Bankok, Thailand 1

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Day 1 (Thursday) - I got into the Bangkok airport around noon. I was out the front door 30 minutes later and headed to the bus station where I had told the guys I was meeting that I would buy the tickets for a trip we were to take a couple of days later. Thailand can be somewhat hard to navigate as English is all written phonetically and there is not 1 generally accepted word. Trying to get the bus to the town we needed to go went nowhere till I was able to point it out on the map, at which point the world was suddenly right again and I was able to purchase 4 tickets. I went back to the airport then quickly boarded a bus for my area of town. Everything seemed to be going as planned. I knew that it was a long way from the airport into town but enjoyed the ride. That is until we got stuck behind an accident. We didn’t move for about an hour, which was frustrating, as I saw little old ladies cruise on by. However, I was not about to get off the bus to find my way in the hot sun with 27 kilos of baggage. So I waited. In all, I was on the bus for around 2 and a half hours and then had to walk about 5 blocks to the hostel’s doors. After setting down my bags and getting oriented, I decided to make my way around in order to find my bearings. I started out getting a water then headed to the main road Sukhumvit that we were staying off of. Sukhumvit is one of the main areas of town, hosting the Nana area and Soi Cowboy. Nana is known to be the area where all the older western men find girlfriends for the weekend. You see these couples all over Thailand and they are actually referred to as Nana couples. Soi Cowboy is the famous go-go street. I chose to save these attractions for the lads once they arrived. Instead, I walked around the immediate vicinity. I crossed one of the large crosswalk bridges to get to the other side of the street where there was an upscale mall. In the center of it was a coffee shop, which was calling my name. It was hot outside, so I decided to order a iced coffee. Only halfway through did it hit me that I was in a country where I shouldn’t order ice, so I drank it as fast as possible to avoid as much ice as possible. After the drink and chastising myself for being so foolish coming off food poisoning, I walked down a couple streets finding some areas that were full of and solicited for nana couples. It was an interesting site to see. I wanted to take a picture but I don’t that would have gone over too well. Young Thai women, older Caucasian men and the not so rare lady boy (Thai male dressed as a woman). I walked, never trying to make eye contact as I escaped the madness because I contact is an invitation in their eyes. I left those streets, crossed back over to my side of Sukhumvit and grabbed some lunch at a little street vendor stand. The food was quite good though I specifically ordered tame food. After eating, the sun was going down, so I walked back to the hostel, where I talked with some fellow hostel goers and made plans with one to go sightseeing the following day. I went to bed early in anticipation of a long, hot day and being rested when the others arrived.

Day 2 (Friday) - I woke up early but thankfully not too early. I spent most of the day with a Kenyan of Indian origin living in Canada named Sahin. We started out getting a western breakfast with eggs, bacon and coffee. I must have refilled my mug 3 times. It was quite nice to start out what was to be a hectic day with a relaxing beginning. After breakfast, we boarded the monorail and headed down to the pier to board a boat for a ride down the city. The boat company allows its patrons to get on and off their multitude of boats at the several historical stops they have along the way. It was a nice trip without getting off the boat but we did choose to get off once on the way down to see two temples and once on the way back to go to the flower market. The two temples were pretty amazing. The Thai culture is very tied in to Buddhism so they do very well to preserve their monuments and support the monk lifestyle. The first temple we went into had walls surrounding a patio with a temple in the middle. In the center of the enclosure was a finely decorated temple. The walls on the outside were enclosed and served as a classroom to teach the boy monks. It really did feel hollowed. The next temple was a beautiful structure of symmetry that when climbed gave a great view of the water and the city. After we got back on the boat then turned around and found the flower market, which was surprisingly difficult. I would say that it was not really worth the effort. It was nice seeing some new flowers I had never seen and was pretty but the market was row after row of the same flowers; we could have stopped at the first booth and been done. Oh well, after the flower market we caught the boat back and had grabbed some food at a little market near the monorail stop. It was early afternoon and it had been a long, hot time since breakfast, meaning I was hungry and thirsty. I had 3 drinks in the 30 minutes and hardly took the time to chew the food. We went back to the hostel and I cleaned up then took a nap. I woke up in time to watch a movie at the hostel and then check my email before Nathan and Rich showed up. I had never met Rich before. As he climbed the stairs I could tell that this was him. He had the same look I know I had, the “is this ______?” look. We introduced ourselves and Nathan wasn’t far behind. Seeing Nathan warmed the soul. It had been 2 months since I had seen my brother, so it was nice seeing a face from home. The gentlemen dropped their bags and I took them out to show them the area, though it was well after midnight. I showed them the nana area across Sukhumvit, which was fun to watch as they had just gotten off the plane from the states. We finally settled on a bar to get a drink at and everything closed. Bars close in Thailand at 2am unless they bribe the police. It is crazy to walk down a street full of prostitutes but have the police close it down because it is time to stop serving alcohol. We headed back to the hostel where we just sat around and talked for a couple hours. It was really nice. We went to bed ready for a day of site seeing ahead.

Day 3 (Saturday) - We woke up not too early but not too late for the guys having traveled for 30 hours. We ate lunch at the same place I had eaten 2 days before and were unexpectedly joined by some guys from the hostel. From there we headed to the royal palace. Outside the palace gate, a man tried to convince us that the palace was closed and we should do something else, but we saw past the scam and headed inside. I had forgotten the legs of my pants (the palace requires that you wear long pants) so I had to wear loaners. AMAZING!! Now you may say to yourself, Thailand is hot, aren’t long pants hot, especially when wearing them over normal pants? And you would be correct. It may have been the dry season in Thailand but you wouldn’t guess it by looking at me. I had category 3 monsoon Braden wreaking havoc on my once dry skin. The palace was nice. It housed the largest fresco in the world, which constantly has to be touched up and an emerald Buddha with lots of historical significance to the area. It is maybe a foot and a half tall yet several regional wars have been fought over its possession. The king himself changes its outfit 3 times a year during a large ceremony. We walked through the temple and the grounds and then concluded with the museum. Afterwards, we were all pretty wiped out. I returned my pants on the way out then we all wanted to get something cool to drink. I introduced them to fresh tangerine juice that can be purchased for $0.30US and then we took a boat ride across the river and back. We were all tired but we pushed through and walked to the reclining Buddha, a huge gold plated statue that was close by. Having seen the sights, we desired to enjoy the food. We took a tuk-tuk (open air cab driven by a motorcycle) to a place recommended in a travel guide. The place that was supposed to be good food at a reasonable price was replaced by a hotel with a restaurant claiming to be of those origins. By origin, they meant good food, not price. But after a long day it was a nice treat. From there we rushed to the hostel, where we got changed and headed to a Thai Kickboxing match. The match was a lot of fun. It started with kids of maybe 10 and worked its way up, literally, to the pros. It was funny because at one point Rich, who was on my left said he was sorry for the tired company. I thought he was talking about Nathan, who feeling the jetlag had fallen asleep, but was talking about himself. The final 2 matches were exciting with the competitors really going at it. When it was over, we went back to the hostel and everyone was fast asleep.

Day 4 (Sunday) - We had to wake up early as we had a bus departing early in the morning for the coastal town from where we would catch the boat to Koh Mak. We got to the bus station before 8 and were off at a quarter past.

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Photos

Waiting on Sukhumvit
Bus from airport

Seats at Kickboxing
Rich, myself and Nathan respectively

Final Match
Kickboxing