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Day 120
Today we reluctantly left the laid back atmosphere of Koh Tao and caught a ferry back to mainland Thailand. The fast catamaran only took one and a half hours to get to Chumpon, where we then got a connecting coach for the 7 hour journey to Bangkok.
The weather was not good today, it was stormy and wet when we left Koh Tao and it remained that way for most of the journey. We eventually arrived into the capital of Thailand at about 7.30pm (an hour earlier than expected, amazing!!).
As soon as we got off the coach we were surrounded by taxi touts wanting to take us to our hostel. We managed to get away and walked around the corner to hail a taxi as we hoped it would be cheaper. A friendly American informed us we had just saved a lot of money by doing this and helped us grab a taxi. Unfortunately it took us 4 attempts to find a taxi who knew where our hostel was.
The traffic in the city was manic and it took us about 30 minutes to get to our accommodation near Silom Road. The taxi cost
us 100 Baht (£2) which was a bargain compared to the 500 Baht (£10) the first taxi driver wanted!!
Our hostel we had pre booked was down a quiet street and was very welcoming when we arrived. Lub D Bankok is a new hostel and it is very modern, hopefully it is in a good location, although we won't know until we go out exploring tomorrow.
27/5
Day 121
After breakfast we set off in search of the Grand Palace, our first sightseeing location of the day. The Skytrain was located only a few minutes away from our hostel, however it takes about 10 minutes to cross the road as the traffic is so busy. The Skytrain took us to the Central Pier where we managed to catch the express boat down the river towards the historic Ratanakosin area of the city.
Bangkok is the capital city of Thailand and home to over 8 million people. It is a very busy city and has many traffic problems. It is famous for its many tuk tuks (they seem very dangerous) and the long boats on the river and canals. The city also has a modern Skytrain that
we will used to get around this vast city.
Another very hot day made walking around difficult so we first visited the Wat Pho and the Reclining Buddha as it was near the pier. The 45 metre long gold Buddha is located in a large ornate building in the grounds. We spent an hour or so wandering the grounds looking at the magnificent colourful and ornate buildings and temples before heading for the Palace.
As we walked towards the Grand Palace we were stopped by several taxi touts who tried to tell us that the Palace was closed until 2pm, so they should take us on a tour instead! Luckily we didn't fall for their lies and found the palace open and it was only 11am!
The Grand Palace was opened in 1785 and marked the founding of the new capital. It is the royal residence and has a number of throne halls, temples and government offices. We enjoyed walking round the many buildings and viewing important parts of Thailand's history, culture and religion. After a couple of hours we were tired and hot so made our way back towards the ferry. For lunch we headed to
the food court in the MBK shopping centre which had been recommended to us.
The shopping centre was like Meadow Hall or the Trafford Centre except that nearly everything for sale is a fake copy (a very good fake copy) of the original item. You can buy anything designer you want or need for a fraction of the cost at home. It was 7 stories of shops and stalls selling everything from electrical goods, watches, sunglasses, clothes, there was even a Boots the chemist (not selling fake goods!) and of course the odd massage place. We were good and didn't spend any money despite window shopping for ages. Very tired we jumped back onto the Skytrain back to our hostel so we could relax before our feet fell off.
28/5
Day 122
We started the day by walking up Silom Road a busy business area towards the Patpong area. Patpong is the red light district and well known for its many bars and restaurants. However, at this time of day it is quiet with several hawker stalls selling food and a few beggars on the pavements.
Lumpini Park is a large green space in the heart
of the city and a rest bite from the sights and sounds of the busy roads. We spent an hour here walking around the lakes and saw many large monitor lizards swimming. From here we caught the Skytrain to Siam Square where we found some large shopping malls.
The Siam Paragon is the pride of Bangkok and home to many exclusive designer shops. We were once more tired and fed up of window shopping so headed back to our accommodation for a rest.
After a spirited drive by a tuk tuk we arrived at Patpong. The 10 minute journey was an experience and we nearly crashed several times, you feel very vulnerable in this mode of transport, luckily it was only a short journey.
Patpong was a different place at night and should maybe called Ping Pong instead due to the advertised shows on offer! A large night market filled the streets with many people looking for a bargain while being bothered by touts for the bars and shows.
As soon as we got out of the tuk tuk we nearly stepped on a rat and saw many roaches in the streets, we decided not to
eat here tonight. After enjoying some bartering for some designer watches we headed back towards Silom Road calling at a Thai restaurant on the way for our last meal in Thailand.
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Georgia
non-member comment
I like the bright pink taxis!!!