Bustling Bangkok

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Sweaty, hustling,bustling, muggy, lively,, bright, dark, busy, smelly (in good ways and bad), hot, humid, ugly, beautiful .... just a few adjectives one could employ to describe the chaotic urban melting pot that is Bangkok .... possibly the only capitol city in the world where you could get run over by a shop.
We found our digs for our 2 night stay in a funky little backstreet between a temple and KhaoSan Road, assisted by Lee, a 40 something cockney we'd met on the plane to Mumbai, who talked more than I did, and Woyeciek, a twenty something Czech who'd met Lee on the plane to Bangkok and was more laid back than even Mike was. Our room at the sawasdee welcome was clean-ish and had a lot of creature comforts for the bargain basement price tag so we couldn't grumble. Whilst I caught up on sleep, Mike joined Lee and Woyeciek for a tuk tuk tour of the sights. When he got back, we set off in search of food, having realised it was a long while since we ate. we found a very cool bar in the adjacent side street to ours, lit by multicoloured paper lanterns and playing reggae whilst the punters sipped cold drinks, chopsticked noodles into their mouths smoked shisha and watched the world go by. we joined them and whiled away a few hours watching the tourists arriving carrying packs big enough to conceal several corpses and struggling down the crowded streets dragging suitcases on wheels over the grime. rocks and dropped street food. We patted ourselves on the backs for our frugal packing and little backpacks.
Our next day was sprent hunting down a camera. we took the 9 baht (that's about 10p to you and I) canal ferry up to Siam Square, watching as the shanty towns and floating market got sloshed, splashed and bashed by the wake from the speedy canal boat. Our attempts to find a bargain in the incredibly Westernised air conditioned, chrome and glass malls was fruitless so in stifling heat we gave up and retreated to the plush, cool cinema to wathc 'Meet the Fockers'. I enjoyed the film and the time out of the oppressive heat was much appreciated! We returned to Khaosan Road and immediately bought a camera and silk liners to sleep in. Why had we not looked here first?? Never mind, we had them now.
we met Woyeciek for a few beers that night and learnt that he had spent a lot of his previous night in Hospital with Lee who had had the misfortune of getting food poisoning from a street cart on his first day. Poor bloke. Woyeciek ensured us lee was now OK and had gone off to hook up with a group of people he'd be travelling with for the next few weeks. The 3 of us toured the outdoor bars, including the uber cool Gypsy Lips - a converted VW van decorated in fairy lights on a street corner - and were thoroughly entertained towards the end of the night by a duo calling themselves Bunny and the samurai ... a Samurai playing guitar and a bunny girl singing along as they wandered the streets singing and smiling .... only in Bangkok!

Ignoring the constant calls of 'Where you go?' 'You want Tuk-tuk?' we headed toward the Golden Mount armed with a map and a strong determination to make the journey under our own steam and without being picked up by a tuk tuk driver whio insisted on taking us on a city tour before dropping us at the Thai Export Centre. We did brilliantly until a friendly local at a big crossing scribbled a list of places we should see on our map, told us all about his city and herded us into a waiting Tuk-Tuk saying 20 baht, he will take you everywhere, have good time!' Bewildered we sped off in the Tuk tuk ... back the way we'd just come. I'm still not entirely sure what happened. One minute I'm exchanging pleasantries with a friendly local, the next I'm whizzing back the way I came in a sticky hot tuk-tuk....
After he'd dropped us at a temple we'd expressed no interest whatsoever in seeing, Mike put on his firmest voice and asked the driver how much to the Golden Mount. He replied by way of a puzzled look and said he was doing tour. Mike repeated that we did not want a tour, we wanted to visit the golden Mount. The tuk tuk driver said he had to do a tour and take us to the Thai export centre to get a fuel voucher. Mike said no, peeled off 20 baht, gave it to the still confused looking driver, took my hand and walked away. I was very impressed with his show of strength, but also slightly unnerved. I had no idea where the hell we where.

After wandering half lost through thieves market and the outskirts of China town, we finally spotted the Giant Swing which we had some inkling was near the town hall and democracy monument. We headed toward it and sure enough, we were on the right track. Almost 2 hours after we'd set off, we arrived at the Golden Mount, a truly beautiful, peaceful and awesome haven in the chaos of Bangkok. The temple and Mount nestle amongst trees, flowers, birds, rocks, carvings and waterfalls and the views over Bangkok are spectacular ... it's definitely worth a visit.

After 2 days in Bangkok we were ready for the peace of the beaches and hopped on a night bus to Krabi .... Bangkok is great for a short stay but any length of time there would probably have sent me mad!!!

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