Bangkok and the end

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Friday December 19th

The cambodians drive on the right hand side of the road, the thais on the left. After we crossed the border into thailand it was a wierd experience changing sides of the road in the middle of a journey. Once back in thailand there was a noticeable change in how advanced thailand is as compared to less well off cambodia. On approaching Bangkok we hit some crazy traffic that added an extra 2 hours to our journey than wasnt necessary and 14 hours after leaving Sihanoukville we arrived in Bangkok at Koh San Road.

Starved after the journey we wolfed down some street food and then found ourselves a pretty nice hotel for the last two days in asia. We went straight back to Koh San road, one of the main night life spots in bangkok to sample the night life. Koh San road is a street of bars and restaurants and neon signs. It was full of westerners and seems to be a place where people are starting or finishing up their holidays, but there was a nice buzz around the place and we saw some live music in two different bars with Thai groups singing well known western rock and pop numbers.


Saturday December 20th

Saturday was a day dedicated to shopping. The city has some very modern shopping centres which we were able to use for christmas shopping, particularly for electronic goods. I did find it a bit strange however being in a really warm place with christmas decorations everywhere.

I also ate one of the best curries of my trip, a Massaman curry. Oh the joys of thai food.

That evening we found a blues bar where there was some live music. It was a tiny spot but it was packed. I think half the people in the bar were musicians each of them taking a turn in the band so it a had a real good session feel to it. Also there was a 14 year old guitarist with them who was just incredible.


Sunday December 21st

Sunday was dedicated to some sight seeing. We spent the morning around the grand palace an temples in the city of bangkok. With the shopping in the modern centres the day before i felt really close to being back but the temples made me feel like i was a world away again. We hired a guide to take us around and the most interesting things she said were about buddhism and its idols with statues of snakes with 5 heads and the king of birds and half monkeys half lions. The palace takes op a few blocks of the city and is full of decorated temples and official residences of the royalty. The temples were the most spectacular. Walking around the temples it was noticable how well fed the monks were here in thailand as compared to combodia with many of them having pudgy cheeks and pot bellies. We also saw the biggest reclining buddha in thailand, a statue of buddha lying down ... massive.

After the temples we got a tuk tuk to the massive weekend markets a little bit away from the city centre where there was basically everything for sale. Finally as a good bye present and the last thing i did on my 6 month trip i went for a thai massage. I was pretty relaxed heading to the airport that evening for my flight back to europe.

Monday the 22nd

I left Bangkok that night on a 13 hour Quantas flight to London after saying goodbye to Babette who was flying back to France the same night. After a few hours in London i caught my Aer Lingus flight to Dublin touching down at 10.20. I excited the plane and going down the stairs I saw the greay clouds above and felt the cold air... Im back.

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