Advertisement
Published: August 13th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Sunset on Railey
Literally one of only two sunsets that I saw from a beach Here I am on my third and final day in Bangkok. I fly out at 1:20 am tonight and stop in South Korea, Japan, and LA. Earlier in my trip I passed through Bangkok, but never spent the night here. My first impression was not good, but I must admit that this place has now grown on me. I could easily spend another week here.
I had a relaxing couple days on Railey Beach, spent reading and swimming and eating. Now, I have seen the infamous Thai lady boys all over the country, but for some reason the most convincing ones seem to congregate on this beach. In some cases, it is literally impossible to tell if you're looking at a man or a woman, even if you're only a foot or two away. I put much effort into guessing on several subjects, and it's just not possible. The voice is the only thing that gives some of them away. And the over-friendliness haha. That being said, there are always many more cases where the truth is exceedingly obvious. They run around in packs, and I spend the better part of an afternoon trying to hide from one of these packs
Khao San fireworks
Apparantly celebrating my departure, which may or may not be a complement. that took a liking to me. The native Thai people find this hilarious. On a different subject, my last two nights on the beach were the first two in which I simply could not sleep. I probably got a combined 4 hours of sleep the last two nights there.
I spent most of the last blog complaining about over night buses, and therefore I was forced to take another over night bus to get to Bangkok. I found that it helps if you just truly accept that fact that you won't be sleeping. The ride was long, but at least bearable, and we got into Bangkok at 5:30 am. I had some breakfast before wandering around trying to find a nice guest house to spend my last two nights in. Khao San road is the traditional Backpacker's ghetto/place to stay in Bangkok, but if you walk about two blocks, you come to the much nicer Rambuttri area. I ended up in an air conditioned room with two beds and a hot shower for the hefty price of $12 😊
I budgeted about $40 dollars a day for this trip, but as I averaged about $28 a day, I had plenty
of money left over to shop at the end. And really, a couple hundred dollars goes a hell of a long way in Bangkok. On Friday I went to the MBK shopping center, which is a 7 story structure with hundreds (maybe thousands) of small shops selling everything you can imagine, along with huge department stores, a movie theater, and food court. I saw that along with your traditional screens, the theater also had one called "VIP movie." I had heard good things, so I bought a ticket. You get a huge recliner and a fluffy blanket with waiters to bring you shakes or food during the movie. For 6 dollars, it's definitely a good deal.
I spent yesterday shopping on the Khao San road, which despite the tendency of many 'wise' travelers to bitch about this place, is really one of the most interesting spots imaginable. The prices there are cheaper, and there is actually a better selection. The common complaint is that Khao San lacks any 'real' Thai culture, but more than half of the people wandering and shopping are Thais. And where else can you see groups of Chinese Rastafarians buy fried crickets from a Thai skater
while simultaneously being offered a fake driver's license, a trip to Vietnam, a tattoo, porn, and a mango shake? It's hard to top having a drink, putting on headphones, and wandering up and down this street.
I'm going to attempt a mental recap of the whole trip (as if all of the previous blogs don't exist) - Flew into Bangkok and got right on a train to Nong Khai, staying awake for 55 hours before spending two nights there and crossing into Laos; arrived in the capital of Vientiene and ten minutes later was on a 2 dollar local bus up to Vang Vieng; spent several nights there riding motorbikes in the jungle; took a horrible mini van ride up to the French'ish Luang Prabang, spent several days mostly eating on the river, took two day boat ride to Chang Mai; stayed there several days with a large group and saw the sights, took a night train down to Bangkok with Sarah, sat around for 12 hours and took an over night bus to Surat Thani; took a boat to Koh Phangan, went to the full moon party and stayed for a couple days, then split up with Sarah
and got a boat to Koh Tao; stayed for like 9 days, playing guitar, kayaking, snorkeling, and eating; took several boats and a bus across the isthmus to Krabi, stayed a couple nights and hiked the 1200 stairs up to a temple; took boat to Railey Beach for a couple nights, then a boat to Koh Phi Phi for a night; back to Krabi for a night, then bus to Trang where I got stuck for the night; bus to Hat Yai then bus to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; stayed a night or two and saw the Petronas Towers; bus down to Singapore, stayed for a couple nights, then bus back up to KL for a night; bus up to Cameron Highlands to cool off and see the tea plantations; over night bus to Krabi followed by a boat to Railey, stayed several days, then overnight bus to Bangkok; shop, eat, sleep, and fly home.
I beat the odds and went the entire trip without a bit of food poisoning, or even a stomach ache. I also got no open wounds of any kind. I believe the bird flu incubates for a while, so it's too early to make a call on that. When I was down in Singapore, I was secretly hatching a plan to rush up to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat, but was incapacitated by a very soar throat. I'm very happy with how the whole trip went, but if I could change one thing, I would spend much more time in Laos. It is such an interesting country with so much relatively unknown history. I really recommend that you read "The Ravens."
And don't read random science fiction from used book stores, because the odds are really against you...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.048s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 14; qc: 25; dbt: 0.029s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb