Bangkok

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We landed in Bangkok after a 9 hour flight from Sydney. It was great to be visiting a new country. We got a taxi to our hotel, Sivalai Place (recommended by Steph and Stephen). We could afford to stay in a nice hotel because Thailand is so cheap! It was pretty late at this stage so the night porter let us in and showed us to our room. We were on the 6th floor, and had a great view of the city skyline. We were staying in an area called Thongburi which was a bit out from the city centre. We ate pot noodle from the mini bar and then went to sleep after a long day of travelling. The next day we had planned to go into the city, but Dave felt unwell so we hung out by the pool for the day. It was good to recharge the batteries! We checked in with the gang at reception, and they were so helpful. They even booked our train to Chiang Mai for us. They gave us loads of tips on Bangkok and Chiang Mai. That evening, Dave felt better so we took a cab to Chinatown. When we needed a cab, we would ask at reception, and the doorman would hop onto a moped and go out to the main road. A few minutes later he would come back with a taxi driving behind him. Chinatown was mental. You can't walk on the path because of all the food stalls, tables and chairs. There didn't seem to be an "indoor" restaurant anywhere. It was thronged wiht people and very noisy, and pretty smelly! We had a walk around for an hour before finding a restaurant (since Dave hadn't been well we thought it best not to eat off the street!). We ate some Chinese food and had a couple of beers (Dave's choice- Chang; my choice- Singha). After we had our dinner, we took a taki back to Sivalai.

The next morning it was very dull but still really warm. We had a great breakfast in the hotel for next-to-nothing which was a great set up for the day. We got a taxi to Wang Lang Pier. The pier was buzzing with market stalls and commuters. We got the ferry across the river and saw some lovely views of the city. We got off on the other side and pushed our way through throngs of people. More markets. It absolutely stank and was really dirty. Bit of a culture shock after Australia! We spotted the Grand Palace across the road, and as we were about to cross, we were about to cross the road a well-dressed man stopped us, asking us where we were going and were we enjoying Bangkok etc. As soon as he said we were going to the Grand Palace, he told us it was closed till 2:30, and said we could go see some big Buddha while we're waiting. Then he said "Welcome to Thailand, country of smiles!" and walked off. Weird!

We were pretty skeptical but we wandered off to find this fabled Buddha. We passed a buddhist meditation centre and wandered in to take a look, thinking the big Buddha might be in there. It was quieter than outside, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and there were a few monks walking around. Some were as young as 7/8 years old. There were loads of temples beautifully decorated. Withing 5 minutes we were approached by a Thai man and he asked us if we wanted to see this big Buddha. He told us today was the only day you could see it for free. We started to get a bit suspicious! He made polite conversation for a while, which was punctuated with "I don't ask for any money, no money". He took us into a temple where we took our shoes off outside. We thought this was where the giant Buddha was. He sat us down in the temple and and took out a piece of paper. We started looking at each other wonder what he was about!

He wrote down four places; two being shops belonging to his buddies, one being the giant Buddha, and another the Grand Palace. He said he could take us in his Tuc Tuc to all of these destinations, and end up in the Palace for 80 Baht. We had heard of these scams, where Tuc Tuc drivers take you to shops where you're forced to buy stuff. A Tuc Tuc is basically a motorbike with a trailer on the back, and is another form of taxi. We said no, that we'd like to just see the Palace ourselves, when he shouted, "No! The Palace is closed!!" We insisted we didn't want to go with him- and we stuck to our guns until he lost it with us, shouting and swearing at us in the temple, before tearing up the paper and throwing it at us. He walked away, shouting curses at us over his shoulder. We were pretty mortified, but followed him out in case he took our shoes! He was still shouting and swearing at us. Eventually he scarpered, and we walked back to the Grand Palace to see if it was really closed.

We were only across the road when a lady approached us and told us it was closed till 2:30, just as we saw people going in the main gate! While she was talking to us, an announcement came over the PA saying "Do not trust anyone outside the Palace who is trying to delay your visit". She still tried to get us into her Tuc Tuc even while the announcement was being made! Cheeky. At that point, we just walked in the gate.

Before we went in to the palace, we had to change our clothes and put on long trousers and long sleeves, because there were temples in the complex. Once we had changed, we were swamped with people offering us tours, but we were a bit paranoid at this stage so politely refused! We had a stroll around the grounds. It's absolutely beautiful. All the buildings are so ornate and brightly coloured. We visited many temples including the temple of the Emerald Buddha. The whole place was swamped with tourists (and pickpockets!). We spent a couple of hours looking around and then got an icecream, before taking a walk across the city. We walked for about an hour, passing stalls and shops selling all sorts; furniture, bike parts, giant Buddhas, carpets, lottery tickets...anything you can think of. We called into a shopping centre and had a coffee where it was nice and cool in the air conditioning.

When we were done, we thought it would be a good idea to get a Tuc Tuc back to the ferry, as it's one of those things everyone does when they go to Thailand. We walked for a while and finally hailed one down, but the driver wanted way too much money, and even though we tried to haggle, he still refused our price and drove off! We kept walking, and hailed another, and the driver agreed the price of 50 Baht which was reasonable enough. He drove so fast, weaving in and out of the traffic. Less than 10 minutes later, he had dropped us at the ferry terminal, and I gave him 50. But he called us back and tried to convince us that the agreed price was 150! We just walked away after showing him my purse which was empty. We got the ferry back across the river and the city looked lovely all lit up. We decided to just walk back to our hotel, which took longer than we thought, but it was a good way to see the city rather than sitting in traffic in a taxi. We got back to the hotel about 8:30 and showered before heading out for a Chinese. But the Chinese restaurant was closed, so we found a takeaway pizza place and took it back to the hotel. We had intended on heading back out to Koh San Road- the street famous for nightlife- but we were just too tired after all our walking in the heat, so we just played cards and headed to bed.

The next day we had a train at 10pm to Chiang Mai so we checked out of our room at 12, and they let us use the pool for the day. We couldn't face the busy city again! There were swimming lessons going on in the pool, which lots of the local kids and their parents came to. The pool was pretty busy but it was great for people-watching. We grabbed some dinner in the hotel (the food was sooo good), and at 8:30 our taxi came to pick us up. The taxi dropped us at the train station, where there was a celebration going on for the Queen's birthday. We were really early so sat on the platform for a while before finding our seats. We thought we had booked an air-conditioned carraige but there were just fans stuck to the ceiling. The seats weren't very comfortable but at least the reclined. We put our backpacks on the rack overhead and settled in. It was going to be a 15 hour journey. It wasn't the nicest train- it smelled pretty bad and there were cockroaches everywhere. We began the journey with a couple of beers and played cards, balancing the cards on our knees. We then slept a little, but it was hard to sleep because the lights were on the whole time, the train was noisy, and we had to keep an eye on our bags. 1pm rolled around the next day and we stil hadn't hit Chiang Mai. We were starting to get restless and bored, and the train didn't get into Chiang Mai station until 15:30. We got off the train, relieved to be in Chiang Mai and got into a "public taxi" which is a pick-up truck with a roof on the back. The taxi took us to our hostel Dozy House, which was in the old town.

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Photos

Bangkok Skyline at Night
The view from our hotel, Sivalai Place

View from the Ferry
Across the river from Wang Lang Pier

Meditation Centre
Pity about the wheely bin!

Inside the Temple
At the meditation centre

Elephant Shrine
At the Grand Palace

Buddha
At the Grand Palace