Bangkok

Day 12 – Friday 27th of February – Bangkok, Thailand

I had only paid for one night when I checked in, because I planned to move to a fan room. After one night I decided I couldn’t live without the aircon, and paid for another night. Breakfast wasn’t included which I think is pretty normal in Thailand, so I headed to a nondescript café in Khao San Road.

My day was to be taken up by a visit to the Grand Palace, a series of historic buildings, temples and halls that featured displays of Thai culture and heritage. On the way, I was informed by a kind and friendly stranger that the temple was closed and that I wouldn’t be able to get in anyway because I wasn’t dressed respectfully enough. This is the usual line of scammers that then try and convince you to see some other bogus temple and pay for a taxi ride there. I ran into an Italian guy who had been spun the same line, he was concerned that maybe we weren’t dressed respectfully enough. I suggested we find out from the actual place.

The Italian was on his own in Bangkok, on his way to Bali to live and work. He was originally from Rome, and was a professional photographer for fashion and events. He had had enough of the crazy city life and wanted a bit more of a relaxing setting, so off to Bali he went. He was an interesting guy with pretty flawless English. We decided to tour the Grand Palace together.

When we arrived we were quickly ushered into a reception area where we brought a ticket and had to put down a deposit on ‘loan clothes’. Half of what the friendly stranger had said was true, you do need to be wearing respectful clothing. For men, this meant long pants and at least short sleeves. For women, this meant no miniskirts and at least short sleeves. I was given an ultra groovy pair of green pants that reminded me of doctors scrubs to put over my shorts. We followed the masses to the entrance, where we surrendered our tickets, and entered the main temple area.

The whole complex was simply amazing. The number and range of different buildings was quite staggering. There was some construction work being undertaken, but it didn’t affect the viewing of the Temples. The whole area was bordered in an undercover walkway / gallery that hosted scenes of divine intervention, and were painted and detailed with gold. They were pretty impressive, and as the sun started to fall in the sky, the pictures would shine back at you.

The largest of the temples hosts the emerald Buddha. The story goes that this Buddha was made from clay, and one day  it’s owner saw a chipped off section, which revealed a the amazing emerald underneath. It was quite beautiful, and despite the heat, I spent a good amount of time just observing the coming and going of the visitors. You are required to take your shoes off before entering any temple, and you must not point your feet at the Buddha.

After a good hour or so, I moved onto the next section of the Grand Palace, which features halls and administrative buildings. There was an interesting museum on weapons used through the ages. It was quieter on this side and I spend some time sitting under a tree, to escape from the sweltering heat. It was close to closing time, so I headed back to the entrance with the Italian guy. I deposited my clothes and headed back to Khao San Road. On the way, I booked my VIP bus to Ko Samui. I will be heading there tomorrow at 8pm, and thank god, Bangkok is crazy town.

I decided that some Pad Thai was for dinner, and at 40 baht or AU$1.90, it was a bargain. I sat down at a place called Silk Bar in the middle of the strip, and ordered a Singha. It was nice to remove myself from the road and just watch it all happen. I was sitting far enough back in the bar to not get hassled by street vendors. After a bit, I started chatting with two English guys that were sitting behind me. We ordered another round and they chatted about their travels and their plans. I offered them advice in Melbourne, and they London. Whilst sitting with the guys, the music suddenly increased in volume and about 6-7 local guys started clearing some room on the road. A break dance session had begun. They were quite good, and we soon realised that the bar owner was giving them free drinks in return for making a nice crowd out the front of his bar.

I was pretty buggered from my day of wondering around, so I wished the boys farewell and headed off to bed. On my way back, you guessed it, I found a Bubble Tea street vendor, and for 10 Baht, or 45 Australian cents, I had a green tea with pearls. If you don’t know what bubble tea is, see my previous post on Ho Chi Minh City.

I am leaving Bangkok tomorrow. It is funny because I have wanted to leave since the minute I got to Kao San Road, but today I saw the culture, and it was beautiful and worthwhile. I think I will change my opinion to… I hate Kao San Road, although Bangkok isn’t getting a compliment just yet.

Day 13 – Saturday 28th of February – Bangkok, Thailand to Ko Samui, Thailand

I was up pretty early, as today I needed to check out, stash my bags somewhere and follow a suggested daytime itinerary from WikiTravel. It would take me to some lesser known Temples, along Bangkok’s river system, through the rich district and back again.

