Thailand - The Current and Former Capitals, and the Traditional Market Life

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Bangkok Tuk Tuk Trip

Riding the Kraal

Bangkok

On our way to Penang airport we stopped off at 'Snake Temple', which we thought was going to be a worthy diversion. Unfortunately, the temple was under renovation, and the Pit Vipers had been moved to a room that had more of a 'classroom' feel to it than anything sacred, and there was no altar or anything that looked even slightly impressive. We even thought the snakes were plastic for a little while until one moved, things looked that contrived! So, disappointed, we arrived at the airport and did the routine stuff. Suppose the only slightly interesting funny thing to mention was that a guy had decided to take up three seats in the one place were there was extra legroom, right at the front of the plane, and was ushering people away when they went anywhere near him. So just as the plane started to taxi to the runway and the guy let his guard down, Dave jumps up and grabs a seat next to him... Don't let the bugger have the satisfaction 😊. Meanwhile Saz spent the flight sitting next to a guy suffering from sinusitis, who through sniffly communication ended up giving her a crash-course in the Thai language!

Upon landing we grabbed an express bus to Kho San road, the infamous backpacker haven of Bangkok, and after dumping our bags at a hostel we got lost amid a flood of white faces... We had a drink in a 'trendy' bar and felt that we were in Malaga rather than Thailand!

We spent the next morning exploring the Kho San road area, where there were so many cheap things that Saz had to fight the impulse to buy everything in sight! With getting to Vietnam being our current goal, we departed on the mission that would take us to the Vietnamese embassy, only to find out that it was closed. After dodging a scam-artist who was trying to send us to an agency that he obviously worked for to arrange a visa there (

me get you tuk-tuk, only 20 baht!

), we gave up trying to make our own way back to Kho San and jumped in a taxi with another couple who had the same plight (including dodging the same scam). We settled for arranging our visas through an agency recommended by Lonely Planet, and having been told that they would take a week to come though because of the public holidays that week, we felt we needed to chill out and get a Thai massage. So that's what we did.

An hour later, feeling de-stressed, we dined at a local restaurant and caught a tuk-tuk out to Patpong market where we had arranged to meet the couple we had shared the taxi ride with earlier for a drink. We arrived a few minutes late, but this didn't seem to matter as the other two never showed up; feeling suitably narked off at being stood-up, we decided the only thing we could do was spend thousands at the market on dvds and cds. But since the exchange rate means each disc works out to be only one pound fifty each, the damage to our wallets was fairly painless! Other purchases were bargain sunglasses for the both of us, and an 'authentic' silver bracelet from Tiffany's for Saz... Needing a drink after hours traipsing about, we decided that we probably shouldn't leave until we had seen what first put the Patpong area on the tourist map... a Thai sex show. Although reluctant to perpetuate the existence of these shows, our curiosity got the better of us and we were amazed at what Thai women can train their ... er... private areas to do; hiding metres of string punctuated with razor blades, opening bottles of beer, blowing out the candles of a birthday cake and the more infamous 'ping-pong ball' trick were but a few examples of a long list of stunts. Needless to say the atmosphere was far from pleasant, so we refused to succomb to the demands of buying further drinks and left once we had seen enough.

We slept in following this late-night, and made a bee-line to the post-office in order to send our new purchases back home by parcel. We felt confident enough in our visa arrangement to book a flight for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam for the Friday following, and then decided that we had already been in Bangkok too long to not have visited Chinatown yet and went to remedy this. Arriving at the bustling Sam Peng road we felt a world away from Kho San... this place was pure madness! The undercover plethora of stalls made little room for the shoppers to pass, especially when you take into account the mopeds trying to get through. After grabbing a few bites from the food stalls we headed back to the safety of Kho San for a well needed massage and facial. Feeling positively pampered we watched the daily rain storm from the hostel balcony until our grumbling stomaches persuaded us to make a dash out to the street vendors for Pad Thai and banana chocolate pancake... yummy!

