Thailand

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After a quiet evening in downtown Kuala Lumpur I hopped onto the express train for a 30 min trip to the airport for my flight to Bangkok. After all the new cities I've been to recently, it's comforting to be visiting a destination I've been to before. I'm pleased to say that Bangkok is exactly the same as I remember it (except that it seems to smell SO much better than before - perhaps it's the season). Bangkok, home to the tuk-tuk - an exercise in making as little progress as possible while making as much noise as possible - is big, hot and frantic. After travelling through Malaysia, I guess the best way to describe Thailand is that it's like Malaysia on steroids. Everything is bigger, brighter, louder, faster. Street markets in Kuala Lumpur extend for 2-3 blocks but in Bangkok they go on for 20 blocks, selling everything you can imagine, and more than a few things you can't.

I stayed in modern downtown Bangkok this time, after the primative conditions on Palau Kecil I decided to treat myself to some luxury and checked into a hotel - air-con, satellite TV, ensuite bathroom, bar fridge ... nice. This luxury has made me a little lazy during my stay in Bangkok though, not really exploring as much as I normally would as sleeping late is easier when sticky tropical heat can be forgotten behind thick curtains and cool wind blowing from the air-con. Instead I've caught up on a few Wimbledon tennis matches, I suppose my previous experience here has taught me that goods sold in street markets in one part of the city are much the same everywhere so there's little value in travelling too far. I'm also not much of a shopper. I do like big cities though - you can lose yourself in them, exploring streets for hours and barely scratching the surface of all there is to see. To get a change of scenery from modern Bangkok with its western restuarants and big malls I went out for a day trip to "old Bangkok" - walking through the narrow streets of Chinatown provided a good diversion.

As I walked along I passed through a variety of commercial zones. First past piles of worn out engines being dutifully stripped for parts by small shirtless men, their arms and faces blackened by oil and grease. Then there were fabric stores selling patterned sheets of materials from spots and stripes to army camoflage. Next there were shops selling herbs and spices, their pungent fragrance mixed delightfully with the incence burning at shrines and temples nearby. Next there were stores selling jewellery, gems and sculptures. Wonderfully intricately decorated furniture, bronzeware and antiques. Buddha carvings and amulets, phallic symbols and hindu deities. DVD players, radios and TV repairs performed under umbrellas on the street. Colourful, noisy and in-your-face, all the while traffic streamed ceaselessly past through the hot afternoon. I am once again blown away by the quality of craftwork on display in this country, they are a nation of artists and sculptors.

My walk took me all the way to Khao San Road (Backpacker central in Bangkok) and after a late lunch (17:00) of coconut chicken soup and sweet and sour chicken rice, I caught the river ferry back to the sky train terminal. The muddy brown river was flowing strongly and it was quite entertaining watching the boats crab their way sideways across the river, fighting the current. The ferry was about 30 m long with the captain seated at the bow and an assistant seated at the stern. As we approached each pier the assistant would communicate with the captain via a series of shrill whistles, indicating whether he needed to apply power forward (one long whistle) or reverse (two short whistles) as the boat backed into each pier, stern first, to pick up more passengers. From the river we passed several temple and pagoda complexes on either side of the river making for a weird and unique skyline of tapered rooves, spires and office blocks. As I reached the train terminal, the sky opened and it started to pour with rain - good timing then.

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