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Published: August 11th 2011
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So this seems to becoming a regular feeling. Motivation to keep on top of blogs is near on non-existant at the moment. Mainly because I leave it so long in the first place the thought drives me to have a beer, chocolate muffin and puff on a cigatrette or ten to gain some energy & perspective before-hand, however I usually lose interest within the first 10 minutes of writing as I'm that nosey I end up people watching instead.
To bring you all up to speed - We've already spent 4 nights in Bangkok, 6 nights in Chiang Mai, 2 nights in Chiang Rai, 1 night on the Laos border, 2 days on the Mekong River, and currently our 5th night in Luang Prabang. We're leaving in the morning and slowly heading North to cross the border in a week over to Vietnam baby!
Bangkok was as mental as we expected although unfortunately we didn't get involved in the usual - get plastered, get a tattoo on our faces then end up in the gutter somewhere. We'll save that for when our friends arrive in a few months!! Within a few hours after arriving we dumped our bags in
the safety of our hostel we had booked for the night close by the train station and stepped out to have a quick wander round to get our bearings. No sooner had we walked around the corner we realised were in a random taxi going to some random destinations thinking to ourselves what the fuck just happened here!! A friendly local guy happened to be walking in the same direction, smiled and inquisitively asked us a few normal questions. We had read up on a few of the favourite scams before we arrived so we were sure that we wern't being groomed into some gem selling con or being robbed of anything apart from our sanity for a short while at least. He had sent us off to Wat Ben Temple which was lovely and quiet, the official tourist office for booking any onward travel and the Golden Mountain for a sunset view! He hailed a cab for us, sorted out the fare for a very reasonable £2 for the 4 hour round trip and even scribbled down a few Thai phrases on a scruffy piece of paper so we could at least communicate slightly whilst on our mini adventure!!
Unbelievable. I've heard a million times that the Thai are really friendly and we've realised sometimes backpackers/tourists are scare-mongered by guidebooks into not trusting anyone/anything/anywhere that you it's possible to miss out on genuine opportunities for fear of being another dumb ass who got done over! Thankfully we didn't and arrived back at the hotel still totally dis-orientated, shell-shocked and a little terrified to even venture out into the open again. We only popped to the shop for water and we ended up on some major tour round Bangkok!
We moved the next day closer to the main backpacker area as we had a few chores we needed to tick of whilst here and it was also within walking distance to a number of attractions. Our chosen method of transportation was of course by tuk tuk. We knew even though there a rip off in comparison to the meter taxi's we at least had to take one at some point just as a novelty and it was fun all the same! Our new accomodation was roughly a ten minute walk to Khao San Road so it was still close enough to the hustle and bustle but far enough away
that we could enjoy a peaceful night's sleep. We opted to stay at Sen Sam Sens Guesthouse which was a perfect balance for us and we'll definatley be staying there again sometime soo, the owners were super sweet, and friendly.
We filled our days and evenings pounding the streets and making full use of the free transport (our own legs!) by visiting a number of places we had circled on our new city map of must see's. We did see lot's of other un-expected wacky sights - for example a dog laid out the pavement catching some sun with a nappy on..maybe it had a funny tummy were not sure. I did want to take a picture as proof but Scott urged me not to incase the owners took offense!
- Khao San Road was a shock to the senses. Foods stalls lined the pavements with yummy wafts of feshly cooked Pad Thai Noodles, Chocolate pancakes and fresh fruit shakes. Our eyes lit up with neon signage covering every inch of wall space on the side of each concrete building blackened by pollution. The sounds of beeping horns, chattering tourists and bars blasting out cheesy pop music to
entice the alchol thirstly backpackers! I never thought for a single second I would actually enjoy anything about this place but it was a great hangout and the cheap foot massages whilst people watching was a lovely treat after a hard day's walking. I even managed to treat myself to a new top and a toe-ring...yes I'm turning into a hippy already!
- Wat Pho & The Reclining Buddha - Same Same! I think at this point we were both Wat-ed out!
- Riverside & Silom Area (Sky Bar @ Banyan Tree Hotel) Amazing views of the city!
Bangkok is as you would expect with a population of 8 million people! Humid, smelly, dirty and in-toxicating but totally lovable at the same-same time! Drivers shout at you constantly "Okay, you want Tuk Tuk!" Ladies squeal insistantly "Thai Masaaaaaaggge for you" and pushy sales guys slime over with the usual line of "We make suit for you my friend". For the first hundred requests each day we would politely shake our head and say no thank-you, but as it gets later in the day we end up adpoting the Thai approach which is to simply pretend that they dont even
exist and walk past with a blank expression!
We never bothered to seek out the old ping pong or ladyboy show but we did notice a lot of old fat ugly probably rich western men with younger Asian ladies. I mean, whatever floats your boat and I'm sure everyone has there own view on this but I personally felt like I wanted to vomit in my own mouth at the thought!
On our last day we grabbed a taxi to visit the Grand Palace. The buildings themeselves were stunning and was definatley worth the pricey entrance fee. We headed towards the ticket booth and to our total shock we bumped into Zoe & Hamish the couple we met in Malaysia! It was so funny that a few weeks previous we were in Malaysia and now in the middle of total tourist chaos they managed to spot us as we walked past. We never thought to get in touch after our plans had changed to meet up in the city. It was such a shame we had booked our train tickets already and were leaving later that day. It was their last night in Asia after 9 months of
travel and we could have had a beer or 10 to send them off in style but it was still great to spend a few hours round the palace and a natter for me & Zoe!
Onwards and upwards to Chiang Mai via another night train! To be honest this is our favourite mode of transport so far. They mostly depart on time, there clean, comfortable-ish and it's great waking up the next morning in a new destination ready for us to explore!
Tatty Bye!
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