Bangkok Part One: At Night

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Having heard from so many people, especially Lewi, about what a vibrant, fun city Bangkok is I was excited to finally be making the pilgrimage there myself. We arrived into the southern bus terminal and took an air con bus (what luxury) to the backpackers mecca of Khao San Rd.

It was a crazy sight. The cobbled street itself was narrower than I had expected and was lined with restaurants, souvenier shops, photographers, guesthouses and quite a few large fancy hotels (didn't expect those either). In front of these taking up all the pavement and half the street were all the stalls selling jewellery, clothes, fruit, pad thai, spring rolls, sunglasses and second hand books. Then in the middle of the road were all the people, two weekers, long term hippies, hawkers for pingpong shows or a new suit, and the odd stranded motobike or tuktuk trying desperatly to weave it's way through this hectic scene. And then there was all the noise, guest house employees calling out to you "cheap rooms, very clean", the sizzle of noodles in the wok and the wafting scent of chilli and soy sauce. It was a buzzing, vividly coloured, mad scene and I loved it!

It was however slightly tricky to wiggle through the crowds with our cumbersome backpacks on but we managed. After checking a few G H options we reached the end of the street having not found anywhere to stay, either too scummy or too expensive. So began another midday hike around town. Down Rambuttri street (a mini Khao San) and then up to Santichaiparkan park. This patch of green beside the river housed a pretty Dutch looking white fort complete with canons. We then crossed a canal and found ourselves in a maze of quiet backstreets and eventually found River G H. It seemed to be perfectly located, near enough to enjoy the delights of Khao San and the greater city, but yet in it's own oasis of calm near the river and park. The security turned out to be pretty tight too, I rang the doorbell and an older gentleman leaned out of an upstairs window, he then dangled a key at the end of a fishing rod so I could let myself in, brilliant! Inside the G H was bright and pretty, a central courtyard and lots of plants gave it a charm that others we'd seen lacked. The six white cats that lorded over the place were the finishing touch, I liked it a lot. Plus it was only 220 baht and had free wifi, that sold it to Lewi.

By the time we'd showered, rested and managed to turn the room into a tip it was 4pm, we got back out there before the day was done. Our no.15 bus got stuck in traffic as it headed across town to Siam Square, but only half an hour later we were there. This fashionable area is home to all the monster malls, of a KL standard they have top designers and high street faves spread over the many floors. The 'Paragon' even has a Ferrari/Merc/Lotus showroom, an aquarium, an IMAX cinema and a bowling alley - as extras if you like! We enjoyed the window shopping, and then hopped on the efficient skytrain monorail overhead to have an Indian curry in 'Little Arabia'. A couple of games of bowling at the luminous 'Blue O Rhythm and Bowl' capped off a long, hectic, but extremely fun day.

The next day we spent wandering through our nearby neighbourhood, buying a few new clothes-finally something different to wear, swapping books and eating our way round the Kaoh San street stalls.

The day wizzed by in a whirl of colour and soon it was evening. We planned to check out the much hyped nightlife of Bangkok tonight, so dressed in our best we headed to one of the swankiest bars in town. On the 60th floor of the Banyon Tree Hotel is Vertigo bar. We must have been the only ones in this stylish establishment to have arrived by bus, but this didn't bother us one bit. The completely open air bar had very elegant furnishings and just a chest high glass barrier around the edge, the view of the night cityscape was amazing but too near the edge was truely vertiginous. Luckily Lewi and I didn't suffer and thoroughly enjoyed our frontrow seats, complimentary wasabi peanuts and honey cashews went so perfectly with our cocktails we asked for a second helping! It was an expensive treat but the delicious cocktails and fantastic sights made it worth every penny (I mean baht).

Still buzzing we left this glamourous hotel and caught the metro across town to the clubbing district. Now that we're getting old we forget that places still want our ID, it was safely stored back at the G H, luckily the bouncers used their eyes, clocked our baggy eyelids and let us in to the exclusive (read bloody expensive) 808 club. Once we'd swallowed our shock at the massive entrance fee and the free shot that came with it, we went straight to the dancefloor. The talented DJ-ing duo Designer Drugs were rocking the place and as the night progressed the crowd got rowdier and crazier. We were loving it, such great mixes and music choices, sadly Bangkok now has a 2am noise curfew so by 3am they were pushing it and the speakers were silenced.

Our ears ringing and feet aching we jumped in a taxi and sped back to our place. On the way we got a free Thai lesson from the friendly driver who told us some important phrases: Pang mak mak = too expensive, and Mai mi ban haas = No problem.

What a great night, as far as we were concerned Bangkok had lived up to it's reputation. As the drinks in the club had such hefty pricetags we weren't ailing with hangovers the next day, just tiredness from the late night and all the dancing and walking. So we took it easy, chilling in the park watching the world go by. Later on we took one of the super speedy river express ferries down river, we did a spot of temple viewing but only from the boat. They'll be time for all that and more when we return from Cambodia to meet my family. As the wise man once said, We'll be back!

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Comments

[Eric]

I enjoyed your Thailand post. It reminded me of my time there. My blog is looking for good travel photos. If you have the time, check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric