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Published: December 18th 2006
Mmm... crunchy
Tom's Cambodian mate with the scary fried grasshopperSpent a nice evening in Chiang Mai on Friday, went with Charlie to meet some other rasta guys she met whilst I was in Pai, turned out they are actually Tom's best mates. They'd just opened their new reggae bar not far from the other one, and it was really cool, lots of amazing paintings all over the walls. They had a couple of bands, including Tom's playing there, as well as a rock band fronted by this girl I had met at Bebop Bar in Pai. I wasn't drinking that night like a good girl (once bitten..) and Charlie helped me along by not drinking either, so we were sipping water all night. Needless to say, it was a much more chilled night than any other, apart from the one where I was sick. Though you couldn't exactly call that chilled. Tom was completely leathered and after we'd gone back to Roots bar for the end of their set there, we sat around with Nom and a friend of theirs, whose name escapes me. He was an absolutely hilarious Cambodian guy who liked to come out of the bathroom just as everyone was applauding the band and take a big
bow. Haha. Anyway, Nom had gone out to this street vendor and brought a plate of fried grasshoppers again. They were eating them like they were going out of style and me and Charlie (who is a vegan) were taking loads of photos. Got a few blinders of the Cambodian guy posing with them, when I get my photos sorted I'll of course put them up on here. I went home to bed by about 1:30, arranged to meet Tom for lunch - without much hope that he'd actually turn up because of how drunk he was.
Next morning woke up at about 10, packed my bag, and sorted myself out. Charlie came and picked me up, so I stored my pack and we headed off for breakfast, then popped down to Boots to get some more dressings for my burn (which is, by the way, starting to look much better since I started using aloe vera on it, and got some specialised burn plasters), had a Starbucks, and then went to the internet cafe. The whole day was pretty much taken up just pissing around, until I had a mad rush at the end to get in a
tuk tuk and go to the train station.
I got myself a sleeper train which was a bit of an experience. Sat myself down in the wrong seat opposite this giant Canadian guy, turned out we were both in the wrong seats, and we were sat pretty much next to each other again anyway though. Surprisingly enough, the seats were pretty comfortable and I had my Cushtie pillow so I was pretty well sweet. Started reading the John Peel autobiography - Thanks Sheryl, I'm really enjoying it despite not knowing the first thing about him beyond a few second hand opinions. I got on the train at 4:30 in the afternoon and by the time 8pm rolled around a man was coming along and turning all the seats into bunks - it's really cool how the fold the bottom seats out and then open this hatch at the top which flips around into the top bunk. I was on top, and Adam (the Canadian guy) was on top across the aisle from me. He is close to 7 foot, I swear, so I spent half the time laughing at him trying to get into his bunk. Then we sat
and had one of the customary traveller's chats, before I took my final dose of antibiotics (YIPPEE!) and tried to get some sleep. It was too bright in there though, so I started messing around with Poh, my camera, and the Cushtie, taking dumb photos of myself and posing the pig everywhere. Eventually I managed to go to sleep (found an eye mask in the depths of my backpack), and slept almost right through until we got to Bangkok. If I thought the tube took me a long time some mornings, I probably won't complain again after 14 hours on that train.
Arrived in Bangkok at about 7 in the morning, and asked Adam if he wanted to share a cab as he was headed to Khao San Rd as well. I texted Nina (who was already in BKK and had organised us accommodation in Khao San) very apologetically for the early hour, haha. Went and had some breakfast with Adam, then wandered down to the net cafe. Heard from Nina and arranged to meet her by Ronnie Mac's, and Adam kindly let me leave my pack in his room and left the key on reception for me so
Everybody
I can't remember a single name right now, apart from Adam the giant Canadian that I could pick it up later.
Killed time til 11, then wandered over to our hotel. Yes, that's right, hotel. Haha. Anyone would think I'm loaded. Still, it's not really that expensive (325 baht each a night) and it's worth it to have our own bathroom, hot water, and air conditioning after living in bungalows and dreary rooms forever. I needed to have something pretty clean so I could deal to my burn properly as well. So the place is really nice.
Went shopping on Khao San, got a couple of cute tops, way overspent my daily budget, but hey, at least I look good. On the way home we stopped at a bar and had a jug of Kamikaze, might be my new favourite cocktail, definitely suits the hot weather with all the crushed ice, mmm...
