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Published: February 19th 2007
After we left Ko Tao (and another wobbly boat ride to Chumphon) we were herded to a restaurant/pub rather amusingly called 'the Farang' to await our overnight bus to Bangkok. Farang means white westener basically. No-one else seemed to think it at all amusing that we'd been left there... The overnight bus to Bangkok was ok surprisingly and we were unceremoniously dumped about 400m from Ko San Road at 5am.
We were swarmed on by cheeky tuk tuk drivers who wanted to charge us extortionate rates for the privilege of a 400m trip. We fought through, and with an Aussie bloke called Steve made it to Ko San Road, there to sit in a restaurant / pub for the next 4 hours eating breakfast, searching for accomodation, and being very entertained by the many revellers still in the venue continuing their rowdy night out. We felt a little more like breakfast than beer (I know, poor form) but took great entertainment watching those who had obviously had a VERY good evening.
Bangkok is an 'interesting city'. The pollution levels exceed those in London so we took several deep breathes to feel at home again. Things we liked about Bangkok:
- Helter skelter Tuk tuk (thai taxi) rides through the city - mental
- friendly, helpful locals
- 20 baht Pad Thai for breakfast (lunch and dinner)
- Chinatown market
- beautiful Wat's
- the reclining buddha at
Wat Po (46 metres long)
- the solid gold 5.5 tonne buddha (although I remain dubious as I wasn't allowed to tap it to see if it was hollow)
- the Chatuchak weekend market
Things we didn't like about Bangkok
- pollution (from traffic, especially in Chinatown, we couldn't see down the street!)
- rude people, especially the ticket person who deliberately short changed Rob, cheeky mare
- noise
- sewer smells
Ko San Road is another interesting experience. Neon lights, many bars & restaurants, people trying to sell you something every 5 seconds. I started drinking beer in Bangkok, and am not yet convinced. Knew I should have tried to convert years ago... Getting a glass of wine is near impossible though so have no choice, unless I want to drink rum... Rob is very proud however and keeps trying to instruct me in the ways of the beer drinker. Had a classic bartender on our last night, I think
Gold Buddha at Wat Trimitr (Bangkok)
Buddha really was a 100% solid gold geezer. At 5.5 tonnes, the gold alone is worth nearly $120m! his second job was as a ladyboy, kept propositioning all the men who walked past with jems such as: 'you want free gay massage, one minute only'... and when a tourist asked whether the t-shirts being sold there came in large sizes he replied 'no, don't have large shirts, don't like large men, only 'big' ones'
Overnight train again to Chang Mai and here we have spent some time trying to cram the many activities that we want to do here into too few days. Not enough time! We did a Thai cooking course on our second day and it was great. Learnt how to make all our favorites - Tom Yam soup, red and green curry, Pad Thai, stir fry, sticky and normal rice, sweet sticky rice and mango, papaya salad. All good. We travelled to an organic farm 40 km outside Chian Mai (had to be organic!) and prepared everything before eating it. Pad Thai & the sweet rice & mango after lunch so we had dinner as well! Chiang Mai is great, very relaxing after Bangkok.
Next stop Laos!
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