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hello bangkok
this is when we had just got in the tuk tuk, looking forward to seeing the sights. Well.... i'm not even sure where to start, so i guess from where we left off is a fairly sensible place.
So our second day was overwelming to say the least, we thought we'd try out a tuk tuk, which was certainly a learning curve (as in we learnt to never do it again!)
we requested to be taken to the river bus, so we could go visit the grand palace and other touristy places but instead got taken to his (mr tuk tuk driver's) sponsers, which were various suit makers, jewlers and travel agents. i use the term sponsers very loosely, basically mr tuk tuk would get 30% of any money spent in the shop and free gasoline.
Anyway we eventually got to the river bus- a wierd longboat powered by a tractor engine, that we had to ourselves that seem to veer off down random bits of river (which was nice) although in a way we really got to see the poor areas of Bangkok and it was a bit of an eye opener. We also saw these massive lizards which we actually thought were crocodiles just swimming along side the boat and a little lady rowed up
"dave"
heres the guy that saw us coming. to us in her boat trying to sell stuff!!
yeah turns out we paid over ten times more than we needed to, which was absolutely fantastic on its own but then added to the fact that by the time we got to the grand palace it was closed just made for a truly fantastic, happy smiley day.
we pretty much just got back to the hostel and crashed out that night, more fed up than a bulemic in an all you can eat contest.
The next day we decided to find a new area to stay in, we'd heard about a place called koh san road so thought we'd explore, so we took a taxi (a little smarter from the issues the day before) and got dropped off at the start of the road, you could immediately see the differenced in the areas, so much more vibrant, and busy, really really busy. like mental. with people waiting outside shops and stalls ready to pounce on you like a horny badger, by this point we were getting the hang of saying no thankyou, i have enough suits, unfortunetely i seemed to have turned into some sort of pied piper, with
river boat
heres the other guys that saw us coming.
good views though. a steady stream of suit makers, tuk tuk drivers and general sales people following behind.
I think the worst thing was while we were being harrased we still had our massive backpacks on and the heat was intense.
After quite a while of looking down random streets, we found a nice little haven of guest houses and restaraunts on pra athit road, we've pretty much stayed in the same area for the last couple of days and met some really sound locals.
i think we're on day five now, kidnda' loosing track of the days.
Starting to really settle in, learnt some valuble lessons along the way and picking up a few thai phrases (or trying)
The other night we met some really nice canadians Nicole and Mark and and Irish man Shane and they have lived here for four years, spoke fluent thai and introduced us to their thai friends who are really cool and we went out to a club kulture which is a club but it was just starting out so more like a run down house,almost like something out of skins except with thai reggae and tiger beer (which is gross) and then spent
river shanty
one of the many houses on stilts along the river until the early hours of the morning drinking, stumbled home and did the same last night but at the bar are new thai friends work at called 8-12 (a play on words of the 7-eleven shops around here which are almost like a co-op at home), they were holding a chinese themed birthday for there friend and that was such an awesome night.
Anyways so we haven't seen the sites and done the tours but I'd like to think we've learnt more about thai culture by spending the last 2 nights drinking sang som (80% thai whisky) with some very friendly locals- bobi, yo and their friends.
what a difference a day makes....
Oh and just remembered something that made us giggle the other night- we were walking up koh san road in the evening, checking out the clubs and pubs and the tuk tuk drivers were coming up to us asking if we wanted to "go ping pong show" and made popping noises with thier mouths. good times.
Still trying to persuade yas to go, just out of curiosity obviously :-)
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Mary
non-member comment
Loving the metaphors...
Hi guys, It was nice meeting you today. Just wanted go leave a commentto say that I really enjoyed Reading your blog. I had a good chuckle when I was reading all of your similies and metaphors. Enjoy your journey! Look forward to reading along. All the best, Mary