First day in Bangkok

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Sarah -

Well we're here! How weird it was to wake up this morning and look out the window to Bangkok.

The airport at Bangkok is like a luxury hotel - all industrial concrete and mother of pearl coloured glass sculptures, and heaps of beautiful thai artwork. Also smoking rooms to stop off at mid horizontal escalator, concrete again, with a fishbowl window for all of us to frown at you through.

Taxi from airport = no seatbelts + 100k/hr + motorway + terrified Sarah + I think I've cured my extreme passengeritis, (in strict necessity) at least relating Xavier and my father.

The streets in Bangkok were teeming with people, shops glowed red yellow and green with all their wares and there was a constant buzz of big city night life. Got to our hostel late so didn't really look around, just woke up this morning to a completely different city, with tangled greenery outside the windows, soft light and not a sound to be heard, except the air conditioner. Our hostel is a collection of wood assembled into rooms - its just gorgeous and has heaps of character. There is a long wooden hallway thats about 50m long , with wooden plank leading to wooden plank to walk on and tiny wee lights down the whole thing. Our room has wooden windows into the dark little leather seated lounge, which can latch down like a toy box. All around outside the place is palm after fern after climber after water pond after hanging basket. Lush.

Took the sky train today - its a flash new subway like train that runs on a single rail above the city - it seemed like something one would only dream about existing, but this is the world now right? Best way to see the city and to see one of my favourite things ever - rooftop gardens. All the buildings we could see had all the ramshackle, run down, down and out, seedy, rusted, crumbling, forlorn charm you could hope for. We got off at this huge sprawling park and strolled around it as the day heated up, met some squirrels, (Xavier told them he loved them but they ran off) and took our first squat toilet squat.

Went to Victory Monument which is this over sized roundabout with the cars circling the bottom, pedestrians on the next level up on a raised walkway and the sky train on the top level. Beats the Panmure roundabout hands down. Sat down there for a tasty $1 lunch at a roadside stall then headed back to relax on the wooden veranda at our hostel, admiring all the wood.

Bangkok rules.

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Photos

Suk 11
The hostel where we're staying.

Xavier at skytrain station
Here is Xavier with the sky train in the distance.

Gym at the park
The gym at the park, dumbells, weight lifts, etc all under the shade of the park trees, free to all.

Hallway at hostel
The glowing wooden planked walkway at Suk 11.

Verandah at hostel
Verandah at hostel

Victory monument roundabout
Victory monument roundabout.

city city city
city city city!

Comments

[mark]

Photograhy
Great photography great story can almost smell the place cheers mark/dad