Ayutthaya

In order to kill some free time whilst waiting on the visas we decided on a trip to Ayutthaya (the ancient capital of Thailand), and so the next morning we headed to the train station by bus, expertly avoiding the train touts and scammers, and jumped on a 2 hours local train to the historic city. The train ride was a long but rewarding journey through lush countryside reminiscent of our Malaysian travels, shame about the wooden seats... we could have done with another massage afterwards! Ayutthaya grew to prominence due to it being surrounded by three different and far-reaching rivers, and was thus a perfect trade centre for the entirety of SE Asia; so once we arrived we then had to catch a boat across the river to the island city. We got a plush double ensuite for the same price that we paid for a crappy shared-bathroom double in Bangkok, where we freshened up before tackling the new delights at the local hawker stalls including our first taste of mangosteens. A chilled afternoon paved way for an evening walk in the hope of good food at the night-market... but the market was quite disappointing, so we attempted to get back to our hostel. And promptly got lost. In the end we decided to just retrace all our steps and had a friendly South Korean girl in tow who couldn't remember the way back to the same street either.

Sunday was a sight-seeing day where we hired bicycles to visit a small selection of the hundreds of ruined wats (temples). To get a bit of background we dropped by the Historical Study Centre and then head to our first target, the former Royal Palace. Having stopped briefly to capture the wonderous image of elephants being ridden past some wats, we got to Wat Phra Si Samphet and the Ancient Palace and took some more pics (though we ended up deciding that replacing the broken head of a buddha statue with Saz's may not be the most respectful of acts, and deleted that one...) The next stop was Wat Wiham Pura Mangkhan to see Thailand's largest sitting Buddha, and to wonder why people would pay those who cage wild sparrows, only so that they could then set them free. It's a ritual accompanying wishes to the ancestors apparently. From there we cycled to Wat Chaiwatthanaram (we don't make these names up, honest!) before making our way to the ancient elephant kraal.

In ancient times wild elephants would be chased out of surrounding jungles toward this holding station, where they would then be trained to be war-machines or beasts of burden. What we didn't know was that an organisation had decided to use this and some surrounding land to breed elephants and also allow (rich!) tourists the opportunity to train as a mahoot. Wandering around here we came face-to-face with a one day year-old elephant baby, then a herd washing themselves in the river (with tourists falling off their backs into the water, quite funny); and then to round it all off we were given a free-ride around the Kraal! Amazing experience, and it didn't cost us a penny 😊

Click here for more info on Ayutthaya

Bangkok

Monday was uneventful in comparison, where we just caught the train back to Bangkok, did a bit of shopping (Dave needed some thin cotton trousers) and indulged ourselves in another Thai massage. We had decided to have another change of location and visit Damnoen Saduak, one of the few floating markets left in Thailand, so Tuesday we spend the day on local buses trying to get out around Bangkok to then get to this other tourist haven.

Damnoen Saduak

Following the advice of our Lonely Planet, we stayed overnight in a nearby hotel so we could get up early experience the market before 'the tourist buses from Bangkok arrive' and swamp the place. Unfortunately, the Thais have now moved on to the neighbouring paved streets to peddle their wares to each other, and with the majority of tourists not arriving until 8 or 9, most have taken up the chance of an extra two hours kip and were hardly to be seen! What made it slightly worse was that it was absolutely throwing it down with rain, but we made the most of it, ate banana fritters along with our chicken curry for breakfast, and looked around the few stalls that were open.

Bangkok

Dave was still experiencing some discomfort with his ear, and with a trip to Vietnam (who are not quite as advanced as Thailand in medicine to say the least) immanent, we thought it would be good to double check that everything was okay. Bangkok's International Hospital was amazing, more like a hotel than a hospital even down to the classical pianist and flutist playing the Sound of Music upon our arrival in the entrance hall. An examination and hearing test showed that nothing was untoward, and so with peace of mind we caught the complimentary shuttle back to our hostel.
We claimed our Vietnam visas that afternoon, which means that we could make our flights the next day after all! Relieved, and not fancying a manic night around the streets, we decided that a trip to the cinema was in order; thus we can thoroughly recommend Spiderman 3! We think British cinemas can learn a lot from the plush Siam Centre Entertainment Zone too; very plush!

Friday: having a week around the Bangkok area and still not having been to the 'must-sees' of Wat Pho and the Grand Palace, we made a morning of sightseeing around that area. We dropped by the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (where the Buddha there is made from jade...), and thought his summer uniform was pretty cute. From there we wandered some smaller wats, where Saz did a good Singha impression, and then on to the Grand Palace itself, where Dave took a gizillion pictures of various things in his normal fashion.

Rushing back to the hostel, we checked out in the nick of time and made our way to the stop for the airport shuttle. We befriended a Canadian/American called Michael there, and because the 'express' bus was very late the bus operator sent the three of us to the airport in a taxi to make sure we didn't miss our flight. And we didn't!

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