bangkok

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BANGKOK ( “Well, she's my wife now”)

Don't panic Mr Manwaring!! No, Anna and I haven't eloped and got married in secret, the subtitle is purely something I seem to have heard or overheard so many times since I arrived that it seemed worthy of quoting. To those that have been to this very interesting city I'm sure that makes sense and for those who haven't.........well please use your imagination or buy a ticket!!
Before I start this blog in earnest, I must say that I fully understand now why I haven't written one before; there is always so much exploring and so much fun to be had while travelling, that writing about it is very hard to fit in. As Anna often barks at me “There won't be anything to write about if you spend all your time sitting in the digs gawping at the computer stupid pants!!” Unaware that there was anything ridiculous about my underwear I took this onboard and got up at 7 this morning to get infront of the game. It is now Monday 11 Jan and this is the first chance I've had to catch up. I only have minutes before we have to pack up and prepare to move so I'll make this brief.
In a nutshell:
Bangkok to me is a frantic, fascinating, fun filled place with food to meet every fancy and far more besides. (Lots of f'ing in Bangkok!). Far cleaner than I expected of an Asian capital (sorry for any pre drawn conclusions), well organised and worthy of far more than the 3 days we spent there this time. Although traffic seems at a standstill for much of the time, the sky train is cheap, efficient comfortable and safe and getting around the city is actually pretty good fun. River taxi's link up with the sky train and after a day or so we got our bearings and could work out routes to most places.
ONE THING TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: well don't sue me if it goes wrong but if youre running l late for a date as we were for meeting Nige Filer then this is the way to get there pdq! I know it probably invalidates your travel insurance (we did wear helmets tho) and yes I am aware that if one of us was spilt off the back that the chances of the survivor finding the other are pretty remote but we did it anyway: firstly I should point out that tuk tuks here are the dearest mode of transport, with taxi's second and bike taxi's cheapest and quickest. This was not the deciding factor for us but time was and so, the guy running the show was at first reluctant to go to chinatown at rush hour but eventually agreed to 2 bikes for 300 bht (about 6 quid!!) When the second bike appeared (mine) I was horrified to note that my pilot was a little girl who weighed about as much as my left testacle! I quickly opted for a swap and got the head honcho to pilot me and in a whirl of 2 stroke fumes we set off! After the initial shock of losing anna and her infant pilot we were reunited at 60kmh at a junction and whizzed thru gaps that I would probably have failed to throw a basket ball thru, jumped lanes, rode on pavements, did everything bar wheelies and arrived not 10 minutes later at our destination. As we are both still alive and well I can laugh now but unless you really have to do it at rush hour, its probably best not to unless you are an adrenaline junkie and have someone to launder your smalls cheaply!!
Anyway, great to meet up with Nigel and his new mate the lovely Meena, we had drinks in his hotel, (way out of our travelling budget) watched a great jazz trio then noshed on some tasty delights sat on plastic stools for 2 quid each. (More like it for us!!)
The Royal Palace is a must see: quite a wonder of mysterious architechture and homage to Lord Buddha, we recommend the audio guides which at 4 quid may seem steep but explain everything that without them would not make sense. Great food in the market place about 2 mins walk from the river taxi pier!!.
Kao San Rd - As we stayed across town in Sukumvit (Soi 2) Kao San was just a passing visit for us, more backpacker orientated, good bars n shops with slightly lower prices than S'vit. Our hotel was pretty damned good. The Atlanta Hotel does not admit sex tourists, sexpats or anything of that nature, tho how they enforce that I do not know. It is a well run operation that caters for all needs (obviously within reason ahem!!) has a lovely colonial style foyer, basic but clean and adequate rooms, a lovely pool and garden area, wi-fi, restaurant (good) and serves beer for 55 bht (large) compared to 90 for a small one in the nearby....ahem …....girlie style bars.
Our first lesson in Thai was in a bar on Sio 4 while I watched England drag a glorious draw against South Africa. Our teacher was a lovely expat (yep, she's my wife now!!) who had an unfortunate speech inpediment that made T's and C's sound like “thfffeee” and thus rendered our lesson rather useless.
We are booked on overnight train on saturday to Suran Thani in the south though from they we are undecided on our next destination.
Number of nights sleep ruined by barking dogs so far: a glorious nil!
Number of “sharts· so far: also nil!
Overall rating: darned good fun/highly recomended!!
TTFN

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Photos

atlanta hotel
Well they let me in!

bar in sukamvit
curious!!

royal palace
anna & guard