Bangkok - Buddha and Beer

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After our late return from the cinema , by the time we got to bed it was gone 2 am, we both awoke at a late hour ( I think Lou was still in the form of a Pumpkin from her late night ). We managed to descend and have our buffet breakfast which was already getting a bit boring as it is the same everyday.

We had a couple of tasks to achieve today, our first being to send some items home. Having set out with bags under 15kgs each, our recent flight into the country showed us we had put on weight in the bag department. We collected together the items, some of which we had been carrying since we attempted a similar feat in Siem Reap, and headed off to the nearby Post Office. After boxing the items and successfully dispatching them into the hands of the postie we set off to Hualumphong train station to accomplish our second chore, booking our onward travel. On arrival at the station I was once again struck by how similar this country is to ours and other Western nations. The haphazard nature of previous stations we had visited was replaced by a concourse with rows of ticket counters, manned information kiosks and a variety of shops in the wings as opposed to the street vendor style stalls. We enquired at the information kiosk as to where to buy advance tickets and were directed to another office just off the main platform.

On enquiring about tickets we discovered that the various classes of ticket on offer give a very different service, and for the price Lou wanted first class if we were going to have a sleeper ticket to the Northern city of Chiang Mai, but was not so fussy if it was a daytime ticket and we were stopping somewhere else. This was a decision that required some further discussion so we retired to one of the aforementioned shops of the coffee variety to discuss our plan. Having checked the bible that is the lonely planet, we decided on overnight tickets to Chiang Mai first call on Monday, a further three days from now, and requiring a further rebook of the hotel. This was to avoid moving and wasting a day in the process and also to avoid hitting some local hotspots at the wrong time, plus we are enjoying Bangkok, so why not.

We returned to the kiosk bought the tickets and then headed out of the station in the direction of Chinatown. For once ,we had a plan about what we were doing and Chinatown was the start of that - we started our journey by stopping for lunch in a place called the Canton House. The fare wasn’t bad but I’ve had better. We proceeded to meander our way through the narrow alleyways and streets in the direction of the ferry pier, seeing all manner of shops along the way. We stopped and looked in a few but, to be honest, we weren’t in need of any heavy metal sculpture, raw seafood or ribbon let alone any of the other items on sale, and certainly not at the prices on offer which were considerably higher than I was expecting to see (maybe they would barter more than I thought but I wasn’t in need and so didn‘t try).

We got to the ferry terminal, which was clearly prepared for flooding, with sandbags everywhere and walkways on raised planks despite the water not being at a height that required these preparations at this point in time. The raised walkways led to each person having to duck under the roof joists to avoid banging their heads. We sat on the benches on the jetty waiting for the boat to arrive, feeling like we had already achieved a fair bit today despite our late start - something that rarely seems to happen. The boat arrived and we got on. We sat down and then realised that we were on the tourist boat not he ferry, this meant that we ended up paying twice as much for the privilege of going half the distance we travelled the previous time we had used the river as our means of transport.

We got off at Tha Tien ferry stop, the nearest to Wat Pho and the Royal Palace. This terminal was truly suffering the effects of the rains and was flooded out severely. We had to queue on the raised plank walkways to get out of the terminal. What amazed me the most was the fact that although the terminal was under about 3 feet of water the seemingly flat road that led up to the terminal was dry and looked like it was business as usual.

We headed for Wat Pho, the home of the biggest reclining Buddha in Thailand, as well as the most Buddha images, and the most….everything really. We entered and proceeded directly to the big attraction (pun intended) and big it was. So big in fact that you can’t really get a good enough view from anywhere to encompass the whole thing.

On exiting we collected our footwear, as you have to remove it to enter the sanctuary which the Buddha is housed in. We then proceeded to wander the complex, which is a massive area, and home to so much. We got to see what we think was an ordination ceremony, complete with chanting monks, and also to see the amazingly colourful temple complex itself. We were planning on leaving Wat Pho and visiting the Royal Palace, however our research had neglected to inform us that the complex closes at 15:30 and as such we wouldn’t have the time to do it justice so we slowed down our progress through Wat Pho and explored some quiet corners, whilst at the same time learning a bit more about our cameras and their pros and cons. Lou has on this trip become more and more interested in properly utilising her camera and is now starting to make me think that what she wishes to achieve with a camera can’t be done with her point and shoot. We spent about an hour sat trying out modes and settings in an effort to explain and understand what they do.

Obviously some of these pictures are truly awful as they are “experiments” in the truest form of the word, underexposed, overexposed, or simply bad but there are a few decent ones. Some are good in a “I know what that setting does” way some in a “look what I did way” and a couple that are just good!

