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Published: October 26th 2006
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hello all;
Well here we are, after a long journey, with a stopover in Doha, flying with Qatar airlines, we had a lot of trouble with it, first they would not give us leg space in spite of arriving 3 and half hours before the flight to book our seats and even with difficulty getting our seat together was a fight! we got them in the plane from London to doha but then doha to B'kok they had put us separately, so I tried to change that, which we achieved with the technician getting us the worse seat possible... not being able to lean back to sleep and no screen to watch tv. no choice of food as by the time it got to us it was all been taken so well a difficult flight with no sleep at all!!! but any way we made it here and we are absolutely loving it! it took us 13 hours in all to get here, without counting transport in London and then the bus in Bangkok. just flights and transfer.
Bangkok just doesn't loose its charm for me, it is my 4th time here and every time again it feels like a
new adventure. We had difficulty getting flights to Hanoi in vietnam which the travel guide lonely planet says are easy to get, but Vietnam airlines was close din the airport and thai airline is just too expensive.
We made our way by bus to Khao San road, the backpackers road in b'kok, got a room for 700฿ which is over a 10er sterling a nigh with aircon and a swiming pool on the roof, very clean and tidy, so rather good to start with. We took a 4 hour nap thinking that we did not want to waste too much of our first day in the city, when we woke up, we felt like sleeping more but instead we managed to get our strength together and get out and about.
Michael got some sleep during the flight and I had woken up at 2,20am the morning of departure so it was rather long 48 hours with no sleep for me, Mickey got some in very uncomfortable conditions...still we managed to have a walk in the splendour of the backpacking area, with all the knock off t-shirts and shoes, great stalls with food and juices, which was the first
thing we got. Mangosteen and pineapple, and papaya and mango! Yummy!
In spite of our tired bodies we decided to go for a walk, so I brought my man to the river side, had a long walk and took a ferry for 3 Baht across the river, were we stumbled upon a theatre school, there I obviously tried to get in touch with the director and offered to give workshops in my sty when I come back in November to teach trapeze and rope, it could be fun, the place is very clean and well staged, with student rehearsing, modern Thai art on display and little children pupils in martial arts pant playing about and praying to the shrine of Buddha and the diverse masks of Thai theatre... we had a light meal there and a Tiger beer whilst sweating in the humidity of this city, whilst it got dark...
The riverside peers are all flooded, as the river is really high but this doesn't stop the market stalls and the people commuting from work to get onto the busy ferries and back. At the other side of the river it really was tourist free B'kok with local
going onto their food shopping and gossiping ladies making comments about our whereabouts! unusual to find oneself in a non-tourist area in this city.
When we crossed back to the Royal Palace side of the river to head back home (hotel) we passed a market that was struggling with the floods waters, and due to it closing down, in all this parts of the city we had not one single Thai person come and ask us for business of any kind, or to try to sell anything to us, which felt really nice. We took a Tuk Tuk back to Khao San road had a few beers and some street food thinking we'd have a rest, we laid down and put the tv on but in 5 minutes Michael was deep asleep and I couldn't be bothered, so went to sleep, by about 11 pm we were woken up by the loud sound of a club next door...the Thai pop music screeching us awake, we were tired and I had just popped a sleeping pill in but the noise was just too loud, so we decided to go out to investigate.
At reception we were told that music
and alcohol sales stop a 1 AM, so we went for a walk, ate from a nice street stall some Pattai, which is noodles with vegetables, eggs, shrimps and herbs with peanuts and chillies...had a beer and by then it got to be 1,30 am. so we made our way back and slept some more.
We woke at 11,30 with this lady shouting at our door, you stay another day...check out is at mid-day...this in a funny thai accent that brought us into laughter...after having slept 14 hours with a 1 hour break to eat. we were feeling rather in shape and fit to tackle another day in B'kok. We made our way to the swimming pool on the roof and in the baking tropical sun, we dried before heading to our room to pack again and check out.
It took us about 30 minutes to find another hotel which is on a side road, closer to the river and really quiet, nice clean room and has also a pool. this time for only 500Baht.
We made our way to a restaurant, for Breakfast were the gay waiter and a girl waitress were salivating over masculine military
americans passing by, which was really funny, this stylish restaurant has a good selection of food and really is pleasant with the staff always laughing and being really polite and sweat.
We made our way by tuk-tuk to the Royal Palace and temple, with its beautiful golden stupas and Jade Buddha, Gold everywhere, these Thais like their Bling!!! for me it wasn't new as this is my third time visiting, but as Michael doesn't know the place much we took a guide, who explained much about the Royal family and how the history of the country has been set. Really good to take a guide as it really makes you understand how and why these things exist.
When we finished here we went to Wat Po (wat: means temple) which is the temple where a giant lying Buddha is, we made our offerings and prayed on the diverse areas, took photos and enjoyed the calmer ambience of this place, i also found out about my massage course for when I come back in 3 weeks...
After, another tuk tuk ride back to our street we went for dinner, Mickey bought some military shorts and plastic clogs for well 2 quid which they sell in London for 30 Sterling, and some music CD's 6 for 500 Baht ( 1 pound sterling = 69 Baht). we had seafood dinner and now we're here, close to the hotel where we're getting ready to shower and go into Gay Bangkok to see how the gay life is here...show Michael the ladyboys and the openly sexual ambience that exist in this city...
Tomorrow morning we're up at 8 as we're of to Hanoi, the flight is at 12pm...so now it's time to party a little amongst the poofs of Thailand, and we will update you soon.
Hope you enjoy your read.
hugs
JMA and Mickey
Tuktuk = motorbike taxi's in which you seat at the back, on double seats, like the Indian rickshaws, only here they are more decorated, adn you rather lay in them more than sit, as we're tall and therefore if we want to see the landscape, we need to lay back.
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christine
non-member comment
hoi
Hoi Eli en Michey Ik zie en lees in ieder geval dat jullie het naar jullie zin hebben...op een paar plaatsen op de foto's ben ik ook geweest...toen der tijd met Nardy. Ik hoop dat jullie nog een fijne vakantie hebben, kusjes en groetjes uit Nederland, Hans en Chris