When we went back to the hotel we lazed around enjoying the aircon for a while and then went outside to the 'sunbathing deck' which is really just a caged in outdoor area with a couple of deck chairs. Still, it was nice out there and we got chatting to this hilarious Australian guy (one of the first Antipodeans
The Nirmal one
I remembered his name cos it was abnirmal - me and Nina are in there too I'd spoken to in days) about all sorts of crap, and then went off to have street food for dinner with him. I had wicked fried rice (20 baht), a spring roll (10 baht), and pineapple for dessert (20 baht). Cheapest, quickest, and most delicious dinner ever. I love street food! Afterwards Nina and I went and had another jug of Kamikaze, then meandered back to the hotel, got changed into our new clothes, and went to meet some people Nina had met at Big John's a couple of nights previous at Center Khao San, this big, very backpacker orientated bar on Khao San (obviously). We actually ended up going upstairs to Shamrock's, an 'Irish' pub, where they had a bunch of young Thai kids playing rock/pop covers. The girl singer was absolutely amazing, she did Lily Allen's 'Smile' and even though I don't really like the song, I had to give her credit, the girl had pipes and was hitting all the right notes. Got some hilarious videos of their guitarist who was jumping all over the show like a madman, he was great. Adam showed up to have some drinks with us, and later on Nina's friends rocked
up too, and by that stage Nina and me were already three sheets to the wind, which they all kindly pointed out straight away, haha. They were mostly American, but there was a South African and an Aussie as well, and really nice people. Between the bands they started playing Irish music, including Dirty Old Town, so I was standing everyone up in a circle and making them sway while I sang along at the top of my voice, doh. Don't even get me started about when they played 'The Irish Rover', talk about making a fool of yourself in front of people you don't know. Priceless. Still, everyone was getting into it and having a great time. The second band was pretty great though kind of diva-ish. The singers were these tiny Thai girls with huge voices and they did an hilarious version of 'Hips Don't Lie' by Shakira, hahaha... they sounded exactly like her, not sure why I found it so hilarious (Chang) but then again, I find Shakira's voice funny on the best of days. Sounds like she's singing with a mouth full of marbles, or gargling Listerine? But I digress.
The bar closed around 1 and I was still buzzing, went outside, started talking to heaps of random Thai people, bought a purple balloon from a little girl and promptly gave it to a homeless man, who let it go immediately and looked disgusted. Everyone else was trying to find an after hours spot, but Nina wasn't keen and I suddenly decided (probably quite wisely) that I wanted to go to bed as well, so we went back to our room, I fell into bed, and passed out cold. Good night then!
This morning I'm feeling pretty hazy, but not too bad altogether, managed to get up for our free breakfast, but it was only one egg and one rasher of bacon haha, so we ended up buying breakfast again anyway, and here I am.
Today plans include getting over the hangover, eating, reading my book, shopping, trying to arrange accommodation in Sukhumvit (Khao San is breaking the bank) for tomorrow for me and Pauly (I can't wait til he gets here - thought it was today and then got all disappointed when I realised it was tomorrow, haha), and then later tonight going to meet one of Nina's many Thai 'boyfriends' haha and probably have a few drinks again. Good to be back on the horse, but my wallet will be suffering for it. All in all, Bangkok's better the second time around. 😊
As always, pics to follow when I find a net cafe that lets you put CDs in the drives.
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Rach
non-member comment
Waaa waaa waasabi
What up Steph! I've just spent the last hour catching up on your journals haha, good s**t! everytime I read them though, I just want to pack my bags and blow this pop stand. Can't wait till Wednesday when I depart the cold and windy shores of Great Britain for the cold and windy shores of The Netherlands - but, at least there will be plenty of nice warm cafes for me there tee hee. I can't wait actually - it may not be Thailand, but at least its another adventure. Its been a busy life since you left, uni finished for this year on Friday and I had to give a presentation to the class on placenta functioning - you can imagine how I loved that - but afterwards was my staff party - it was awesome, I still have a sore neck from headbanging and playing air guitar on the dance floor to queen and GNR - yes shame is my middle name! Anyways, hope your leg is getting better, get yrself into the ocean, that will sort you right out. Love yr guts, miss you muchly Rach xxx