Moving on Up Part Two

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The blog was starting to run a bit long, so I figured splitting it was the best plan - I couldn't have ye getting bored, now, could I? So Tuesday, I did pretty much nothing, and I mean nothing. I suddenly realised that this might be the only holiday I have for a while, if I have to get work stright away in Melbourne, so I decided to chill for the day, and it was great! No sight seeing in miserable humidty, or getting hassled by the locals, just a completely relaxing day. Plus I knew I had a book exchange venue in Jimmy's, so I wasn't as worried about keeping them for the plane to Melbourne. Headed off to Jimmy's to change my books at about 6, and then grabbed some food. As I was looking for a place to eat, I got hailed by an English guy this time, Steve, temporary manager of the 1 More bar, who was trying to drum up custom. So I pointed out that I'd be able to drink more once I had some food in my stomach, and he let me go on my way with a promise to call in on my way back. Went to the Snooker bar and restaurant for my chicken and cashew nuts (yum!!) where I met a little puppy very interested in my white pants. In fact, I had trouble going up to pay, cause he kept biting them and dragging on them! By the time he nipped me accidently for the third time, though, I decided enough was enough and gave him a bit of a clatter. He sat there then looking all cute and abused and sorry for himself, and I cut and ran before he had a chance to recover! As promised, I made my way back to the 1 More bar and got introduced to some of the patrons.
Lisa and Bryan are a couple that I met there, she's englsh and Bryan is South African, and they had been living in Thailand for 2 months, and were planning on staying for at least another 8 months. I had some great chats with the two of them, particularly Lisa. gthey confirmed what Steve and Emma said about the Tiger Temple, that the tigers are drugged, and some of them have these big iron collars and chains on. I'd already had my fill of animal cruelty, so I decided to cross that off my list of things to do completely. The three of us, a very nice Dutch man named Hank, Steve, and Jan, one of the bar-tenders, stayed drinking till about 2, then we would have had to move inside the bar to continue drinking. There was soccer playing on the tv, and I didn't fancy it, and neither did Lisa and Bryan, but they are renting a place in Kanchan, so we went to the 7-11 first and got some snacks and drinks, then headed to their place. We stayed up till about 6, chatting and drinking, it was good fun.
Of course, getting to bed after 6 meant that I slept half the day away, and again just sort of took it easy until I met up with Lisa and Bryan at the bar. They'd already had food, but David was passing by and came to Tai Thai with me, the best restaurant in Kanchanaburi, or so I was told. I can confirm that the food was pretty good, if a little spicy. That was a little worrying, as our trip to the 7-11 the night before had led to buying hotdogs, as you do, which led to dicky stomachs for all three of us the next day. Ah well, you can't go to Thailand and not have digestive trouble at some point! But it did mean that myself and Lisa were on water for the night, and Bryan just had a couple of beers. Lisa told me about a mini bus service back to Bangkok, for only 160 baht, twice the price of the government bus, but the squeaking was still ringing in my ears at that stage, so I was intrigued. The two of them also advised me on a couple of must-see things in Bangkok that I'd be able to catch if I headed off early the next day. So we finished up at about midnight so I could go back and pack up, and Bryan could watch the rugby. Hopefully they will email soon, and they'll be able to access this blog then! They really helped make my stay in Kanchan a more pleasant one than Bangkok.
I managed to haul myself out of bed by 8.45 the next morning so I could go down and book my mini bus trip to Bangkok for 10.30. It was really handy, they come and pick you up from your hostel, and are supposed to drop you at Khao San road. Sat next to two English sisters for the trip back, Rachel and Naomi, and we just chatted the whole way back. They loved Thailand and this was their fifth or sixth trip each there, but agreed with some of my complaints about the hassle, and the animal cruelty too. I've decided that the love a lot of people have for Thailand, I already gave to Egypt, and I've no love left for Thailand! Everything people say to me about Thailand, I can totally apply to Egypt, so that might be part of my trouble with Thailand - it's just not Egypt!
As I said previously, the minibus was supposed to drop us off on Khao San road, but I guess the driver got hungry, and even with all of Rachel's arguing, dropped us off a bit away from Khao San. All I can say is it was a good thing they were there, cause I had no idea where we were, and I just followed them till I spotted Donna's guesthouse. Another good suggestion from Lisa - I booked the room for the night, left my bags there while I went to the couple of tourist attractions, and then had a shower before heading off to the airport, and all for a huge €4!
The first place I headed to was the Grand Palace, and it really lives up to its name. But it kind of gets overwhelming after a while, and it's like your brain just can't absorb any more. But what I could absorb was spectacular, the art, but also the time and money dedicated to these undertakings must just be incredible. Whole lifetimes, maybe even generations of work must go on to achieve the level of work that can be seen there. Also got in to see the Emerald Buddha, which is part of the Grand Palace complex, before my brain decided to shut down. That was fantastic, very reverent air in the temple there, a nice place to just sit for a while (but have to be careful not to point your feet at the Buddha). Then I tried to find the exit, and believe me, other people were having just as much trouble. And that's how I ran into Eamon and Brian, two lads from Waterford who had just arrived in Bangkok. We clubbed together to find the exit, and then they decided to come along to see the Reclining Buddha, so we strolled down to that, which again was spectacular. But we all agreed that (a) It all kind of becomes meaningless after a while, there's so much bombarding you, (b) You could never get an Irish person to dedicate that much time and energy to anything, particularly not to something religious and (c) Thailand should be a wealthy country, but it's all tied up in its temples! It was nice to have fellow cynics along, I have to say! We all headed back to Khao San, where it lived down to all the lads' expectations, and grabbed some food. They were heading to Chiang Mai the next day, it's a pity our trips hadn't coincided a bit better, it could have made my Thailand experience a bit more fun. But I bid them farewell and headed back to have that shower and get on my way.
Arrived at the airport 3 hours before my flight in an attempt to avoid queues and to get an aisle seat, only to find out that the flight was delayed by two and a half hours. Believe me, Bangkok airport is not the place to spend 6 hours waiting, particularly at their gates, which don't even have vending machines! But it was a chance to catch up on my diary entries, and to sort out all the bits of paper I had accumulated. If my computer hadn't played silly buggers, it would have been a great place to catch up on my blog, but such is life. We finally got in the air at midnight, and I was on my way to Melbourne! Stay tuned for the next installment i(f you're not too bored yet!)

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