Day 5 - Bangkok - Si Lom district and Alligators
Trip Start
Jan 23, 2013
1
6
117
Trip End
Sep 09, 2013
Pathum Thani, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Monday, January 28, 2013
Author - Lynne
The pouring rain, booms of thunder and sharp flashes of lightening woke us up a couple of times last night but by morning it had all dried up.
We went down to breakfast at around 09.45hrs, we are only just making the deadline and didn't wake this morning until 8:20 hrs.
As we didn't need to be at the station until 21:30 hrs, Terry paid an extra 500 b (£10) to keep our room, so we could wash and chill before catching the Chang Mai sleeper train at 22:00hrs.
Wandered out the hotel and decided we had seen enough historic sights for one week so headed to the modern Si Lom area as this is where the Lady Boys hang out.
We took a Tuk Tuk to Hua Lamphong railway station ( we cannot pronounce this but the Tuk Tuk drivers accept our efforts of 'Humpa Lumpah) and boarded the underground east for 2 stops. The subway is very clean, airy and efficient and good value for money. When we emerged into the daylight we discovered the other Bangkok, modern, richer, commercial and boring unless you like shopping.
We wandered around an impressive shopping mall four storeys high and then stopped for a coffee and iced mocha. Nice but, very commercial.
After an hour or so of walking we decided to have a stroll around Lumphini Park, a big green space akin to Central Park in NY. We meandered without purpose along tree lined avenues, over canals, between pagodas, shrines and various sizes islands. We picked a shaded bench on the middle island for a rest when I spotted a large reptile swimming toward us. Terry took one look and said it was an Alligator, and started to scan the immediate area dramatically for any way it could get out and get us. I wasn't convinced, as it seemed to have a small head but neither of us had our glasses on; Terry said what I thought was a head was, in fact, it's jaws. Not convinced that even in this country Alligators would be loose in a public park we decided to take a risk at it leaping out of the water to have a closer look; needless to say I was right and it was, in fact, an extremely large lizard that we believe might have been a Komodo Dragon. Throughout the rest of our walk we saw loads of them scampering about, up tress and in the grasses and bushes -mad..
