak Market, on the last day. The biggest market in Bangkok. I recon in 2 hours we only saw 5th of it, it was immense. We went the wrong way to start with though and ended up in the middle of one of the political demonstrations in the park. Needlesss to say we scarpered pretty sharpish when we realised where we were! A lot of angry Thai people with camps and flags and fires did not make for a welcome scene!
On the same day we went and had a quick look around Lumpini park before heading to the market on the underground train. The park was ok but hot and sticky and not much happening but as we sat quitely by the river we saw a massive goanna, about a metre and half in length hop up into one of the waste pipes and as in the picture lots of mini turtles basking in the sun on hot rocks that stuck out of the water.
I'm probably forgetting lots of things but Bangkok was as ever a great place to begin. We both love the city- its fun and buzzy and noisy and dirty but
its great. Helen and Jo decided to stay on in bangkok for another week as it was their first time there and they wanted to explore more. We booked a bus straight down to Koh Samui and set the islands in the gulf of thailand as our next destination in our asian adventure!
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