Advertisement
After hearing my name being boomed and mispronounced in a Thai accent (MISS Lousey Beard) to the entire airport (of course Thai style logic Fliss was not allowed to enter the part of the airport I arrived in) I met with Fliss and boarded the bus into Bangkok centre. The bus was full of the usual backpacker suspects - most milk bottle white faces, expectant expressions, dozing from the long flights and the early morning landing and then there was Fliss and I excitedly chatting trying to cram in 15 months of gossip into a 20 minute (Thai 20 minute) bus journey. The bus driver decided to take the scenic route to Ko San Road - I hopped out with my backpack (well dragged it down the bus stairs) - the hustle and bustle, smell of fragrant street side food and the humid heat, i knew i had finally arrived and followed fliss to our new home (well for 4 nights anyway). Now I was up for getting all grubby in Ko San hotel tradition and joining fellow travellers in some dingy guesthouse, no air con, teeny beds and suspect smells........er nope. Yes a guest house on Ko San Road but
to my complete and somewhat disappointed surprise the room was large, air conditioned, really clean (apart from fliss’ stuff sprawled everywhere) and our own bathroom- yipeeee. I have since discovered that by the roof top pool there is a beauty centre (tomorrow a pedicure me thinks) and a bar. I said to Fliss that I really wasn’t expecting this and is this what ‘real’ travellers do...she answered - well Lucy you are not exactly traveller material rocking up in your Prada sunglasses and has a Longchamps bag as hand luggage - ok point taken 1, 0 to Fliss.
I met Jamie, a girl who was sharing the room with Fliss - as I flew in, she flew out that night to go onto Melbourne, dumped my stuff in the room, had breakfast in the hotel and we went off to sort out my visas and have a mooch around.
Fliss has convinced me that ‘Aladdin’ trousers were needed for the bus journeys and elephant jungle treks ahead and argued that they were very in trend, I just had to look around - i was reluctant at first but bought a pair of dark grey ones anyway as I
can never resisted a bargain (180 Baht) and Fliss bought some more blue ones.
I also had to buy a smaller rucksack so not to look ridiculously sloaney, so what with this, my visas and needing suitable leg wear I had not come out as the most prepared person (surprise surprise).
We got back to the room and I slipped on my new purchase - Oh my god amazing didn’t want to take them off they were so comfortable, that was it, I was officially a looser! Fliss and I started to prance around like lunatics in our trousers- she adopted the name Jasmine and me, Aladin. Why am I always the boy?!
In the evening, after the excitement of the trousers using matchsticks to prise my eyes open (I hate jet lag) we jostled past the people in our faces selling tuk tuk rides, wedding dresses, suits, ‘cheeky boyfriends’, husbands, jewellery, sunglasses, bags, clothes, frogs, giant lighters, sunglasses, ladyboys, braids, fans, cocktails, ping pong shows and bar invites and went to a more chilled area for dinner and beers. I had forgotten how good the food is out here and how much I love Thai food.....typically touristy
5 seconds of glamour!
For once fliss and I donned our make up and hit the Bangkok party scene! I ordered Pad Thai and then my other favourite on the menu- Morning Glory- it’s basically swamp cabbage and have changed the name of it, no idea why! Yes dinner was taken ‘sans’ Aladdin outfits.
That night we were faced with a cockroach in our beautiful room(!) it was hiding under a bench and we decided that the best method of attack was for me to jump up and down on the bench to make it vibrate hence terrifying the cockroach to run at Fliss where she was positioned with my £2 primark sandal (which Fliss assures me is an unnecessary travelling item). In reality the cockroach remained stationary so Fliss proceeded to swipe at it numerous times to ensure it was definitely dead.
Today, we were up quite early and headed to breakfast, already a sign that i have switched into travel mode, i didn’t wear make up to breakfast and didn’t take an hour to get ready, well when in Rome ( I saw a girl the day before wearing Pj’s at breakfast). Pasta for breakfast with toast was interesting (carb alert!) but the juices were delicious.
We headed to the Grand Palace, bypassing the
usual transport modes of tuk tuks and taxis we decided to walk in the sweltering heat. It wasn’t far and I needed to work off the carbs from breakfast. There is a reason most people in Bangkok (including locals) do not tend to use shanks’ pony as a priority form of transport - it is just not built for pedestrians. We had to tackle zebra crossings which similar to other places in Europe do not mean a thing, work our way around a ring road in the safest fashion (we were determined to do it on foot) and swerve around motos and tuk tuks buzzing by. We arrived at the palace to be told our outfits weren’t suitable... no surprises there. Fliss had cunningly packed a pink sarong and long sleeved white top I had set on the Aladdin pants and thought a wrap for shoulders would be sufficient - sadly not! I had to go and collect suitable attire in the form of a peach polyester shirt with a Sebastian (man again) label on the pocket chic... I looked like a lesbian cleaner who should be collecting 20 baht from Westerners wanting a poo on a squat toilet and
yoghurt anyone?
we found this delight in a thai supermarket - yum yum this was the first photo of me in Bangkok to my delight.
Loser Lucy Tour Guide Facts:
The Grand Palace
• Was established in 1782 for King Rama and consists of the Royal residents and throne hall, a number of Government as well as the renowned temple of the Emerald Buddha.
• It covers an area of 21,000m, surrounded by 4 walls 900m in length.
• The Emerald Buddha is caved from green jade and was 1st discovered in 1444 in Chang Rai
• The upper terrace of the palace includes 4 main monuments; a reliquary in the shape of a golden cheldi; the mondop (a repository for Buddist sacred scriptures; a miniature Ankor Wat and the Royal Pantheon
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 7; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0411s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Nina
non-member comment
Miss Lousey Beard is definitely sticking for ever! They clearly saw the beard coming :-) This made me laugh so much at my desk, thanks girls, wish I was with you so much! make sure you get loads of laughter lines xxxx