I fear a digital SLR may be on the cards on our return (or in Singapore /KL if it makes more sense)

We left Wat Pho as the late afternoon sun first started to colour the sky, and headed in the direction of Khao San road. We walked along the main road between the two places on the outside of the Royal Palace and alongside a couple of parks. On arrival in Khao San we started to meander our way along the road stopping to check out various stalls but not purchasing anything until we decided it was time for a drink. We stopped in a place called Silk Bar and had a cocktail each and then a jug of beer which we shared. Whilst sat here people watching, we decided that we were going to venture back into the street food market. Lou had her eyes on a stallholder directly opposite us who was selling BBQ skewers of meat and it seemed as good a place to start as any to me. We left the bar and ordered up a beef, pork and chicken skewer to share between us. I have to say they were amazing. Lou agreed and so we both had a couple more.

This was, looking back ,the beginning of the end of our evening as we were now hooked on the place, and after walking the length of the street, we shared a Pad Thai before sitting in a bar called Mullignans for a couple before moving on. All the time we were watching the hustle and bustle of the road, from new travellers being advised by their friends not to buy things at the first price offered but ignoring them, to the travel weary wandering the road with a wizened look knowing the tricks and avoiding even being asked to buy things.

We stopped half way along on our return leg and indulged ourselves in a foot massage. I asked them if they served beer, which they didn’t and nearly walked away but on realising this they offered to go get me one and quickly enough I was sat in a lazy chair with my feet being massaged by a girl, whilst supping on ice cold lager, the wife sat next to me - heaven. Our 30 mins seemed to go by far too quickly and I was tempted to go again but decided that we should move onwards, we headed for a bar called the roof, where they have live music and, on entering, I dashed to the toilet. On exiting, I had to do a double take when I walked into the bar as the guy who I had heard singing the whole time I was in the gents was not as I expected a European/American but a Thai gent who sang with no hint of an accent. He had a repertoire of classic pub tracks, including Sweet Home Alabama, some Oasis and, what appears to be the obligatory in these parts, Jack Johnson. He was pretty good and we were enjoying ourselves when we were interrupted by a giant of a German guy who basically wanted to discuss how good the singer was! It was a bit of a surprise but a pleasant 2 minute stop in the evening.

We stayed here for longer than we had planned, in part because we were enjoying a real pub, in part the music, and in part the fact that now we had started drinking we didn’t want to stop.

We eventually decided to call it a night and headed to the end of the road to catch a cab home. We got back in and I vaguely remember deciding that this was now two late nights in a row and, as such, we had better set an alarm

I awoke to the buzzing of the alarm and didn’t feel too great, I think Lou felt worse as she didn’t move!
I headed for Breakfast and got there at 9:58 and it closes at 10, so a quick once around the buffet to stock up before sitting down to munch slowly on food that I wasn’t sure was doing me any good, pursued. I returned to sleeping beauty and sleeping she surely was. I sat organised the additional stay in the hotel on the laptop, and basically killed time whilst attempting unsuccessfully to stir my wife.

She did eventually surface as we had agreed that we would try and make it to the weekend market, which is one of the largest markets in the world apparently. She finally got up about 1:30pm, and by the time we got to the sky train it was gone 14:15. We arrived at the destination station about 15:15 and finally got to the edge of the market by about 15:35. Having not eaten, that was Lou’s first plan - we sat down at one of the first places we saw and then waited. We ordered and Lou had been served and finished her dish before mine had even arrived! By this point is was past 4pm and I was starving. Food did eventually arrive for me and it disappeared in short order.

We then set out to explore a market, that is so big we could have spent 2 days here and not seen all of it, in about 2 hours. Needless to say, despite not feeling great Lou threw herself into the challenge with gusto, whilst I tagged along. It is strange that so many of the “attractions” for tourists are shopping based when you aren’t in the market for buying much!

We managed a decent bit of the market’s narrow alleyways and stalls before the sun started to drop and the market started to close. We re-boarded the sky train in the direction of home and, whilst on the train, decided we would have another stop to view what was on at the cinema as we both enjoy a good film. We got to thee cinema and decided to opt for our first iMax 3D cinema experience even though the film in question was something we had never heard, some animation about a load of owls.

I have to say I was disappointed, not because the film was rubbish, which it was, but because I thought the cinema wasn’t that great and the iMax thing added nothing, I had preferred the “normal” screen a couple of days earlier.

We finally returned home taking a cab the short distance because they are cheap and it saves us half an hours walking in the dark, feeling exhausted, in part from the hangover, and in part from the walking. Needless to say we fell asleep when we hit the pillow!

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Photos

Lou in her element.
Shopping in one of the world's biggest markets