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Cabbages and Condoms
This restaurant is an institution in Bangkok and has founded a charity to educate Thailand's poor about contraception.
As a direct result of its projects, the previously out of control birth rate has been cut by nearly 70%.
Their food is excellent too.............. A new experience was gained on our first day in Pattaya and I can now cross “have my haircut by a lady boy” off my bucket list………..at long last!!
Having been away for over two months now my locks were beginning to look a mess (leave it!) and a trim was definitely called for. The little hairdresser salon on the pier where we’d just had lunch seemed perfect so, leaving Angela to pay the bill, I popped back and peered in through the window. The lady owner was alone in the shop and cheerfully beckoned me in. As I walked through the door though, and in a manner reminiscent of Blofeld from the James Bond movies, the barber’s chair spun around and there sat the lady boy barber. (He she didn’t have a white cat and say “ah, Mr Cotton – I’ve been expecting you……” so not that much like Blofeld really).
It was too late to turn back now and, as I’ve mentioned previously, I’m a live and let live kind of guy so just got tucked in for the ride, so to speak. As it turned out, the finished coiffure was great and it was a relief
Crossed Off The Bucket List
It's quite unusual to be enjoying a cold Singha whilst having your haircut by a lady boy.
For me, anyway. to be cropped as it’s just so hot out here. Now, I’ve heard about some, let’s say, unusual endings to haircuts in Thailand so let me be crystal clear. This one finished with a Kop khun krap (“thank you”), a firm handshake and a hasty departure………..absolutely nothing else!!
The cross country coach journey from Kanchanaburi to Thailand’s sin city resort of Pattaya had a strange start as, yet again, we found ourselves in a decidedly dodgy bus station being stared at by bemused natives. On the dot of 8 am, deafeningly loud music started blaring through the PA, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood for the National Anthem. No matter that the bus’ scheduled departure time was 8 am, the “lese majeste” (criminal offence of insulting the Royal family) I’ve mentioned previously sprung to mind so we waited patiently for the dreadful cacophony to finish and were finally on our way.
Six hours later we arrived in Pattaya which is located about 100 km south east of Bangkok. It is widely and notoriously known for its sex tourism so we’d thought long and hard about visiting but, eventually, took the plunge. This proved a good decision
Sin City
Pattaya definitely has its seedy bits but there's also many really nice parts and some very, very coolly named clubs!! ultimately as, although there were definitely areas to avoid, it is a big place and has lots of great things going for it as well. The bay is wonderful with a beautiful, expansive beach, high quality accommodation is very reasonably priced and the same applies its multitude of restaurants.
Walking Street and Drinking Street (yes, there is one!) make up Pattaya’s equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah so we avoided them like the plague. Jungles of flashing neon signs, deafening music and stinking of stale beer, both streets team with countless identikit girly bars. These all contain a square, functional bar, several scantily clad women and a pool table. It’s unbelievable just how many there are of these places but I guess the supply and demand principle applies and they were all busy with a broad spectrum of customers.
The only problem about being married to map girl is her amazing, unerring sense of direction means she immediately knows if our driver has gone the wrong way (I would just continue to grin inanely and be totally unaware). Often she has a much better idea of our desired location than the so called professionals taking us there and this
The Sofitel on Sukhukvit
Completely confuses taxi drivers who don't call it that apparently - imagine doing a u-turn across and then reversing back up that!! was definitely the case for our taxi ride into Bangkok. The journey started ok with it taking just an hour and a half from our Pattaya hotel to Sukhumvit, the famous highway that runs right through the centre of Thailand’s capital. We were just three miles from our new hotel now but the traffic in this city doesn’t move quickly. It goes very slowly indeed, In fact, most times it’s below walking pace.
And, for long periods, it’s completely stationary………
That last three miles took well over an hour with us two nearly shedding tears of frustration because, and no prizes for guessing who pointed this out, we’d come off the motorway a junction too soon and not right by our hotel as we should have. Our old driver who spoke very little English (must make some progress on my Shazaam for Languages idea) seemed completely oblivious to his mistake and continued to painfully crawl along, inch by inch. He’d also got us on the wrong side of the carriage way and, with six lanes of nose to tail traffic to cross, a u turn wasn’t going to be easy. To be fair to him, he did manage
Camper Van Cocktails
There are lots of these dotted around Bangkok and they're cheap, great fun and serve excellent drinks too. it much to the chagrin the other drivers (we just closed our eyes and hoped for the best) and, to lighten the mood, I joked to Angela about him now missing the hotel on the way back up Sukhumvit.
He did.
The embarrassing result of this was we now had to reverse back along one of Thailand’s busiest roads but, somehow, we eventually made it. To add insult to injury the old driver then blamed us for overshooting the hotel because we’d referred to it as “The Sofitel”; apparently taxi drivers don’t call it this. We tried to explain to him that that’s its name but he wasn’t having any of it…..
We had five nights in Bangkok (as opposed to Murray Head’s one night which made a hard man humble apparently – a song written by Benny and Bjorn of Abba fame by the way) and loved every minute of it. This is a crazy city where anything goes and people watching is the only entertainment you need. Every night we’d take our stools at the outside bar on the corner of Soi 5 and just watched the world happen around us. Monks, Arabs, lady boys
Cheap Charlies
Get a stool, grab a beer and watch the madness of Bangkok unfold all around you.
Not only does Charlie serve cheap drinks, he turned cobbler on this night too as he pulled a troublesome nail out of Angela's shoe for free! (of course!), Sikhs, hippies, prostitutes, Thais, farangs, backpackers etc etc wander past, the sky train thunders overhead whilst tuk tuk drivers tout for a fare. Young Indian guys try and sell you hooky Rolexes and there are several VW Camper Vans which have been converted into mobile bars serving delicious, potent cocktails for 100 baht each (less than two quid).
Every inch of street is used to sell absolutely anything you can counterfeit - you name it, you can buy it. Bangkok is world famous for its street food so all day the air is filled with the most amazing smells of satays barbecuing or noodles being wok fried on stalls built around scooters. Our favourite dish was Pad Krapow Moo, a simple meal of pork mince, garlic, chilli and holy basil served with steamed rice and a freshly fried egg on top. Costing 50 baht a pop, it is deliciousness is rivalled only by a newly discovered revelation – mango sticky rice!! A German girl urged us to try this as we shared a songthaew and I wish I could see her again to say thanks – it’s just amazing. Carnation cream is added to coconut milk along with a little salt. You pour this onto the rice and eat along with the fresh, sweet mango. Wonderful!!
And, with sadness, it is now time to leave Thailand. We’ve had seven amazing weeks here that have done nothing but reinforce its position as our favourite destination by miles. It's a country of contrasts, from stunningly serene islands and beaches right the way through to crazy, chaotic cities. The culture is rich and varied, the food fabulous and the Thai people as warm as the weather. It will be missed and we'll be returning just as soon as we can.
Today we embark on the final leg of our trip, a few days in Hong Kong and a visit to the Chinese equivalent of Vegas; Macau.
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
I have enjoyed following your travels...
and agree completely that mangoes and sticky rice are the best dessert going!