Bangkok was a very welcomed section of the trip. Andy and I had already decided we were going to use our time here to chill out, have a few beers, lots of sleep and fit in the odd bit of sightseeing.
When we arrived in Thailand, we were greeted with the most incredible storm. The skies above Bangkok were so dark, it felt like night and the bolt lightening had the power of the Gods behind it. The rain fell as if we were stood under Niagara Falls! When the bus dropped us off near the infamous Khao San Road in Bangkok (backpacker central with lots of bars, shops and cheap hotels), we decided to sit the storm out with a beer. Storms and beers became the two constants during our stay in this entertaining city.
When the rain stopped and we decided to get on the move, we had our first experience of the ‘tuk tuk’ drivers in Bangkok. These guys are relentless and aggressive salesman, and some can be devious in their tactics. No day out in Bangkok would be complete without questions like “where you from?”, “what’s your name?”, “where you go mister?”, “why not want tuk tuk?”, “why you walk?”, “I take you round city for $10”, “Later I come get you?” Initially, we found it exhausting having the same discussion countless times within the space of an hour, but eventually we became conveniently deaf, and found being rude actually quite satisfying!
We stayed on a really nice street called Soi Rambutri only a couple of minutes walk from Khao San Road with lots of cheap restaurants and internet cafes. We found a new build hotel at $28 dollars a night for a beautifully decorated room with great air con, satellite TV, fridge and a balcony overlooking the temple across the street and the city beyond.
The Thai people are very patriotic and place their King on a pedestal. In the airport, in the streets, in the restaurants and bars we saw portraits of the Royal family adorning the walls. This year, the King turns 80 so the locals (men and women both) were mostly wearing bright yellow t-shirts with logos like “Long Live the King”. It seemed only fitting therefore, to show my support and buy my own sunshine t-shirt! This behaviour is just so typical of the Thai personality, they are a warm nation and having a predominantly Buddhist population, are peaceful and very spiritual. Indeed, we witnessed the family of our hotel sending one of their boys off to become a monk. Wow! What a celebration! It was a big street party that went on into the night, then resumed at around 7am in the morning until he entered the doors of the monastery that afternoon! There was lots of singing, dancing, music and of course drinking, mostly of the local whiskey Sang Som (lethal stuff that was responsible for Andy and I losing more than a couple of hours of memory during our stay in Bangkok!).
Bangkok has something for everyone, there are beautiful temples, great food, lots of shopping and of course a lively nightlife including the infamous “Patpong” District where for a small fee you can watch girlies use their squirrelly bits in the most unusual manner! Here are some of the highlights for Andy and I:
Grand Palace and Temples: This was quite a large complex housing the palace and a vast array of temples. The thing that struck us both in the eyes like a sharp stick was just how colourful and how ornately decorated every temple was. In Andy’s words “it was flirting on the fine line between tasty cultural monument and psychedelic seventies LSD trip!” We found ourselves really impressed with the mosaics and artwork of individual temples but felt perhaps someone should have shouted “less really is more!” The Palace housed a reasonable armoury display, and lots of cabinets with crockery once used by the Royal household – which was nice!
PatPong District: Andy was in Bangkok 8 years ago and visited this area with his travel buddy Jay and assured me that no visit to Bangkok would be complete without a visit to the ping pong clubs!! He was absolutely right I came away feeling like I’d had an out of body experience! When we arrived at one of these clubs, we haggled hard on entry fee before being lead through a very unassuming café and up some stairs to the club. After picking up our free double Sang Som and coke from the ‘madam’, we went in and found ourselves some front row seats between an aging American getting his tackle groped by two young Thai girls and a group of Thai women who looked like they were in the West End! We sat and watched (with equal amounts of shock and admiration) young ladies parade about on stage naked using their squirrelly bits to smoke cigarettes, store things like strings of razor blades and luminous butterflies and of course fire ping pong balls into a small glass – the house speciality and what the district has become famous for. Just as we thought things couldn’t get more bizarre, Andy was given a signed autograph by one of the girls on stage. This may sound innocent enough but let me tell you, she wasn’t holding the pen with her fingers!! Surprisingly good penmanship though, the cursive text was fabulous (said autograph will be on display in our future bar for those of you curious (or pervy) enough to view)! The final act for us was the choreographed live sex show. Of course we watched (rude not too) but decided to make a hasty retreat when all the girls returned to the stage for the punters to get to know them a little more ‘intimately’! It was an incredible experience that left me staggered, speechless, and feeling slightly inadequate!
Ayuthaya: This small town was the capital of Thailand for 417 years (ending1767). It sits about 2 ½ hours North of Bangkok. We visited two huge reclining Buddha statues and a plethora of seated Buddha, all covered in wonderful orange silks. We went on to see a large bronze Buddha, which was covered in intricate gold leaf. We then visited a number of temples, which were fashioned in a similar style to Angkor in Cambodia. Alas, these were not quite as well preserved as those of Angkor, having been ravaged by Time and War over the years. They were impressive structures none the less however, and managed to steal many hours of our imagination.
Kanchanaburi Floating Market: We took a long boat and cruised along canals, which took us through water streets of stilted houses until we reached the floating market. Here we found the waterways gridlocked with small boats selling all manner of food, drinks, souvenirs, novelties and party tricks! Alongside the canals were also static shops, which we found to be an incredible tourist trap. Prices were often 100% higher than those of Bangkok! We just took in the colours and the smells and the noise of the place before heading off to the River Kwai.
River Kwai: We thought it seemed only right to visit the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai whilst in Thailand. Before taking a stroll over the bridge, we stopped into the Death Railway Museum. This gave us insight into the awful way in which the Japanese treated the WWII POWs, during the construction of the 415 km rail link to Burma. It’s estimated that over 100,000 men died through disease, starvation and exhaustion. We took a stroll over the bridge, a large part of which is still the original structure, the rest replaced following Allied bombings. We were saddened when we read that the Japanese placed POWs on the bridge in efforts to stop the Allies from dropping bombs. Alas, the bombs were still dropped and many 1000s of men were killed by their own countrymen.
Tiger Temple: The Buddhist monks here offer their temple as a sanctuary to tigers that have been mistreated, or have been rescued from poachers seeking to sell them on the black market. The monastery does not get any government funding so relies upon those visiting the temple and charitable donations to house and care for the tigers. The place is in fact, an animal sanctuary. There are all manner of beasts wandering around the temple complex from donkeys to warthogs! The main attraction of course, is the ‘Tiger Canyon’, where you can meet and stroke tigers. We were taken by the hand and led to each of the 8 tigers in turn. We were allowed to bend down and stroke each of them. The fur was actually rather coarse but not surprisingly their claws were big and their muscular frame a little intimidating! One of the tigers I was stroking rolled over for a belly scratch, and as he stretched his paws out, I got full sight of his huge claws. Andy was stroking another that decided to get up and turn around to face him. The handler quickly withdrew Andy to another tiger! As beautiful as these creatures are, a reminder you must always be on your guard. It was a fabulous experience to be up close to one of Nature’s most beautiful creatures.
We really enjoyed Bangkok and our little jollies out of the city. If we’d have had the time, we would have loved to spend time on the coast also. There is so much of the weird and wonderful to see, a lot of history, a beautiful culture to experience and a very warm welcome. It’s a tourist’s ‘Mecca’. The Thai people speak wonderful English and they cater for every need. It’s a very easy holiday in a very exotic destination.
