Bangkok
If you’ve
read our last few blogs, you know what’s next... From the tarmac, walk through the gates
trying to block out all the taxi drivers & hotel staff hollering, search
desperately for the real way out, hop on a bus for an hour, jump off when you
think it might be at your stop, shoot helpless eyes at any stranger that looks
willing to help, & act as confident as possible even though you’re totally
lost.
We settled
in at the Sivarin Guesthouse, about a 10 minute walk from the infamous Khao San
Road. As always, after travelling, Britt
slept & I drank beer on the patio. I
browsed through all the tourist maps & flyers & found an all you can
eat sushi house. So we went to go
satisfy our cravings. Tremendous sushi.
The next
morning we decided to take a little trip to the popular Chatu Chak weekend
market. Unbeknownst to us, it is the
biggest outdoor market in the world!! It
was busy... After spending
4 hours doing a little browsing and a little less buying we discovered
we had only seen maybe a quarter of the massive shopping village. Being that it
was 40 degrees out and we were already wiped, we bailed. Shopping mall on
crack, is what it was. Absolutely absurd!
Some good bargains though.
We met a new
buddy that night, Jamie, from London. He raved about this Thai Massage place
down the street, so we went. For a 2 hour massage. For under $10. It was soooo
good. Thai massages are great. You are very very involved, being bended,
stretched, contorted, cracked and of course, viciously massaged. After 2 hours,
you come out feeling wonderful. Loose
and relaxed. Knowing my friends, many jokes are being made right now, so insert
your own jokes here, jackasses!!
Finally we
ventured to Khao San Rd to take in the huge buzz it has created. The street is
pretty cool. Loaded with bars, street vendors, stores, shops and every kind of
peddler imaginable (and I mean EVERYKIND) it definitely lives up to its rep. We
found a sports bar and had a couple buckets!! As we sat there we were offered
all sorts of merchandise. Mostly fake. Lighters, cigarette packs, bracelets, hats,
kids toys, trick toys, clothing (we saw an amazing, authentic Exploited t-shirt
with a picture of Kerry King from Slayer on it!! Hahahaha), Armani custom
suits, fake ID’s, tattoos...the list goes on and on. Over the next week I was
offered suits and tattoos by the hundreds!! Don’t worry Mum, I didn’t get any.
Yet.
Next
morning, the crack of dawn, we moseyed down to where we were going to be taking
our Thai Vegetarian cooking class, at May Kai Dee’s, I think it was called. It
was only Jamie, Britt and I, so it was a very intimate class. We met our
teacher, Oi, and she took us to the local market to pick up our ingredients for
the dishes we’d be preparing. From about
9:00, when we started cooking, til 1:00 we cooked AND ate about 12 – 13 plates.
All veggie, and all amazing!! Starting with Tom Yum soup, we also created
dishes like Green Curry, Massaman Curry, Spring Rolls, Pad Thai, Garlic and
Ginger Stir Fries, and an amazing sticky rice coconut banana desert thing. It
was great. And I must admit, I was opposed to the whole idea at first. But I
ate my words, with Soy Sauce and lime juice.
If my memory
serves me correct, we spent the rest of the day just people watching and taking
in the buzz of Khoa San. And especially
watching idiot Falongs (foreigners) getting ripped off!!
A little
more shopping would be in order so the 3 of us took the canal taxi to a few
different malls. MBK and Siam Square are
basically New York style malls. Crazy in size and nature. We spent a while
browsing and trying to find the best deals and wound up getting Britt a few
really nice camera lenses. There was a huge movie theatre on the top floor of
the mall so we checked it out. There were alot of people around and a big red
carpet type of premier going on so decided to wait for a while before buying
tickets. A few movie stars were hanging around, including the one and only Brad
Pitt, who we managed to sneak a picture of with Britt lurking in the
background! She was in heaven! Eventually we went and saw a movie but didn’t
take in the luxurious Thai style experience, as we had promised to enjoy that
with a friend in our next destination, so regular reclining seats were
purchased.
Our friends
from Okotoks, Mike and Kim, who were already in Thailand, were going to be
flying home out of Bangkok in a few days so arranged a day to hang with them.
We rendezvoused on Khoa San and spent the majority of the day playing Catch Up,
walking around taking in sights, eating, drinking and laughing. It was
awesome!! The first time in 3 months we saw faces from home, it was very
warming.
I forgot to
mention Tuk Tuk rides. The 3 wheel motor bike/golf cart style taxi’s. Most of
them have flames painted all over them with pinstripes and lights and big
mufflers and sweet rims...the works. I even saw one with a disco ball in it.
They are sooo sweet. When I grow up I want to be a Tuk Tuk driver. They haul
ass and are a cheap way to get around around. Alot of fun.
A few more
massages, a few more trips to the crazy market road, and a few more beers with
Jamie, and we were ready to head to the airport to meet another friend from
Okotoks, Mr. Neil Brown. He lives in Pattaya with his girlfriend and 1 year old
daughter. After 60 days at work he was flying in to Bangkok and then taxi-ing
to Pattaya, so we kindly offered to join him. We haven’t seen Neil since our
wedding, which didn’t really constitute any 1 on 1 talk time, and before that
it was at least 4 years....so this is going to be fun. By the sounds of it he
has a lot in store for us. We met Neil
at the ‘port, hellos and hugs, jumped a cab and took off into the night.
Good bye
Bangkok, Pattaya here we come!!
