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Published: June 15th 2014
We arrived in Thailand and headed straight our for our first Thai green curry and a large Chang. We had been thinking about spicy flavours like these for a looooooooong time! Our first Thai meal did not disappoint on the infamous Khao San road and apart from the blowfish lamps the meal went without interruption. If you havent heard of Khao San road here is a brief synopsis - it is a long road with off shoot roads which are similar and is 1km north of the Grand Palace. It is a road which has developed into the backpacker 'ghetto' of Bangkok, offering cheap accomodation as well as an infinite amount of tatt shops selling and offering elephant trousers, massages, VISAs, currency exchange, postal services, pirated CDS, local fruits, juices, street food such as Pad thai, alcohol, barbequed insects and scorpions, jewellery, hair braiding, dredd making and tattoos. All the same 5 shops after each other really. The place didn't seem to have changed much since I was last here and we even managed to find the road and where I last stayed. Albeit the hostel is now a bank or something like that. At night the street turns into a
huge bar with music being played everywhere at very high volumes. We had a couple of days before we met with friends jetting in from Australia and the UK for the wedding of the year to see some sights and get into the swing of things in Bangkok. We stopped in a hostel about 15 minutes away walking from Khao San road. We highly recommend Penpark place for somewhere cheap and clean to stay away from the mayhem.
After a good nights sleep we headed out for our first day of sightseeing. This included catching the ferry down the river to the Grand Palace temple complex. The ferry was great and costs 150 baht (£3) for a full day ticket which is much less than a tuk tuk and it's a great way to see the city. It was also a great place to people watch and it was fun as at times you did feel like herded cattle when it was time to hop on and off.
The Grand Palace was definitely grand. After a costume change (to adhere to rules) which involved lending some very unflattering long trousers and shirts we were in.
The grand
palace is a huge complex, in the heart of Bangkok. It has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam since 1782, but the present monach resides in another palace called Chitralada, using the Grand Palace for big events such as royal cermonies when needed. The palace consists of many different buildings, halls, pavillions and gardens.
I thought it was very nice but also thought it was a bit too clean and commercial. I did enjoy having my pictures taken with the guard and looking at the old pictures of the emperor living in the palace but apart from that is was too busy with tourists.
After an amazing street food lunch for the price of 70 baht (£1.20) we hopped back on the ferry down to the reclining Buddha palace. Now, this was in another league to the grand palace. We loved it! Around every corner there was something amazing to look at, lots of mini pagodas, gold plated statues, mirrored tiles, Buddha statues and the piece de resistance the 100m long golden Budha temple. Wow. We lingered at this temple for a while taking pictures and having a good look at everything-we were blown away.
Had to be done
The Grand PalaceAfter all this temple viewing we had a little bit of time left so we decided to do some shopping, a short tuk tuk ride took us to the mbk centre which is a huge shopping mall which has also gained world wide press as it is where the Bangkok protests are taking part. The protesters must have been taking a break as there wasn't mass carnage outside, just lots of people milling around and lots of tents. We were told it was perfectly safe during the day and at night things get a bit heated. So as long as we left before 6pm we would be safe and sound. The shopping mall was immense, levels and levels of shops selling anything you may desire. We needed to get a part for my camera, but even though we wanted to buy a copy it was still a tenner so we gave up on that. Instead we wandered around aimlessly getting lost and not making any decisions on things we needed to buy.
Finally we found an exit and headed off back to khao San road for another Thai green curry and a few drinks at a vw camper
which has been converted into a bar with blaring music. It was here that we got blind drunk and ended up buying lots of tatt of a women in the street and also eating a scorpion. Traveller status id say is fully fledged now. So how does a scorpion taste? Crunchy and a bit like fish sauce. We also seemed to end up at a Ping pong show in a totally different part of Bangkok. If I remember rightly entrance got you a free drink and you could watch whatever was on offer. The rest of the night is a blur of dancing, talking and laughing...laughing a lot.
The next day we had a huge Mac Donald's to eliminate our hangover. Mission accomplished. We attempted to try and meet Lisa's and marks friends from Australia. But with a failed attempt of finding the one and only Starbucks on khao San road and meeting at it we headed to bed for an early night. We were meeting everyone then next night so it was no bother.
We woke up totally refreshed and very excited for what the day was going to bring......Friends from England! But first we had a
Thai cooking course to complete. This course was fantastic and involved first going to the market for the ingredients-we learnt about awfulness that is ghee and msg, as well as seeing a lot of dead animals and fish including all the inside parts of a pig. Ew. After this we headed back to cook our meals. I'd like to think that I was the teachers favourite but Craig also did really well. We cooked a variety of meals including, Thai green curry, mango and sticky rice, spicy papaya salad and Thom yun kung. If your in Bangkok I highly recommend it, the name is Chef Leez Thai Cooking School. So when we return we shall try and recreate some to the meals if you want to come round?
Finally the time had come for the Amana Ali sex and the city part 8 show to start. Woo! I practically ran to the hotel to meet her, it was very exciting! We headed for some food and drink (I changed my order to tom yun kha this time- a spicy prawn soup) and started to catch up on the past 7 months. A couple of hours later and Lauren rocked
up. We decided to rendezvous vous later and then the 4 of us headed to the banyan tree hotel to meet with Ellie and Doug. The Banyan Tree is such a plush hotel, almost too plush for us traveller folk. Craig was asked to where a pair of trousers to allow him in (I think he looked more scruffy with the trousers on myself, which didn't fit him properly). The bar and restaurant is on the top floor and the views are immense! It was great and despite there being a ban on alcohol due to the elections I thoroughly enjoyed my virgin Bloody Mary. After just the one drink we headed to Patpong for some fun and frolocks. Patpong is classed as the other naughty part of Bangkok and infamous for its red light district. We wanted to go as it is buzzing at night with cheap drinks and lots to see. We did see a lot.... lots of lady boys, prostitutes, young girls and also there was a night market on selling the usual copies of goods and endless CDs and DVDs. Whilst mid drink we got a huge shock when the one and only Paul Forsyth jumped
out of no where in front of us scaring us all half to death. But yes! We had all managed to meet up in the middle of Patpong! So the 'Nottingham lot' and us joined forces and the night was a hit. I blame Paul and Jamie for the endless tequila shots but we all had a great time and ended with us four heading to a ping pong show. We had front row seats and by the end we were on first name basis with Maude who was the 'entertainer' shall we say. A highlight was patting ping pong balls away with a Ping pong bat at the others. Don't worry we tipped the lady and put it all down to life experience.
The next day we were all hanging so Craig and me went to the girls plush hotel which had a swimming pool and chilled, and ate yet another thai curry and another banana pancake!
Really enjoyed mixing up some culture with fun and friends in Bangkok, for me it's a great stop over city...I look forward to the next time. Onwards to the islands!
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Momma Toni
non-member comment
Mmm Red and Green curry with sticky rice and nbanana pancakes ! heavenly!
I love the g seems like a lot of fun edolden bhudas, i am so glad i have now seen what a tuk tuk is! i have heard so much about them! the ping pong debacle sounds intresting and unique! i would love to sample your thai cooking it sounds delicious, i am sorry my writing has just got very jumblede up! lots of love to you both Momma Toni xxxx