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Published: October 23rd 2006
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The Brothers
James arrives! Well my time in India ended a tad haphazardly when Jord departed for Vancouver, and after a long debate as to whether I should wait with him at the airport, I decided against it and fell asleep for a few hours in our hotel (run by a crazy man) and then woke up dreadfully late and thought I would miss my flight. I woke up at around 7am and the plane leaves in an hour and I was told it took an hour to cab out to the international airport. In a mad panic I fled my room and got in a taxi, yelling at my poor cab driver to hurry up and then through what I figure was pure and simple luck the ride wasn't an hour and there were basically no lineups at the check-in, immigration or security points. I also learned my flight wasn't until 8:20 so that bought me a bit more time as well.
Off to Thailand! The flight really sucked actually because the movie was in Hindi and the food was terrible but being only 3h50 minutes or so there were really no worries. Getting into Bangkok was generally speaking, a surprise for me
Khao San Road
It's like Las Vegas, but with noodles everywhere instead of casino chips. because the airport was incredibly modern, the VISA hassle free, and really there just weren't any problems or complications. Always expecting something to go wrong essentially paid off as it made everything very easy.
I met Ryan right away, he actually waited to buy a VISA (which was unnecessary) and he waited so long that it negated the two hours difference in our flight arrivals. Funny enough, after basically both booking our flights from totally different places and not really doing any coordination at all whatsoever, it was pretty cool we ended up there only 2 hours apart.
It wasn't long before I realized just how nice Bangkok is. After all the time in India, I think I could have flown pretty much anywhere and been easily impressed. Things didn't really smell, there was no behavior that bothered me, not even really any touts and only after a small stop at the ATM we were off to Khao San road which is essentially the most popular backpacking area of town where there are a myriad of people looking to hang out, have a good time and…’experience?’ Bangkok.
At first glance I thought I was in California, it
The Ring
Two men enter, one man leaves!!! was weird having no cows on the street, cars that actually follow the rules of the road, and pubs. Everyone has name brand clothing from elsewhere, and there were no hippies anywhere to be seen. Ry and I tried a few places and found it much more economical to stay just one block off Khao San. After dumping our stuff in our room we immediately began catching up and drinking beer. One thing led to another and sometime after dark, though neither of us recall when we ended up back at the hotel -first night in Thailand was a smashing success.
The next day we were so lazy and hung-over we didn't even leave our hotel -not once. They serve food downstairs and show a constant stream of pirated movies and we simply sat there all day in a cloudy haze of aftermath.
After our "day off" we actually tried to accomplish something, and went for a walk. It wasn't far, and all we did was buy a lonely planet book and throw some ideas around about what to do for the next half a year. That night, once again we embarked on another night of boozing that
Festival Treats
No idea what on earth these things are. My attempts to learn the local language isn't actually progressing at all. found us consuming 30 cent red bull drinks, a constant flow of cheap beer from the 7-11, several pubs, all kinds of songs and merrymaking, a miscommunication (my fault entirely) about the hotel room key and essentially, another successful night in Bangkok.
The next day (you may notice a pattern her) we again, did not leave the hotel and simply sat around (neither of us have really even watched a movie in months) we patiently awaited the arrival of my long lost brother (I decided anyone who doesn't go around the world with me is simply considered 'long lost') and his good buddy Trevor. After some hugs we then had a few beers and tried to catch up after a 13 month absence from each others lives until jet lag set in and we mutually decided to hit the sack.
Today however we saw all kinds of sights; it’s actually a Buddhist holiday today which made all the sights even more colorful and exciting. We checked out palaces and numerous 'Wat's' before sampling street foods and navigation the hidden canals scattered about downtown. Tonight we went out to see about a dozen Muay Thai matches at the arena
Waterways
More of a decorated waterway/canal near one of the Wat's, but I'm still a big fan of the canals for some reason. I can't really think of anywhere else I've been that has them. across town, which although were a rip-off for tourists -still really awesome. Trevor trains/trained in Taikwando and knew quite a bit about the kick boxing, so that combined with the raw basics explained to me by Jord ages ago made the whole experience even that much better. Refusing to purchase tickets to the tourist VIP area we fought the crowds of degenerate gamblers and shady looking bookies in the upper bowl that is cordoned off with chain link fence and where likely more people are hurt than in the ring itself. Money waving and hand signals for the odds were half the fun, and even though only a few fights ended with KO's there was still enough blood in the ring to satisfy us all.
I have to say the Muay Thai really is a cool and is far more cultural than I had thought, although its obviously an extremely popular sporting event they have these guys who play traditional Thai music and it creates a cool vibe while flower wreaths decorate the illustrious 105lb fighters as they smash the living hell out of each other for about 20 minutes at a time.
Tomorrow we plan to visit
Blood Sport
Going absolutely nuts at a clearly shady call the Muay Thai ref made and I nearly lost 50,000 baht. 'China Town' and then hit up some seedier areas of Bangkok in an attempt to escape the tourists before we head south. I've been far to spoiled here, its easily, thus far the easiest place to travel that I've been to, and it only makes it that much better with the delivery of north American deodorant, Canadian beer, moms butter tarts, Halloween candy from mom (I actually forgot about that holiday completely) and boxes of duty free cigars.
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