Advertisement
Published: November 14th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Never a dull day in Bangkok. It feels like only yesterday since I last posted, but it's probably been almost a week. Lets see what I can backtrack to....
I think I'll start with Friday. The night before, Bjorn and I had met up with a Thai girl named JJ who helps out at a bar I frequent, and another Canadian named Jesse. When I left my guesthouse on Friday I saw Jesse standing on Khao San. We went for a walk with intentions to see some sights, The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, but ended up randomly meeting JJ, and we decided on beers instead. After a while at the pub we strolled over the a nearby park. A day or two before that I had asked a guy on a bench how to say "Thank you" in Thai. He was there again and when I went over to say hi, he offered me a book and CD's on learning Thai. Very cool of him. On our way back from the park I decided I wanted to try out the local drinking specialty, red bull, whiskey, and coke. I bought 6 red bulls (a whole variety of them, including "classic"
and "super strength"), 1 mickey of thai whiskey, and a 1 litre of coke: 200 baht, in other words, 8 bucks. Jesse and I ended up walking up and down Khao San Road all night, drinking this concotion, and generally harassing people. We'd offer the Tuk Tuk drivers to see "The Ping Pong Show." Very good, we show you, 30 baht! Then we'd start playing imaginary ping pong in the streets....yeah, it was funnier in person. Went to a few clubs and ended up staying at one till it closed at 2.
The next morning I woke up and went to the park to meet the guy who had sold me the Thai for Beginners book. Him and I went to this "Abhidhamma" gathering that he attends on Saturdays. On our way there we took the mini-bus. Savage driving, they're totally ruthless. This gathering is hard to describe, it was an open dialogue on the dhamma, which is the doctrine of the buddhist religion. These guys were like PHd's of this stuff, haha, but I was encouraged to interact. Afterwards I checked out this guys house in a district nearby Khao San. Very simple place in quite the ghetto,
Ice Cream Anyone?
Maybe...but not in that hot dog bun. but nice enough. Haha, the guys name was "Knowing", lol, oh Bangkok. Later that night I decided to take a stroll down Khao San. I met an Irish guy who wanted to go for a pint, that turned into several and a meeting with some people that I had met the night before. I called off the night early though, as I was planning to go to Kanchanaburi the next morning. Although it ended up being a rather late night due to some random discussions with random people on the most random road, Khao San.
The next morning, I awoke, haggard, and stumbled down to my guesthouse lobby to meet my friend Jesse. The two of us booked a tour to Kanchanaburi and left Bangkok at around 10 am. The tour van wasn't large, and while everyone else was crammed in the back, Jesse and I had the front seats with more than adtiquite leg room. I actually left most of the way. Upon arrival into Kanchanaburi, the sign read "The Land of Peace and Love." Quite the name for a place where at one point in time 10's of thousands of people were put to slave work and
Van to Kanchanaburi
Oh right, the standard Dangling Oversized Fish Hook...safety first! obliterated. We spent a couple of hours wandering in the town. We saw the Bridge over the River Kwai. Yup, it's pretty much just a bridge. Then we went to a nearby mueseum that depicited some of the history. I'm almost ashame that I spent more time laughing than learning, but the papermache statues and the slogans painted on the walls were just too funny. After the museum we caught a rickshaw to the tiger temple. Before getting in our transportation a girl commented on my bright red shirt and how it might not be such a good idea, she was right, but I didn't have much of a choice. Shirtless with a loaned jacket was my only option it seemed. The tiger temple was alright, but sitting with and petting the tigers were an intense experience. Although, aside from a couple tigers they seemed a little run down, maybe the monks beat them into submission, who knows. After the tigers, we walked back up the road to leave, but apparently it was feeding time for the animals. A truck drove by all the tourists, throwing out bags of turnips. The entire zoo, boars, barking deer, horned beasts, peacocks, horses,
Bridge Over The River Kwai
I didn't see the movie, did you? everything but the tigers, comes out of the work and starts eating these turnips. The feasting wasn't entirely peaceful either. After this amusing scene we caught our tour van back, it was long, and uneventful. We got back to Khao San at about 9 o'clock, and I decided I'd take a shower then head out for a Chang before calling it a night. Well, I met up with a guy Mike who is a friend of Jesse's (both Canadians) and while we started to stroll Khao San we met a group of Thai girls who were wanting to party. We went to an after hours bar and didn't end up leaving until almost 6 in the morning. The next day I went to a nearby district and hung out with two of the girls from the night before. Funny stuff, one could speak a few words of english, the other none, but we manged to communicate well regardless, and I ended up learning quite a few Thai words, phases, and cultural understanding. By cultural understanding I mean they invited a bunch of friends over and we got quite pissed up. Luckily, thanks to some friends back home, I've become quite
Bridge Again
Another perspective skilled at communicating in situations where you can barely verbally understand the other person. I crashed out there, and came back to Khao San this morning, where I was confronted by my guesthouse claiming I hadn't paid for a bunch of days, meh, maybe they were right, maybe not, mai pen rai (it cannot be helped). I really don't know, I cut them a deal I think, where I stay tonight, but I think that I'll move out tommorow and possibly catch the overnight bus out of Bangkok tomorow evening to Chan Mai in the north. Still haven't seen a single Wat, or any official sight seeing in Bangkok, but I'm having the most amazing time and the days are flying by. I hope everyone is doing well, I'll try to post soon so my entry isn't 1000 pages long.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.136s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 6; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0662s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Katelyn
non-member comment
You are so ridiculous. Sounds like you are having a good ol' drunken time. I love the last picture...witty comment dear.