Sounds and Smells of Bangkok

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I awoke to Christmas Eve rocking back and forth on the train. I opened the curtains and found Dan already awake in his bed laptop open and a frown on his face. I made myself presentable and crawled down to go to the toilet. Going to the toilet (a squat toilet) on a train is very difficult. Firstly the train moves a lot and aim can be difficult. Secondly the floor is always wet which presents a couple of problems; it makes the floor extremely slipper y, and is it just water from the basin? Or is it something entirely different altogether? With the necessary actions accomplished I wandered back to my bed to the sounds of clearing phlegm out of throats - a fantastic sound to be surrounded by.....

With the beds folded away I settled in to watch the outskirts of Bangkok appear outside the window. To help pass the time Dan began to make conversation with a Japanese man. Six degrees of separation rears its head again, we soon discovered that he lived in Brisbane and now teaches in Manado in Indonesia. It is such a small world.

The train finally came to a halt in Bangkok after twenty one hours of travelling and I picked up my pack got off the train. After getting a feel for public transport in Malaysia we had a chat to the tourist information and worked out which bus we had to catch to get to Kho San Road which we knew was close to where we were staying. Bus 53 finally came along and with a hand in the air I hailed it down and we both jumped on with the question “Does this take us to Kho San Rd?” With a nod from the bus conductor we were on our way. Knowing that the journey would take an hour I settled in and watched the busy world of Bangkok pass us by. Not knowing the city that well a kind local woman asked the conductor to let us know when it was our turn to get off. I was feeling confident with this arrangement but Dan wasn’t and was carefully following the map inside our bible - the Lonely Planet guide and he continually asked where we should be getting off.

After an hour or so in congested traffic of smoke and tooting horns the bus conductor gave us our cue, this was our stop. We quickly gathered our packs and made for the door - no body waits in Thailand. We then had to find an internet cafe as all the details of where we were staying was on my email. So much for being organised! With a quick scan of the email from the guest house and a look at the map we were on our way again with our packs on our backs. It wasn’t long before we knew we were getting close but the directions seemed to take us through a maze of tiny alleyways. Another kind local indicated to us to follow him as we wound through the alleys and came to Phiman Water View. Looking at each other with that knowing look of disaster impending the door was opened and we found ourselves right on the Chao Phraya River looking onto the Rama IX bridge. It was a little piece of heaven in Bangkok.

With a tour of the dorm and the shared bathrooms we got organised and walked the ten minutes into Kho San Rd to organise our bus trip to Koh Phangnan where we would be meeting Amy and Warwick for new years. With Dan’s favourite Pad Thai in our tummies we walked back to the guest house and caught up with Mum on Skype who was getting ready for Christmas the next day. We had arrived in Bangkok.

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Photos

The Train Ride
Getting sleepy, just waiting for my bed

Shanty Town
The outskirts of Bangkok. There is no government welfare or public housing here

Dan's Pad Thai
Dan waited five years for this!

Phiman Water View
A little piece of Bangkok heaven