From Narita Airport (Tokyo) I flew into Bangkok. Immediately the air was warmer and thicker. After paying way too much for my taxi I arrived at my guesthouse Sukumvit On Nut Guesthouse. Situated down an alleyway crawling with mangy dogs and grubby children the guesthouse was surprisingly tidy. As soon as I walked in I was welcomed by a 45 year old Australian man who looked like he came from the outback and talked way too much for his own good (who later on insisted on following me everywhere to ensure I was oriented and knew where to find MCDondalds and KFC), and a carribean-londoner called David who was a spitting image of that guy off the movie “The Beach”, quite appropriate seeing as I was in Thailand and looking for adventure!
7am came to me as a scurry of lizards around my bed so I got up and had myself some Thai porridge, which to my disappointment was infact extremely watery, salty rice with a boiled egg plopped in the center, not hot creamy oats.
Most of my day was spent at Lumphini park relaxing under trees and watching big goannas sunbathe around the lake.
A little interest was given to the 2-baht-per-piss public toilets also. To be truthful I was really struggling with the noise, traffic, pollution, people and general city grime, the first time being in Asia, that I found it necessary to hide myself and adjust to my new environment. Some bargain shopping at the MBK center near National Stadium left me tired and overstimulated so was pretty much the end of my day.
The next day myself, David and an Agentinian guy Gabriel ventured to the snake farm via the local bus only to get stuck in the persistent roaring traffic and miss the show. While at Hualampong train station trying to purchase my ticket for the local train to the Cambodian border, I stupidly decided to withdraw some cash from a dodgy little ATM only to have it devour my Mastercard in one swallow and act like nothing had happened! At first the situation was hilarious but after an hour at the Bank of Bangkok trying to reason with them as to why I wanted them to open the machine, tears began to roll and suddenly the concept of having my key source of funding taken wasn’t so funny.
The guys were great and we ended up exploring Chinatown and sampling unidentified meat morsels and fruit on a stick. As the sun began to decend I took a lone trip to the nearby market place where there was artists singing and a thai comedian who seemed to have the crowd in fits of laughter.
Boys at the beer stands were dressed in Halloween costume were great fun so stayed for a Singh’s beer and watched the party go on around me for a bit before getting some shut eye before my venture across the border.
