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Howdy,
So, some of you haven't heard from me in a while, and maybe
wondering why i've sent you this long, or what i anticipate to be
long-ish email. some of you from home, some friends from australia.
I'm on the road again after 3 months of being at home, and quite
enjoying it. Where? Thailand and beyond! So, i'm going to keep
sending out these emails to you unless you let me know you don't
want to get them, which'd be pretty mean. also, if i'm somewhere
that you've been, feel free to give me some tips or something.
Other than that, hopefully it'll just be a bit entertaining for you.
So, Bangkok Thailand. So far so good. The plane ride went well,
14 hours of dozing from vancouver to shang-hai (sp?), 4 hours in
shang-hai, then just 4 hours to Bangkok. It worked out quite well
for me. Being the procrastinator/disorganized type, i didn't have
accomodation lined up when i arrived here at 1:30am. I tried, but
it didn't happen. I was resigned to just spending a bit more for
one night, and checking into a hotel with 24 hour reception. But,
as it worked out, i met a fellow traveller on the plane from
Shang-hai. Dave from London england. He'd been to Thailand and
travelled through southeast asia before, and was on a return visit
to go to Vietnam. So, he knew the ins and outs of Bangkok. When we
arrived at 1:30am, we stayed in the airport until 5:30am until the
airport bus service started rather than cab it in and try to find a
place to stay that night. We found a quieter area of the airport,
and along with 20 other people, napped on the comfy (not really)
floor. We bussed in at 5:30am and by that time it seemed that
Bangkok was already up and in full swing. My first impressions of
the city that i thought would be busy, bustling and smoggy was
pretty much that. Busy, bustling and smoggy. All in a good way
though. Motorbikes and tuk-tuks (motorbike front end with covered
bench seat in the back, cheaper taxi thing) wizzing around and
through everything, lots of traffic, smog over the city so you
couldn't see for miles on end, markets setting up, and just
generally, a lot more activity than i would have thought for being
so early.
Dave showed me the place he usually stays in Khao San road area,
although he decided to stay at a bit nicer of a place this time. A
decent basic hostel. Square room with two beds (singles were full),
shared bathrooms, and a little restaurant on the ground floor. All
this for 180baht/night (6 canadian dollars!). Got settled, phoned
home, had a nap, then went for a walk up and down Khao San road and
surrounding area just to get my bearings a bit. So, Khao San road.
What can't you buy? So many name brand clothes for cheap, cd's for
2-3 dollars (not legit cd's though), and food for cheap too. Little
stalls lining the street from end to end, and around the corner,
and along parallel streets, and the next one. Busy place.
Went back in the evening with Dave to have a beer or two and see
what goes on at night. The stalls had cleared out, the lights and
big signs had turned on, and the remaining cd stalls pounded out
music. There's no traffic at this time, well, a couple motorbikes,
but mainly just people walking up and down, sitting at restaurants
having dinner and drinks, buying booze from the stands where people
hold signs saying "strong drink, we don't check i.d.". Some bar had
an opening party so there were some bartenders flaring on the
street. Went back closer to my guest house, had a last beer, then
got chatting to a couple other people and ended up going out again
to have a beer on Khao San road again. Off to 7-11 to buy a litre
bottle of beer (that was a dollar), and walked up and down, then
had a beer in a bar, and then called it a night. A bit tired.
Today was an early start that started off a bit dizzy from the
night before. Went out to Chinatown markets and then to Thieves
market. Public transportation was a ferry ride down the river,
20min. The markets were packed with people, and motorbikes and the
occasional car cutting through. Walking along the streets, you
start to notice how loud it is, and stays. 4 or six lanes of
traffic everywhere it seems, with loud tuk-tuks whipping by,
beeping their horns to see if you want a lift, and just lots of
engine noise. I almost lost it at one point, but decided to head to
Wat Po, a big temple instead. That was a breath of fresh air.Huge
beautiful temples with huge gold coated buddhas (skinny buddha, not
so much fat buddha, i guess people have their preferences over the
two, like with Elvis). Close to 500 years old. Very large, very
intricate, and just all around cool. Sculptures of thai animals,
warriors everywhere. And cats all over the place too, cute little
balinese-ish mixed with whatever other breeds mum could find that
night.
and that pretty much sums up my stay so far. I'm back at the guest
house, pretty tired, and am going to have some dinner now.
That was a long-ish email, and all i really wanted to do was just
let a couple people know i arrived safe and sound, but this is what
i ended up doing. Life is a wild ride and all we can do is try and
hold on i guess (note sarcasm).
anywho, that's me for now.
Feel free to send some emails my way because i love hearing from
everyone, i wouldn't send you emails if i didn't want to hear from
you.
bye for now
mark

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