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Afternoon all.
Well here we are back into the mayhem that is Bangkok. Arrived here on the 2nd June, the main reason being is that we needed to sort out visas for Vietnam and Laos. We were still on Phi Phi for a few days after the last blog so I’ve included a few leftover pictures from there on this blog.
Starting today and lasting for the next 4 days is a massive festival in Bangkok to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the King’s coronation. This means that it is incredibly busy with Thais. They are all wearing these yellow t-shirts with I love the King written on them. It is amazing how patriotic the Thai People are. Apparently the decorations that they have put up around the route of the festival cost around 300,000,000 Baht, which is the equivalent of 5 million quid. I must admit though that it does look pretty amazing. All of the trees along the main streets have been decorated with strings of yellow lights. It looks like there is gold literally dripping off of the branches. The festival kicks off today so I’ll make sure I get a few pictures and attach them
to the next blog.
Well we left Phi Phi not a moment too soon in my opinion. It is a beautiful place, but like anywhere that small, after a while you’ve done everything you want to and feel that it’s time to move on. By the last night, I went out and just couldn’t be bothered to do anything, just because I’d done it all before too many times. We tried to book a sleeper train from Surrathani up to Bangkok but unfortunately, due to our excessive drinking, sleeping in late and lack of motivation we got there too late and all we could get was a night bus. We left Phi Phi on a boat to Krabi, then caught a bus across to Surrathani, then another bus to Bangkok. The bus was horrible. Had a Dutch girl in front of me who completely reclined her seat meaning that I literally couldn’t move my legs for 9 hours. It was torture, but I’m not going to complain too much as I know there is a lot worse to come in Cambodia and Laos.
We left Phi Phi at 2pm and finally arrived in Bangkok at 6am. It was
quite nice actually as being so early it was quite cool and very quiet so we didn’t get the usual bombardment of Tuk Tuk drivers, street traders and general beggars hassling us left right and center. Checked into the same guesthouse as before (The Kawin Place Guesthouse), but this time got a triple room. It works out as excellent value as we have air conditioning for 160 baht each a night. We do however have a shared bathroom, but this is fine as because it’s low season there’s never a queue, it’s always clean and the shower is better than mine at home! Bonus!
Anyone that’s been to Thailand in the past will agree that there is just no concept of time in this country. Everything is open at the same times every day of the week. I haven’t known what day of the week it is for about a month! We decided that on the day we arrived we should sort out our Laos visa straight away. We got in a taxi and traveled ½ an hour across Bangkok, arrived there to see that it was closed because it was a Saturday! Nightmare! We had to get back
in the same taxi and go straight back to Khao San. I reckon the taxi driver knew full well but just didn’t tell us because he wanted the return fare too. After that failed attempt at doing something constructive I decided to just go to bed for the rest of the day.
We have decided that the cheapest way to get drunk is by buying a bottle of Sang Som from the 7-11 then drinking on the street all night. The thing with Khao San Road is that the street traders are there pretty much all night so there are constantly people wandering up and down the street. Loads of other people do the same thing too, just sit on the curb and watch the world go by so you still meet people and have a great time. There is a minor problem in that the 7-11 stops serving alcohol at 1am, however all you need to do is ask at the counter offering them an extra 50 baht and they’ll serve it to you on the dodge. I love this country!! The other problem is that the police do a sweep of the street at around the same
Che Guevara
You know you thought he was dead? Well don't worry, he's alive and kicking serving drinks at the Apache Bar on Koh Phi Phi. Oh and also, where's Wally?time and tell everyone to move on, the best tactic here is just to stand up and drink instead and they tend to leave you alone. Christ listen to me, I’m becoming a bit of a local around here!!!
We have now decided on a route through Cambodia. We are traveling from Bangkok to Siem Reap, then onto Pnom Penh, then cross the border into Vietnam along the Mekong River. We then make our way up to Hoh Chi Minh City. We have around 2 weeks in Cambodia, 2 - 3 weeks in Vietnam and 1 month in Laos. Anyone who decides to travel to these places bear in mind that you can only get a 14 day visa for Laos on the border and you have to get a Vietnamese visa in advance. We decided to do it through the embassies. You can do it through the travel agents or T.A.T. offices, however that means trusting them with your passport for up to a week, which I wasn’t prepared to do. At the Embassy the Laos visa cost 1600 baht (that includes a fastrack fee of 300 baht) and we got the visa in about 15 minutes. The
Washed away
This is all that's left of a group of bungalows near the beach on Phi Phi. Vietnamese one cost 1800 baht and takes about 5 working days. You can fastrack it so it is ready in 24 hours but this costs an extra 700 baht and we didn’t need our passports so we just went with it.
Went to the shopping center here in Bangkok to try and find a new camera for Paul and had a bit of a scare. We were walking in between 2 shopping centers along a walkway that connects them and thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to have a cigarette. Threw the butt away just before we went back inside, then 10 seconds later had a tap on my shoulder. Turned round to see a security guard beckoning me to follow him. He led me all the way back to his desk without really telling me much. Now this was quite a long walk, so you can imagine how much I was shitting myself! He got me to sit down and showed me a laminated card that said in English that the fine for dropping cigarette butts is 2000 baht. Now I really started to shit myself as I only had 400 on me and no bankcard.
After telling him this, the security guard looked as though he was deliberating over something for what felt like an hour. I then decided the best tactic was to start kissing his arse and telling him that it would never happen again. In the end he let me off with a warning, but there’s no way I’ll be doing that again! I thought I was going to end up down at the station!
We went to watch the world amateur Muay Thai Championships that was being held here in Bangkok. It was the finals so there was a good standard of fighters up there. Great day out and it reminded me that I hadn’t trained for about 2 weeks. The next day I went to the stadium, bought some Muay Thai shorts and headed down the gym. Spent an hour and a half on the bag in 35 degree heat thinking it would do me good but I am so out of shape due to the drinking and smoking I almost bloody died!! Afterwards I just went back to the room and slept! I just can’t get over the stamina that these Thais have got. They train for about
3 hours in that heat and at the end of the session, every kick and punch is exactly the same power as it was when they started!
That evening we decided to go to Patpong to see a ping pong show. It had to be done! We went into this place that was more of a brothel than a go go bar. The show started with a girl blowing out candles on a birthday cake, then smoking a cigarette, then firing darts at balloons and popping them, and best of all were the ping pong balls. I was handed a small plastic basket and had to catch the balls as she fired them at me. It really was fucking hilarious! I would recommend anyone to go and see one just for the entertainment value. Even girls would enjoy it!
Oh yeah, quote of the night, and maybe even the whole holiday goes to Matt (you know who you are) who was in a bar where there was a large number of ladyboys:
“I just can’t believe that I’m sitting in a bar getting wanked off by a bloke”
Discraceful!
We haven’t really done too much
else here in Bangkok except get exceptionally drunk, so that’s what most of the photos are of. I know I promised photos of the temples and buddhas and you will get them, but because of this festival at the moment all the major roads around where we are staying are closed so it is practically impossible to go anywhere.
Take it easy.
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Uncle David
non-member comment
Interesting?
Hi Pete, or Israeli Pete, sounds like you're having a great time. In the street drinking picture I guess your lady was the blonde? The ping pong bar, how did they blow out the candles? (Jane asked!!!!!) Take care of yourself apparently Vietnam is fantastic, friends have just come back, mind you, their travel budget was a little different. All the best,David xxxxxxxxxx (from A.Jane)