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Published: December 13th 2017
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Mark Meyer and I are travelling to the countries of South East Asia I was bumped to another domestic flight but we will meet up in Sydney for the international portion of our journey to Thailand. The flight took nine hours and Mark didn’t like anything about the trip I can’t see him flying British Airways again in a hurry.
The terminal was modern and clean so the walk outside was a shock to the system as the humidity was high and the noise pollution high. This is mark’s first trip to Asia so it must be a bit of a culture shock for him. We caught the airport bus to Sukamvit Road from where it was a short walk to our accommodation in Soi 11.
My first impressions are of a hodgepodge of modern skyscrapers, half completed abandoned buildings and slums. The smell of fish mixed with garbage and car fumes assaulted our noses as we headed to the little outdoor bar located in a decrepit alley behind our lodgings. This area is known for its budget accommodation, many foreigners, cheap restaurants and convenience stores all of which are located amongst street vendors selling a huge variety of
goods. The hawkers and taxi drivers aggressively advertising their goods and services.
Our room has an ensuite and air-conditioning and cost just AUD18 per night, after a few hours’ sleep we caught the modern, clean elevated Skytrain metro system down to the Chao Praya River. The Thai’s are renowned for their friendliness and the local people we encountered along the way went along way to confirming this hypothesis. The one and half hour river cruise cost the equivalent of about fifty cents so we clambered aboard and begun our journey up the wide, polluted waterway that has for centuries been the life blood of the city. The city certainly looks different from the river with many older dwellings hanging out of the water, intermixed with modern office buildings including the fifty story Telecom building shaped like a bulging glass rimmed Easter egg.
Next we caught a tuk-tuk to visit some other sights because the driver claimed the Palace didn’t open till 2pm, we later discovered this was a lie and that he was getting commissions to bring tourists to shops, how naive I was then. The first stop was the huge Golden Buddha which was well worth the
effort to visit then we were dragged through a range of jewelry stores and tailor shops until I had had a gut full and let the driver know it. We both got fitted up for some very good cheap business suits and shirts that will be delivered to our hotel before we leave for home.
Eventually the dodgy driver returned us to the Royal Palace where I refused to pay him as he was a lying snake, The Palace is a little gaudy but still an impressive place with its gold and gem encrusted archways, domed buildings and open pavilions, we spent about an hour there before returning to our hostel we would be heading out later in the day to pick up our air tickets to Burma. We had dinner at a western style restaurant before going to bed around 930pm.
We rose at 4am as we need to be at the airport by 615am to check in for our 815 Thai Airways flight to Yangon. The taxi delivered us in plenty of time we had some breakfast then waited for boarding.
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