Day 2 in Bangkok

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I slept o.k. on my first night in Bangkok, the bed was comfortable enough, but there was only one sheet which i had to lie on top of which makes it a bit difficult for me to sleep, despite the heat here, but i awoke and set out with the intention of walking around the city and specifically seeing both the Grand Palace and Khao San Road.

I had breakfast at the hostel and then, map in hand headed out into the city. I got the river taxi, down towards the centre of Bangkok (a pretty nice trip) and when i got off i must have looked like the most naive solo touristr in the world. The reason i say this is because i was accosted three times within half an hour by "friendly" people trying to offer me stuff. Its written in most guidebooks that predatory guys will target solo travellers who don't know what they are doing and since i was constantly looking at a map i obviously fell into that category.

A common scam (written in guidebooks) is that a friendly thai (referred to as a "tout" will convince a solo traveller that the grand palace is closed for the day and get a tuk- tuk driver to take them somewhere else (somewhere which may or may not involve a jewel or drug scam) for which the tout will get money for bringing in business. The travellers often get ripped off or worse with scams like this.

Anyway within five minutes of stepping off the boat such a man came up to me and "welcomed" me to Thailand, he seemed really friendly and asked me where i was going. I told him i was headed to the Grand Palace and he told me (surprise, surprise) that it was closed for the day and there was other places i could go. I broke off from this guy quite quickly and he did not push as i walked away.

However within twn minutes another guy came up to me and in a similar way also "welcomed" me to Thailand and again said that the grand palace was closed today. He went further than the other guy and took my map off me and indicated where i should go (it was something to do with a "Lucky Buddha" but i could not quite understand what he said. He also told me that he would get a tuk-tuk driver to take me there and before i could say anything he called a tuk-tuk driver over (who just conveniently happened to be there) and told the driver where to take me. I said i did not want to go with him and they seemed to insist, but then i said " I want to go for a walk" and this seemed to work as they let me walk off without further accosting me.

I was spoken to again not long after, but this time i just pretended not to see or hear the person and just walked off. After this i figured that i needed to look less like a naive tourist who does not know where he's going so i put my map away and just strode on confidently and after this i was not hassled by any such people (i have been spoken to by people selling stuff incidently but that happenes to everyone).

Anyway, soon after this i arrived at the Grand Palace (which was NOT closed for the day) and went in to check it out, it was really impressive architecture and so much of it was great to look at. One mistake i did make was not to get a tour guide, as i walked in a tour guide asked me if i needed one, but i was so annoyed at that point about being accosted by those other guys that i just said no, but with hindsight i probably should have got one. Still the grand palace was nice to look at and worth going to even though i did not have the tour guide.

I left the palce with the intention of finding Khoa San Road and surprisinglyu enough i did not have that much trouble finding it, it looks great and i took a few pictures of it with my (disposable) camera, i hope the pictures come out well because Khao San Road is awesome to look at. It is one of the most happening streets in Bangkok and at first i was considering moving from my hostel to one of the places to stay on Khao San but i didn't.

I wanted to plan my next move (to CHiang Mai) carefully as i didn't want to rush out of Bangkok but also did not want to stay here too long, so i bought an overnight train ticket for Sunday night (arriving Monday), thus giving me 3 full days in Bangkok, and if i like Bangkok enough i can stay here when i get back from Chiang Mai as i will have to come back here in order to access the southern parts of Thailand that i also want to visit.

My train ticket incidently cost 560 Baht (about 8 pounds 50 pence) this is really cheap when you consider that it is a 14 and a half hour trip and includes a bed on the train and food. Thailand seems to be a really cheap country to travel in.

When i left to get back to my hostel i met two new arrivals and another guy who had arrived the previous day. These people were Cameron (from New Zealand), Lacey (from the USA) and Shanti (also from the USA) all of whom are travellling on thewir own and together with them we went out for some food and a drink. We got a decent noodle and eggs meal on the street for 20 Baht a piece and then went for a drink. I socialised with these guys and it was nice, but i think i need to not drink as much, something that i need to convince myself that i don't need to do to socialise.

The guy Shanti is also heading for Chiang Mai so its possible i will see him again up there, the other two are both in Bangkok for longer than i am so its also possible that i could socialise with them while i am still here.

So there you have it, i have now got through two days in Bangkok and i am still fairly content, thats quite an achievement right?

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