Bangkok
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2007
1
63
Trip End
May 16, 2008
Where I stayed
Bangkok, Thailand
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Arrived in Bangkok at 4pm local time. I met a fellow traveller on the plane which calmed my nerves. He was travelling alone as well so I already felt more comfortable! Will and I shared a taxi from the airport but he was staying at a different hostel so we swapped emails and went our separate ways. Bangkok is busy and polluted but also exciting! Soi 1 Guest House on the Sukhumvit Road was friendly enough and i'd only put my bag down when I started talking to a girl called Becca. She had started her journey same time as me last year and had started at the same place so she gave me loads of advice. She's actually sitting next to me right now as I write this. We went out for dinner and a couple of guys called Tim (Australian guy at the end of his travels) and an english guy called Scott who had only been travelling for one day. We went out for a few drinks at a bar called Gullivers then had a reasonably early night as I was shattered. However, Scott and I had arranged to go sight seeing around Bangkok together the next day which was exciting!
The next day (Sunday 4th Nov) we set off to a boat at about 10am which was full of thai people and we crammed in as we zoomed up the river. We got off then got a tuk tuk to various attractions around Bangkok such as various sized Buddha's, some lucky, some with dead cats around! Nice! This year is the King's 60th birthday, or at least a major one so everyone's wearing yellow t shirts which is the colour for the day he was born. Not sure why yellow! We went to the TAT which is the tourist information centre and booked a return bus to Chiang Mai (up North) and a train to go down South afterwards. We wanted to go see the Grand Palace but we ran out of time. So instead we got a different boat down the river to the sky train. The sky train is great but only has a few stops which is a shame as you can't trust or rely on tuk tuks! That evening we went to Patpong which is an area of ping pong shows and lady boys! We ended up in a gay bar, but didn't realise until after an hour or so! The Australian owner was very talkative to Scott surprise surprise! Haha!
Next day (Monday 5th Nov), I was determined to go see the Grand Palace before we headed up North. Scott and I have the same itinery for Thailand which is great because it means I have a friend... and he carries my bag sometimes!! We walked to the Grand Palace because we refused to be messed around by tuk tuks. It took us 2 and a half hours through dodgy backstreets, china town and stinking heat! However we got there and it was definitely worth it because it is stunning!
Our taxi arrived to take us to the VIP bus at 7pm and we had the funniest taxi driver! He pumped up his music really loud and was singing and dancing around in the traffic jam! The bus wasn't bad once we got there after we got through all the Bangkok traffic and the journey was fine. We were scheduled to arrive in Chiang Mai at 6am (8hr journey) and we had booked a hostel so everything was running reasonably smoothly.
Comments
Hey!
Hey you! Hows it going out in Thailand? Stay away from the MBK it's where i got abducted and forced to gamble! =^O
Hope you are having a good time out there! Have fun!
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