Advertisement
Published: January 20th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Hello peeps!!
We are still alive and so far surviving Thailand!! Its Tuesday here 3pm, Day 4 of our adventures. Bangkok is great, a lot less stuffy and humid than expected, gorgeous temperature- late 20's- clear blue sky; no mugginess at all. Poo poo 11 hour flight; but Quantas are a good Airline, lots of not bad aeroplane food and free drinks and entertainment..... but my stupid abnormally long legs meant 2 hours kip grrr.
Hostel: well its a hostel!! so the expected odd cockroach and mouldy cellings, very noisy air con- but at least we have air con!! and right off Khaosan Rd which is THE street for nightlife and foreign traveller accomodation in Bangkok. Oh and we have our own bathroom which is a bonus. Anyone that knows us will know we eat almost everything, and the authentic Thai food out here, as you can expect is emmense- Nicest dish so far is shrimp hot and sour soup which tasted like a red Thai curry mmmmmmmmmmmmm...................... but as expected they put yucky Coriander in EVERYTHING!!! But; I can pick around those bits!!!!!! Some things expensive- 2 vodka cokes 250 BHT which is 5 pounds!!!!! So we soon
clued up if you stick to the local beer or the buckets of death (which we havent been brave enough to sample!) its cheap as chips!!! meal consisting of 4 beers, and 2 courses each will cost 8 pounds so you cant grumble!!!!
Have been on a tuk tuk all round Bangkok today, very nice local man showed us where to go on the man and arranged a tuk tuk to take us to all the landmarks in 2 hours costing 60BHT which is 1 pound!!!!! Yellow Cabs take note!!!! Its a pretty hair raising experience though!!!! Went to loads of Buddhist Temples, and went up 500 steps of the Gold Mount and saw an amazing view of the city. We also went to WAT SAMPHAYA which is an 850 year old monk school, which was so peaceful and tranquill, which is weird and its in the middle of one of the most populated cities in the world (10 million residents)
Thai people are really nice and friendly, I think a lot of them like to practise their English on you. A lot comment on how tall we are; and they LOVE English football, they are obsessed!! Its
on every channel!! So are quite disappointed when we say we come from Nottingham as opposed to Manchester!! They are so many white men with very young Thai girlfriends- not even old men either- young men too, but it seems to be a mutually beneficial arrangement!!! Loads of Ping Pong shows too which we havent braved!!!! In some of them you are given a ping pong bat.....to return the service I presume!!! Ewww.............
Yesterday we got up at 6am. yes, yes i know aren't you impressed? but they day before we did sleep solidly for 14 hours!!! And paid 13 pounds for an excersion. First stop was the floating water markets, where you go on a large pointy wooden boat down a maze of canals and look at the different market stalls- some lovely things to buy- anything and everything- carvings, paintings, loads of stuff for your house, clothes (although mainly in mini Thai sizes) As we were going to the Tiger Temple later that day we were informed we would need to buy some trousers and a shirt, as typical westerners we were wearing next to nothing, and its quite fun to haggle with them, bought 2 shirts
for 600 BHT as opposed to the 2000 originally proposed- Han's too embarressed so she left that bit to me!!!! Well if you dont ask you dont get!!!
Next stop was the Bridge over the River Kwai, which we knew little about apart from the fact a film was named after it and it had something to do with WW2. We went to the Death Museum and read up on the subject, and I found it very upsetting. 30,000 British soilders perished at the point; and many more other Allied troops. The picures and stories were just horriffic; we saw skeletons of the dead and lots of the ammunition, shells and guns that were used. What a miserable existance those poor troops lead. Just makes you realise just how lucky you are.
Our final stop was the Tiger Temple- a Bhuddist temple in the middle of no where. Years ago some monks came across some baby orphaned tigers and took them in and looked ater them. They introduced some more male tigers and voila! They mated and now have lots of monk-reared tame tigers!!!!!!! You were not allowed to wear red or orange- presumibly to not confuse the
tiger in thinking you were one of them!!!It was so so so so amazing (well you know how much we like puss cats!!!!!) we actually got to stroke some tigers- tickle their tummies and everything!! They really are the most magestic of creatures, truely beautiful. You cannot believe the size of them-their heads and their paws!!! Amazing.
Well best we off- havent had anything to eat yet!! We're staying in Bangkok one more day and then jumping on a train and heading south to the islands- still not worked on a tan yet. I am so so pastey!!!
Till next time xxxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.19s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0675s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Clare
non-member comment
Greetings from Bridgford
Hi Bangkok Babes Glad to hear things are going okay. We have enjoyed reading your travel blog----- keep it coming.It does seem strange you not being around and I think you are being missed in some quarters !!!!!say no more. Are you still getting your fix of Trash mags.....I am missing mine! Keep enjoying, love Clare xxxx