Sun 20th Jan - It's sunday, and after a day like yesterday, it's time to relax for a change. Walk to Hua Lampong station to pick up train timetables and then onto the Metro to head for Lumphini park. Best off at Silom station for this as it exits right opposite the entrance rather than the Lumphini station which stops by the thai boxing arena (obviously a big following for it here). Lumphini park is an oasis in the center of this bustling city. Lovely lakes with fountains where you can hire pedaloes or just sit and watch the world go by. Many areas where people come to picnic, or carry out their hobbies, or in the case of some local schools, teach classes in a lovely environment. For the more active there are fitness areas with weights, an outdoor swimming pool, japanese and thai pagodas where people were doing tai-chi or practising their thai boxing.
Time to fire up my new iPod with some nice thai music that a thai lady recently gave me and walk around barefoot taking in the sights. Seeing so many happy faces and activities to music just set the scene perfectly..... Time to sit under the Frangipanes and listen to some more music ....Relaxed and happy....aaaahh
Starting to get peckish, so where better to go than the Chatuchak weekend market in Chatuchak park. To get there it's a journey on the skytrain to Mo Chit, the last stop on the northern line, which stops right next to the park.
Well, am I In Bangkok or what? No surprise that the weekend market is enormous. There is nothing you cannot buy here. Stalls selling a vast array of fried bugs (crickets, worms, spiders)...yummee!
pirate music CDs are widely available (100 baht), to keep my new iPod happy. Good quality clothes at bargain prices....no excuse for looking scruffy at these prices! You want a drink.....how about chrysanthemum flavour? You want eggs....how about pink, green or blue ones? You want a woman.....so many to choose from! Sorry, I diverged there! You want fruit....well, overwhelming choice there. You get the picture.
You might be able to sense that I have a soft spot for this country.....everywhere you go...walk in the park...on a train....in a market....you are surrounded by happy smiling faces from some of the most beautiful people on the planet. It is impossible for that to not rub off. I find myself with a permanent grin at times!
After a delicious thai pork meal in the market (decorated with orchids as they do), time to saunter back and catch the skytrain.
Something I may have mentioned before....forgive me if I have....they love their king here. He is a good man so they often say and much respected. The national anthem is played before every performace at theatre or cinema. It is an insult if you, as a farang (foreigner), do not stand up for it. His picture is everywhere. On buidings, gantries over the roads, in railway stations, shops, in peoples houses etc. It makes for a happy culture when they support it the way the do.
Time to hit the town tonight, so need to spruce up a bit and off we go..... What an awesome night. I sure am glad I took up dancing back in the uk as got to dance with some incredible girls. One especially would be worth coming back to Thailand for....Yippee ... I could burn out in this place..... But what a way to go!
Mon 21st Jan - Got disurbed early so ended up not getting the lay in I wanted. Busy day getting bits sorted and late afternoon went for a nice celebratory cocktail with a friend at the rather swish Oriental hotel dowm on the Chao Phraya river bank. I love to watch the many types of boats go by. Superb evening followed when I met up with a great couple of friends on holiday from the UK staying in the Nana area. Dined at the very different 'Cabbages & Condoms' restaurant on soi 12, off Thanon Sukhumvit where the light fittings are covered in condoms, and there is a giant condom above the entrance. The food is excellent and you get condoms with your bill! Obviously, they are promoting safe sex, in a city where almost anything goes, so a very appropriate cause. Proceeds go towards sex-education and AIDS prevention programmes through the Population and Community Development Association (PDA). After a little diversion around the bars for which this area is renowned, a rather interesting stall caught our attention selling fried bugs, so bought 30 baht worth of grub mix. Yummee...grasshoppers, cockroach/large beetle looking thing, maggot thingy, baby frogs. A bit crunchy, but full of protein!
Off to listen to some live music and chat over a few beers with some dancing thrown in to add to the fun. So many distractions it's hard to tear away sometimes, but Bangkok is full on and you have to or else you just wouldn't sleep. Well the end of the evening, I was sad to have to say goodbye as it's been really nice to catch up.
Jumped in a taxi back to my guesthouse and that's when it got more than a bit dodgy.... The driver didn't take me where I wanted to go. First he tried to take me to a sex show, then to a brothel, where he pulled up at the pavement down a dark road and locked the doors with the window partially open. The madame came out offering various services. After I really got angry with them he agreed to move on, but turned the wrong direction to where I knew he needed to go and tried to take me to a different hotel than the one I wanted. Got even more angry with him and rattled his cage so he knew he was in serious trouble. When it came to paying him, he tried to short change me and other tricks, like trying to give me counterfeit notes. It was hard work. Everytime he got rumbled for trying to scam me, he would give this annoying giggle which wound me up a bit. This is the bad side of Bangkok, and one of the reasons I don't normally use taxis or Songthaews. The other being that they are too expensive. The problem is the trains finish at midnight, so you have limited options, and they know it.
Sat for a while chatting to a danish couple about the world and travel before hitting the sack....it's been a long day with a struggle at the end of it.
