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Published: June 13th 2009
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What coup?
With some great views from our carriage on the sleeper train we were slightly perturbed when we realised that the two senior Thai ladies who were occupying the bottom bunks of our sleeping area decided to go to bed and call it a day at 5pm so we decided to wander the train and find somewhere else to sit for a while and go to bed at a more respectable time (going to bed at 5pm is just giving in as far as I'm concerned). When we finally made it into Bangkok we experienced a 3 hour delay as were arriving into the city and passing the airport, which we later realised was due to the coup that was taking place at the time! Now it finally felt like we were in Thailand!
Bangkok was much nicer than we imagined, after hearing a lot of bad things about the place we immediately settled in. Khao San Road, the mecca of backpackers the World over was vibrant and had a pleasant atmosphere, the huge public square was full of people (in mourning due to the Kings sisters recent death we found out) and the huge Royal Temple complex
was really incredible with awesome imposing statues and richly decorated exteriors and was a good reminder of the importance placed on the Royal Family here. The following day we went to see a film at the huge cinema in the city and luckily had been pre-warned about the custom to stand up for the national anthem before the film starts. Incredible, can't imagine having to do that back home some how.
Deeper into the city
The city itself (for we were staying slightly outside the main city centre in the backpacker area around Khao San Road) was an impressive mixture of ultra-modern high-rises and behemoth shopping centres and old Oriental housing. A great example of this was at the relic/museum at Jim Thompson's house down a side street right in the middle of the street. The Jim Thompson mentioned (or JT as Paul liked to call him, just humour him) was a trade magnate back in the mid 20th century and made his house in the old Thai stylings and traditions and is a well preserved example of housing from this era, albeit housing for the rich, with it's interesting ornaments and artifacts collected from all over Thailand
and it's immaculate garden giving a tropical feel to the place.
Back in the city at night and the main shopping districts were beautifully lit and still buzzing with activity so we took a trip down to the infamous Patpong area (home of the ladyboys, stripclubs, 'ping pong shows' etc, don't ask...) and the area was a good reminder of the areas seedy side, with hundred of semi-naked girls/boys writhing on podiums and literally trying to drag you into the grimy clubs and bars. Other than that there was a decent collection of market stalls and relatively nice bars here and there and made the journey worthwhile.
What with the military coup effectively closing all of the Northern airports in Thailand the buses down to Southern Thailand became rammed and we were lucky to get two seats on a sleeper bus when we wanted to, although after hearing bad stories of people having their bags opened and valuables stolen while they were asleep it did make the night slightly more uncomfortable. Especially as Paul had the only broken, non-reclining upright seat on the whole bus and with no other spare seats had to try sleep sitting practically sitting
up vertically whilst watching out for thieves crawling down the aisle of the coach...
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