Still in Bangkok
Trip Start
Apr 10, 2005
1
2
90
Trip End
Dec 09, 2006
So we have been here nearly a week now (can't wait to get out of Bangkok!) The water festival was going on for about 5 days - Thai people certainly know how to party! We decided to give up on the Khao San Road after about 2 days and decided to consult the Lonely Planet (a.k.a backpackers bible) of other parts of the city we could explore. It was getting to the point where we didn't even want to step out of our hotel (we had moved from our plush 4* hotel to a cheaper one just down the road) in fear of getting soaked walking down the street by water gun toting armies! There were trucks with about 20 people piled on driving road and shooting everyone as they passed. Siam Square appeared to be about 10 minutes away from the hotel so we jumped on the local bus (73) and headed there - to our relief the celebrations weren't really going on here, apart from a few small children with water pistols on the road side. We experienced a more 'up market' side of Bangkok here - there were two large super modern shopping centres with all the designer shops (i.e DKNY, Calvin Klein etc) at cheaper prices then home, it was hard to contain ourselves and had to keep reminding each other we are on a budget (I found it especially hard when passing shoe and hand bag shops!) Although it was pretty much walking around a shopping centre back home - I think me and Matt were glad of a bit of normality, it is quite hard to see so much poverty around you all the time (hope this doesn't make us shallow). We certainly saw a different class of Thai people in this area. As we didn't want to go back and look at the same 4 boring hotel walls we decided to make a night of it in Siam Square - the only bar we could find was a Hard Rock Cafe which was full of young Thai woman all over ugly old Western men but it was happy hour so we got drawn in and there was the prospect of a live Thai rock band. May I just add the local beer, Singha and Chang is really strong - we both keep feeling tipsy after about 4 beers!! Cheap night I suppose! We hung around for the band and don't get me wrong they were really good but the first song they did was Britney Spears to follow was many other modern day pop but it was good fun all the same. The evening after we discoved China Town - there is quite a large percentage of Chinese & Indian people living in Thailand. This was more of a cultural experience. The streets are packed full of market stalls selling all odds and ends, plus the kitchens are on the road sides and the people eat at the back away from the road!! We have seen a lot of weird and wonderful things that they eat but have yet to try anything from the stalls. Every road appears to be a main road - I am amazed there isn't more accidents here, it's crazy. It has all been an experience but the sooner we get out of Bangkok the better! We braved the Khao San Road on Friday(the last day of the festival)and managed to get a guest house, so things were looking up! We are going to find a travel agents and book our tickets to Ko Samui (island just off the East Coast) to do some serious chilling out.
