Back to Bangkok via Tasty Trat

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I stopped off in Trat for the night before going back up to Bangkok. My main reason for doing so was to sample the delights of the night food market recommended by Maria the Canadian girl on Ko Chang. After I got off the ferry from Ko Chang I was hurriedly ferried onto a Taxi Truck heading for Trat full of Thais heading back to Trat themselves. I sat nestled inbetween a huge and hairy Thai teenager (gender: unknown) and a Thai woman and her precious little daughter. The ride itself was uneventful and Trat greeted us with two lanes of fairly busy traffic. I got off the taxi and defiantly headed in the general direction of the guesthouses. I must have still looked like a little lost lamb with a huge backpack though because a french man on a bike stopped and gave me directions. Turns out he owns the restaurant opposite the guesthouse I stayed at. I explored the backstreets and the main street - curiously looking through their department store. I then found the night market and made my way through all the locals shopping to gaze in amazement at all the stalls cooking whole ducks, po, Thai dishes, frying spring rolls, vegetables and the rows of jelly-like Thai sweets wrapped in Bananna leaves. I bought a Pumpkin cake sweet and a white one I assumed was coconut. I then sat down in the main square for a meal - you can choose little bits of each curry to go with your rice and I chose a pumpkin dish, a spicy vegetable dish and a chilli pork/chicken dish. I sat down on a table with some Locals, much to the amusement of a little Thai baby who kept waving at me and ushering his pot of yoghurt towards me. The meal was delicious, but I felt I needed some more vegetables, so I headed back to a little cafe on a corner for a salad and some herbal tea. I'd chatted to a trio of French travellers sat in the cafe earlier and they returned again for dinner, but they didn't seem interested in extending conversation further than 'hello, how are you?', so I sat and wrote my journal and read the book of tips and words of wisdom written by other travellers. There was even a fellow from Nottingham in there. Small world. I returned to the prison cell that was apparently a guesthouse room and got some sleep as I would be at the bus station by 7am for the bus back to Bangkok.

The bus back to Bangkok was a welcome improvement to my bus journeys from the previous few weeks: no music, 2 seats to myself and no unfinished bridges and makeshift ferries in sight. The driver did share the Cambodian driving obsession with beeping the horn though, even if there's no other traffic: 'BEEEEEEEEEEEP BEEP BEEP'. Still, it was only five hours to Bangkok so the occasional beeping was bearable. I'd already decided I'd attempt to find the bus to take me to the Khao Sahn Road area and assumed it would be a case of following signs at the bus station. Walking around the bus station, however, I realised the only signs were in Thai and there were no other Farangs to follow. I asked a taxi driver after he stopped harrassing me for a taxi ride which bus I needed to catch: bus number 3, apparently. I asked another man and the same answer was given. I then needed to navigate myself through the labrinyth of food stalls and cheap clothes to find where the bus actually was. My backpack was starting to grow heavy on my shoulders and the midday heat had evaporated any coolness from the air. I turned a corner and came to another car park full of buses and there stood bus number 3. I confirmed its destination with the woman at the ticket office and jumped on the bus. Within a millisecond my thighs began to stick to the old leather seats and I opened the window fully. Old, public buses in Bangkok are sweaty and crowded, but an half hour bus journey only costs 7 baht.

Arriving at the KSR area I was greeted with familiarity; an organised chaos I knew I could navigate myself through. I headed back to the Soi I originally stayed on and finally found a room with a private bathroom. I still haven't opted for a shared bathroom, 50p - 1 pound extra is worth avoiding any meetings with other people's urine and germs. I then went to meet Jesper, the Swedish guy I'd met in Kampot. We decided to wander through the Siam and Sumkhivit areas. We got the river taxi to Siam Square, small boats speed through the canals of Bangkok and large plastic sheets shield everyone from the spray of water when another boat passes. Siam Square is the shopping Mecca of Bangkok: huge department stores and skyscrapers tower above the crowds of people clutching shopping bags, wandering past the rows of restaurants and massage parlours. We caught the Sky Train, which is an ugly invention that sits crudely inbetween the huge shops and doesn't seem to be a productive mode of transport, to the 'Nana' area and then walked down the streets. We did find a park that seemed to be the evening fitness centre for the Bangkok population; groups of people were practising Tai Chi, young girls practised their traditional dancing with the parasols, runners sweatily huffed around the park, teenagers coregraphing dance routines, strapping young Thai men playing a game that seemed to be volleyball apart from the fact they used their feet to get the ball over the net rather than their hands. We watched in amazement at all the action, just watching it was enough to work up an appetite so we set off for dinner. I wanted to find a restaurant called 'Cabbages and Condoms': it's a restaurant that raises awareness of AIDS/HIV and condom use in Thailand and also runs many projects to help provide employment for women and help rebuild places decimated after the Tsunami. We eventually found it and realised it was a proper restaurant where dishes cost more than 100 baht. For the backpacker that is a lot of money. Still, we had a meal there which actually cost more than our rooms for the night! But the food was delicious and went down even better knowing we were supporting a good cause. The restaurant is decorated with condoms and contraceptives, making for many an amusing photo opportunity. You also get a free condom with your meal. It was an interesting contrast to eating at the street stalls in Bangkok anyway.

Jesper and I then headed back to the KSR for some beers and to perfect our technique of ignoring the headress frog women. Anyone who has been to Bangkok will know all too well the noise of the frogs. I think being forced to listen to that all day would be an effective form of torture. People watching is also a must on the KSR: old hippies tread up and down the road seeming to be looking for something they can't find (probably the spirit of Thailand 20 years ago), couples wander aimlessly in silence clutching shopping bags and trays of Pad Thai, young british lads clomp drunkenly around looking for the next bucket stop and just about every Western nationality is visible making for a fun game of 'guess where they're from'. Jesper drunk me under the table with the Chang beer and I wandered back to my guesthouse at 2am, stopping for Pad Thai on the way. I bet whoever was watching me guessed I was British.

Jesper and I met again the next day for breakfast and then wandered in the direction of Dusit Zoo and a few Palaces thinking we'd find a park to lie in. Instead, we found a Palace that looked like a European Palace with its Renaissance architecture and huge stages and seating being erected on the road area opposite. They were gearing up for the King's 80th Birthday on December 5th. The impending celebrations were inescapable as pictures of the King dominated the city, even more so than usual we were told. We then found a palace surrounded by a moat, armed guards and huge trees that actually shielded the Palace from view. We excitedly realised we may have stumbled across the King's humble abode. There was no getting near the place though and I didn't fancy a broken Thaiglish conversation with a man holding what looked like an AK47.

Jesper was heading to Chang Mai that night, but I was going the next night. So after booking my bus ticket I decided to get my first massage in Thailand. The little place I found was a quiet haven in the chaos and I took off my clothes and waited for my masseus. A little Thai Man popped his head round the curtain to check I was ready. I was ready for my oil massage. I knew already they massage places such as your bum and had no qualms with that. However, I didn't realise massaging my legs would entail the entire thigh, i.e. including the very top of the thighs. I lay there contemplating how comfortable I was with a tiny little Thai man massaging an area only reserved for 'special occasions' and realised the fact I was gritting my teeth was an indicator I was rather uncomfortable. 'Could you not go there so much please?' I asked in a squeaky voice and he promptly did so and avoided the top of my thighs on the next leg. I could now relax. He started asking me where I was from and when I answered 'Nottingham in England', he squealed grinning broadly: 'Nottingham Forest!'. It is a very small world.

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