Advertisement
Published: October 1st 2010
David here.........
Well, we've made it to Bangkok!
Managed to get through customs and to our hostel with very little problem.
The new high speed train from the airport was quick and easy to figure out and we found the hostel OK.
We've been upgraded to a Double Deluxe room, so we have our own bathroom.
The hostel is lovely, I have described it as Industrial chic as the walls and floor are bare, however it is all spotlessly clean.
Once settled into the room, we made our way out to find some food and drink. Ended up in the shopping centre food court across from the hostel and sampled Fried chicken with rice, a soup of salty water and coriander and stewed pork with rice. All of it was very tasty and cost us 2 pounds in total.
We then made our way to The Rock Pub which is near our hotel. We found it easily enough and were graciously ushered in. The walls were adourned with the usual suspects (Metallica, Iron Maiden etc) and they had The Scorpions playing on screens. A singer with guitar then took over and played accoustic versions of everything from The Beatles to Queen. He made us sing along to the chorus of Under the Bridge, which was fun. The best was yet to come though as the next band were a Thai group that played heavy metal covers and took requests, so we took great pleasure in shouting out various bands. Needless to say, we were there until closing time and spent far too much on Chang beer.
A brilliant first day of our travels.
Suzanne here now...
I feel so much better today, as I knew I would. Last night was brilliant. The band were actually great, of course there were a few 'lost in translation' lyrics but it was such good fun. The place was pretty empty so we felt they were playing for us. I asked for Twisted Sister and the band knew it but not the singer so I was invited to do the vocals. Thankfully I wasn't quite drunk enough to agree. I was drunk enough to get on stage with them for a photo op at the end of the night though. Oh dear!
Today has been good. We got a fast boat along the canal for a few pence to Phan Fa and tried to walk to the Grand Palace. Unfortunately there were some demonstrators in the area so we couldn't get near. Instead we checked out Kho San Road. Horrible. Cheap, tacky and sleazy - and not in a good way. I'm so glad we are not staying there. Touts kept shouting "Hey, Long Hair" at David and trying to sell him a suit! We felt a bit overwhelmed and out of our depth.
Anyway, we stopped for some lunch and a rest in the park and felt a lot better. The demo was over by then so we headed to the Grand Palace. All I can say is wow! It is so stunning I was lost for words. What an amazing, vibrant, beautiful place. It was like walking around a massive jewellery box, but it also felt really tranquil. I completely fell in love with the place - this is why we came travelling.
We then took a look around Wat Pho. Another amazing place. In fact, as today is a Thai relegious holiday, in both temples there were people chanting and praying, which really added to the atmosphere.
Apart from the people trying to sell us stuff, which we expected, the only small issue has been how helpful people want to be. It's lovely of them, but after 10 minutes of somone drawing you a map of places you don't want to see as you try to get away without hurting their feelings... well, we've got all the time in the world and we're here to meet the people as well as seeing the sights so we just have to smile and thank them. Really, it would be churlish to complain.
Just taken the fast boat back to the hostel (such a fun way to travel) and are going to have a rest and hit The Rock Pub again I think. You can never have enough rock in your life!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.049s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0275s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
George
non-member comment
Paint the town red!
Request some Wolfsbane - test them on their rock knowledge! :) Keep having fun! G x