I started at a place called Wat Pho, the home of the reclining Buddha. It was about a 15-20 minute walk from Khao San Road, past the Grand Palace, where I had been the day before. On the way, a friendly stranger informed me that I was silly to have forgotten it was Saturday, and a national day of worship, so the Buddha was closed to foreigners. He kindly suggested I come and see the standing Buddha instead. NO THANKS! I cant actually believe anyone falls for those scams. It is written in every guide book and tourist website that you should only ever believe the people at the ticket booth of the attraction. Eventually, I got there.

It was pretty stunning, a gold statue of Buddha, over 60m long and 30m high at its highest point. The noise in the temple was the thing that amazed me the most. For good luck, you can buy a bag of coins, and then deposit them in a series of jars behind the Buddha, along the back wall. The constant noise of coins being dropped was really beautiful. It was this point that made me want a DAT location recorder. I tried to record the sound on my camera, but it was useless.

After spending some time in there, I had a wonder around the grounds to the smaller temples and buildings. My WikiTravel advice said to exit behind the main building, so I did, and headed through a local market, to the river ferry to get to the other side, to visit Wat Arun, or the Temple of Dawn. It was quite a sight as we motored across the busy river, but as I got closer, I realised how run down it was. It looked in desperate need of a coat of paint and maybe a high pressure hose. I circumnavigated the whole site, then crossed the river again via the ferry, to wait for the Chao Phraya River Express.

After a few minutes, this large boat appeared and did a very interesting docking job. It passed the pier, then revved very hard in reverse, banging the back of the boat against the pier. This was the moment you had to hurry and get on, or off. The boat was filled with a mix of locals and tourists. The guide on the boat would speak English in a thick accent, and make very dad like jokes, but he was quite amusing. I disembarked at ‘Tha Orient’, to view the rich district of hotels, including The Orient, judged as one of the best in the world. It was fun to sticky beak, and the doorman even tried to take my bag as I approached the front, I had to explain that I was just there to look at the shops… Yeah, like I can afford a Louis Vitton anything!

I ended up wondering up to the main road, turning left, and walking for about 15 minutes hoping to get to China Town. I got very lost and ended up heading back to the river to catch the ferry one stop. As it turned out it was a good 4-5 minutes on the ferry, so walking would most likely have killed me in the Bangkok heat. When I got there I found a mass amount of stores, mostly clothes and other products. There were also a number of large chain stores, like KFC and Subway, but instead I headed into a shopping centre and followed the signs to an authentic looking place. I ended up being the only white guy in the whole building which the locals thought was great, as did I. I ordered some Dim Sum, specifically BBQ Pork Buns and dumplings and they were super good.

After lunch, I needed to figure out a better way to get back to Khao San Road, and so I set out in search for the bus terminal. I think I walked around for about an hour in the sun, before plonking myself down at a bus stop in frustration. Whilst sitting at the bus stop, I realised that Red Bus 15 ran through here, and that it was this bus I needed to take. They are great busses, with always open windows and plenty of locals with their arms out the sides. I rode the bus until the conductor told me to get off and pointed in a general direction.

I headed back to the Hotel to have a bit of a read up on Ko Samui and possible waste some time before it was time to go. I ended up chatting to a German girl who was leaving for Australia in the evening. She hadn’t checked out yet, and offered me her shower before I left. I agreed enthusiastically, not looking forward to my 16 hour traveling journey ahead of me. I offered to buy her dinner as a repayment, because due to her late checkout, she had incurred a cost of another nights stay. She agreed, and so we ate at the vegetarian place next door. She spoke only broken English, and at times it was quite amusing to see her trying to think of the words, or struggling to understand what I had just said. She was hoping to get work in Australia, without a work visa. I suggested fruit picking and wished her luck.

My then, it was time to go, so I walked her to the Airport Express bus, and then went to wait at the Travel Agents for my bus. I was collected by a guy who already had about 3-4 people in tow. We then proceeded to walk to about 5-6 different spots and pick people up, eventually ending up right near my hotel, which I was not impressed about. Eventually, after getting tickets from another travel agent, we boarded the very cool bus and were on our way. The bus was quite cool, with seats that reclined a very long way, and thick curtains to block out the street lights. It was called a VIP bus.

This is where my journey begins, you will have to keep reading into tomorrow to find out the horrors experienced on the journey.