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Published: March 19th 2009
First of all, sorry for not updating this in a while - Me and Sean are now in Siem Reap in Cambodia so have a bit of catching up to do!
Bangkok was a mixed experience, there were some amazing statues and the night market was awesome but we spent a lot of our time trying not to get ripped off by crazy Tuk Tuk drivers. On our first night we went to the famous Khaosan Road, which is a travelers hotspot in Bangkok, but it was all pretty seedy and a lot of old men approached us trying to get us to go to adult shows. As this was not really our thing we just bought a beer and did some people watching, which is pretty amazing to do in Bangkok as there are some mental people kicking about.
On our second day we went to a cafe called the Joy Luck Club. This was owned by a guy called Max Nampoo and was probably the coolest place we have eaten at since we went away. For a start the rice came in the shape of a teddy bear. Animal-shaped food is always a welcome treat. The cafe was covered in awesome artwork which we later found out was the owners friend, and Max was a singer and guitar player so we bought his EP instead of giving him a tip, which he was very grateful for. We've not had a chance to listen to it yeah so it might be awful, but he was a great guy and even drew us a map of the surrounding area to help us get to the national museum.
The museum itself was very interesting and covers a massive time span from the first settlers in Thailand to later foreign and colonial influences. However when we bought our tickets at about half 2 they didn't tell us that it shut at 4... so you can ask me anything about Thai history up until about 1850, but after that I don't have a clue.
That night we also went to a local Jazz concert in a park that had been put on by the university's music department. There was an amazing saxophonist but the singers weren't up to much although it was still a nice way to spend an evening.
We also saw a few temples including the Wat Pho. It had the biggest reclining Buddah in Thailand and it was quite interesting but there is a real lack of information around for visitors and it is covered by people trying to get donations, even some very pushy monks. We saw some of the temples or 'Wats' on the back of a Tuk Tuk which was remarkably cheap at only 10 Baht each but we soon found out why. Although he was happy to take us to a few of the places we wanted to see, including a massive standing Buddah (I have seen a lot of Buddah), he also took us to some suit shops and jewelry shops. One of the people trying to promote the suit shop approached us in a temple and pretty much spat in our faces the whole time he was talking. He did it once and I think we were fine ignoring that but after that there was a continuous flow. Watch out for that guy. Anyway our Tuk Tuk driver eventually got the message that we had no money and drove us back home in a strop.
We then had to take another monster of a journey to get from Bangkok to Laos. We bought tickets on a sleeper train (you sleep on a bunkbed) to Nong Khai, which is on the Thai side of the border. This took about 12 hours and the food was awful, but we managed to get some sleep so it could have been worse. When we arrived in Nong Khai we then booked a shuttle train service to the Laos side of the border near Vientiane, the capital. This, we were told by many people, was the first time a train had ever run on this new line from Thailand to Laos. There was a general and genuine buzz of excitement around the place. Sean and I could barely contain ourselves.
When we got off this historic train journey we were approached by a Thai lady ad her Italian husband Carlos, along with a Dutch dude named Stan. We all shared a minibus and Nam, the Thai lady, spoke Laos so we managed to get a cheap price. We then spent all day with these guys and had a couple of meals. Stan ended up staying in our hotel and we then decided we would make the trip to Vang Vieng as a threesome, as things generally worked out cheaper this way. I will put the blog about Vang Vieng on a separate entry as this is getting ridiculously long, even though I am sure I have missed out a load of stuff!
Photos will follow. Probably in a couple of days as this computer is so slooow
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Andy
non-member comment
Squatters rights!
Patrick - you must be a past master in the use of the 'holes in the ground' they call toilets? Your thigh muscles will be like Chris Hoy's with all the practice you'll be having:). Keep the blog going. Celts won the League Cup on Sunday, but I guess that was big news in Thailand? Cheers. Andy