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Hello from steamy Thailand! Yes it's very hot here 29 degrees + and its sticky heat not like the hot dry heat of most of Africa and far removed from the changing weather of Cape Town (which was a bit like a British summer, all but a relatively good one!). It's also the wet season here, however when it rains it only pours for a short time then clears up. Most of the transport and the hotels have air conditioning fortunately so when you walk outside it's a bit like stepping into a sauna!
We left our house in Cape Town 4:30 saturday morning (only a couple of hours after I'd finished the last blog so didn't get much sleep!) for a 2hr flight back to Johannesburg (where we'd originally landed) and then a 9hr flight to Singapore before a final 2 and a half hours flight to Bangkok. The flights were all smooth and we were impressed by their service especially the Singapore airlines who handed out warm handtowels before each of the meals which we thoroughly enjoyed. Singapore airport was a highlight itself, by far and away the best airport we've ever been to - I wouldn't mind
First meal out with our new group, Bangkok
Our great first tour leader Willie is to my right. We've never met anyone who loves their job so much! living there! The place is huge and offers so much to pass the time with including a botanical garden with Koi Carp ponds and loads of beautiful orchids (yes in the middle of the airport), a gym, live music, PS2 and Xbox stations, cinema and internet access (including LAN gaming) - and get this its all FREE! As we found in Johannesburg everything is spotlessly clean. The flights to Singapore and Bangkok were both on very big 777 jumbo jets (9 seats across) and had TV screens which offered heaps of the latest movies, TV, games, news and flight info so we were never bored, if a little tired. Managed to watch 'The Wrestler' (very good) and 'The Reader' (quite good but depressing). Talking of movies, I forgot to mention we went the cinema last week in Cape Town (cost equivalent of 2 quid) and saw Clint Eastwood's 'Gran Torino' - we were literally blown away by it (in tears by the end) and the best movie we'd both seen in ages! Jessie was very surprised thinking I was taking her to see a violent action movie instead it was a movie that felt very real and had a lot
Local fruit Rambutan
Very similar to lychee, which there are many of here also of morals, Eastwood's performance was brilliant and so watchable. All that talk about Slumdog which was overrated! I know we're travelling around the world and I should be talking about new travel experiences but had to mention that movie as it was so good!
Anyway, as you can imagine, by the time we got to our hotel in Bangkok (11:30am here, 5 hrs ahead of home) we were very tired and jetlagged (our body clocks confused by the time differences) so could do nothing but zonk out for the afternoon. We arose for our tour meeting (in the hotel) at 6pm where we met our travel companions - 13 in total, 9 British, 4 Canadian aged 18-29 (Jessie the oldest, 25 about the average) and out Thai tour leader - Willy, who is a really nice funny guy. At around 7:30 we all went for a meal along the streets from where we're staying. We're staying just out of the centre so are yet to experience the heavy bustle but coming back to Bangkok later in the tour. We sat out in the streets listening to a Thai guy sing a range of modern british classics with an acoustic
Khaosan Road, Bangkok
Great market street with lots of cheap t-shirts and jewellery (we later found that most of the bars/restaurants had the equivalent) while we feasted on a delicious range of Thai cuisine (rice and noodle dishes mainly plus Jessie had a broth like soup). Food here like most things is ridiculously cheap with a main course dish costing the equivalent of 1 pound! Willy also bought us some strange exotic fruit called Ramatan that look like strawberrys with long spines on the outside but you then peel off the outer area to an inside that is more like a lychee.
After supper we carried on exploring and ended up in Khaosan Road - a famous market street in Bangkok. Had a lot of fun taking in the new culture and surroundings and checking out the stores. Lots of push cart food stores with exotic ingredients for ready to eat cheap food (usually rice or noodle based). Ended up buying 3 t-shirts (about 2-4 quid each) and a stack of bracelets/bangles - hardly surprising knowing me especially as here they cost about 20p each! Also purchased a model of a tuk-tuk - what you use here as a local taxi. We ended up getting one of these back to the hotel
Khaosan Road, Bangkok
Snacking on spring rolls from a pushcart vendor (1 pound equivalent) - they are like a motor-tricycle with a roof over them and a bench seat in the back that you sit on, all colourfully decorated.
This morning we got a bus to Kanchanaburi 2 hours west of Bangkok. A Songtheow took us from the bus stop to our guest house. A Songtheow is the other form of local taxi, used for larger groups of people, it is a pickup truck with a roof over the back where you sit in on a bench. Kanchanaburi is famous for the River Kwai and particularly for its involvement in the second world war. The famous 'Death' railway was constructed through here by POWs and the bridge over the River Kwai acts as a memorial for the many that died due to diseases such a Malaria and Typhoid which they were not used to. Japanese soldiers would often shoot those that were ill when they became useless. We first visited the war memorial for the thousands that died due to this and then later went to the actual bridge (made ever more famous by the movie 'Bridge on the River Kwai') which we walked across before meeting an elephant on
Our first Tuk-tuk, Bangkok
Often more expensive than a standard taxi and lacking in air-con and comfort but far more fun with bags more character! the other side that I fed! This was an Indian elephant which has smaller ears than the African and is generally slightly smaller. I bought it some bananas which it gripped with the moist tip of its trunk before devouring, lovely animal, shame though it had to have a chain around its ankle. Tonight we have just been for a meal with the group on the banks of the River Kwai - I had deep-fried frog which tasted like a KFC though it was quite a bit smaller! We were served by a lady-boy who was more attractive than the female staff - most confusing!
So that brings us up to date, apart from also forgetting to mention in my last blog that I have unfortunately had my credit card cloned and had about 2 grand fraudulantly taken off it over the last week by somebody (or persons?) between Johannesburg and Marrakesch! Presumably it was scanned at an ATM somewhere, apparently they can fit inbuilt cameras to them. Hopefully I'll get the money back on insurance but its a pain and expensive to keep phoning home to sort it out!
P.S. the blog title refers to the song
the POWs used to sing or whistle (forgotten what the music is?) as they worked on the railway!
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Si and Jess 2009 RTW adventure
Simon Hartley & Jessie Watts
hey!! lovely to hear from you. Still cant believe we're out here .Started feeling but home sicj\k today. hoping everyone is doing well and is ok. So sorry to hear you hurt yourself. Hope you are on the mend babe. Love you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx