I'm finally here!

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Two days ago, my journey began with a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Butterworth and then onto a train right up to Krung Thep (Bangkok!)-the city of Angels. The train ride, even though extremely long, was something worthwhile to write about. As much as I slept through the journey most of the time, I also had a good time interacting with a kid whose dad's a Malaysian while his mum's a Thai, and also with Suk, the Thai Indian lady sitting opposite me.

Indeed as a virgin backpacker, I had a lot of questions about Thailand or even trivial matters like does this train really goes to Bangkok? I had some bad experiences before, like the last time when I was on a trip to Singapore. I bought a direct ticket to Singapore but the bus stopped at Larkin and told everyone to get out. I was bewildred then, not knowing whether I was cheated into thinking that I actually took the right bus or simply because of my carelessness, I hopped into the wrong one. This time, I told myself that I will not repeat the same mistake again.

Anyway, I was delighted to find out that Suk speaks Hokkien but a pity, because my Hokkien's half past six. So I still had to struggle through the language barrier, resorting more to gesticulations instead of speaking. When I arrived in Bangkok, she even waited with me in HuaLamPhong Station's canteen because I told her that Jeff will take quite a while to pick me up.

Jeff eventually came and man, he was in a good shape! All those sharing and meditation retreats in Turkey did him well! He shaved off most of his beard and what was left was a greyish goatee which curved downward. I thought that was really cool. It's hard to imagine that he's 44 years old when he has a leaner body than most 30 year olds I see. Girls check him out all the time and he hears no end of my teasing. Not that he's modest about it either..haha!!

Since Jeff had been living in Thailand for 4 years, he speaks fluent Thai and it amazes most Thais to hear him speak. I on the other hand, looked very much like a Thai, but just had my mouth wide open, each time someone tries to talk to me in Thai. Whenever we go to a restaurant or a guest room reception, we leave most Thais looking confused! Here you get a farang speaking Thai, and a Thai look alike, who speaks English!

We stayed in New Siam 2 which has neat rooms and a small swimming pool. Jeff paid 70 per cent while I paid 30 percent. Since Jeff's knee has been giving him a helluva problem, we decided to pay extra to get a room on the first floor.

Jeff didn't bring me to the touristy spots because I wasn't interested in them. I was more content in strolling down the streets, watching people and admire the different architecture, food and culture! Had a lot of fun riding on river taxis, eating breakfast perced on a concrete rail which looks over the Nonthaburi pier, hopping on and off Song Taus (it's like a pick up truck acting like a bus), watching people on the skytrain,just strolling and running across streets like mad people!

Songkran in Khao San is crazy!Not only you get wet, you get pasted with flour too...Khao San road is like the foreigner's Mecca which I really avoided unless necessary. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my bathers and had to take a quick stroll down Thanon Khao San to search for some cheap bikinis. I was desperate because the pool in the hotel looked absolutely fab!
In the end, I emerged out of Khao San, dripping wet with flour smeared all over my face and hair. I didn't have a photo of that because I couldn't afford to get my camera wet!

Anyway, I didn't do much in Bangkok. It was more like a stopover because I purchased my Myanmar plane tickets and had my 10 week Myanmar visa done there. 8000 THB(RM800) for the flight to Myanmar by Bangkok Airways and 81USD for a 10 week business visa done within 24 hrs! Yes, have to pay extra for the 'express service'!

Since this post is long overdue, my dear friends, there's much to write and too little time. Hence, I'd like to let the pictures do the talking. I will put on detailed captions so that you can understand the situation better.

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