First morning in Bangkok

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  Bangkok, Krung Thep, Thailand
Sunday, October 17, 2010

Jetlag woke us at 5am­­­­­­­ on our first day in Bangkok. We waited a couple of hours, then got up and went to the 7 eleven. Khao San Road was a different place early in the morning. For one thing it was actually a street, and could be used as such. Most of the food vendors had gone, the shops were closed up and just­ a few Westerners remained in the bars, still drinking. An old lady was sweeping the street – she was obviously doing a good job because I was surprised at how rubbish free the area was. The rain, which hadn't stopped since we arrived, and will probably continue until we fly out in a few days time, added to the impression that the road was freshly washed.

We woke Jonny and Christie at eight. As you can imagine, Christie was not at all impressed to find that a drunk guy had thrown up all over her shoes during the night. It made for a somewhat sour start to our day.

After breakfast we explored the pretty sois near Khao San. Then we found a taxi to take us to the famous weekend markets across town. As we drove through city we passed dozens of 5 meter tall shrine-like images of the Queen of Thailand set in ornate gold frames. The markets were just huge. We wondered around the little lanes for hours, occasionally stumbling across an area we’d already come across. The market, like all of Bangkok so far, was much more relaxed than I had imagined. Vendors hardly hassled us at all, waiting until they could see we were seriously considering a purchase until they made an approach. Jonny and Christie went on a big shopping spree, bargaining for the best prices for beautiful scarves and ripped-off designer clothing. There were endless amounts of amusing Tshirts which Nathan believes come from a factory of photoshoppers who are tasked with coming up with hilarious, and sometimes just plain random jokes. One of our favourites consisted of Mr. Bean as a storm trooper accompanied by a storm trooper duck. Like ... what? I’m having slight regrets about not purchasing that one, or maybe its counterpart – Obama as a storm trooper.

We shared an omelette, fried rice and pad thai at one of the market stalls. As the owner had promised, the pad thai was truly delicious. It’s not a dish I’m overly fond of in New Zealand, but this had lots of fresh ingredients and flavours. The stall owner smiled happily when I confirmed that he really did sell 'number one pad thai’.

Random impressions of Bangkok so far:

1. A girl rides on the back of her boyfriend's bicycle, shielding him with an umbrella as he peddles.

2. A woman uses a cat-shaped bubble machine in the middle of a traffic jam, and we smile at each other across the lanes.

3. An old lady with one tooth argues angrily with her neighbouring vendor.

4. A little boy stands outside his mother’s shop, peeing into the street that is running with rainwater.

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Jonny and Christie	Nathan at lunch	Number one pad thai!	Market stall
Huge T-shirt

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