Again.... from Nick.
"The border between Cambodia and Thailand was a long steady stream of westerners, and took hours. As we waited in line, I watched a truck load of polystyrene enter Cambodia the other way, and I mused at the endless supplies of the stuff Cambodia eats up, and what exactly they do with it. On the other side of the border, we were shuttled onto a large A/C bus, and cruised on tarmac roads to Thailand's capital city".
What Nick didn't mention was how hot it was at the border and inside the border buildings. The two fans that were on, were pointing at the customs officials and did nothing to help the hundreds of people waiting to complete border formalities.
We arrived in Bangkok and I was surprised. All the way along my travels, people have said how they didn't like Bangkok. Yet from the bus, it was pretty with trees and streets illuminated with fairly lights. Our first tuk tuk in Bangkok and we had to laugh at the disco lights that shone in the tuk tuk and when the driver braked. Lauren and I upgraded to a fancy hotel with proper showers for a change. The hotel was huge, had shops and about 6 different restaurants. My first meal in Thailand was a brazillian grill at 10pm at night.
Next morning I headed off to the presidential palace and Wat Phra Kaeo. Lauren and Nick had opted for a day of shopping and movies. The buildings were beautiful and I spent a good three hours wandering around in the heat. I loved the wat, it was decorated with gold mosiacs and shone in the sunshine. I took plenty of pictures.
I then headed towards Wat Po to see Thailands second largest reclining Buddha. It was an impressive sight, though I did have to push my way through the bus loads of buddhist monks on tour.
I then headed back to the hotel for a quick swim before meeting Nick and Lauren for dinner. Dinner was at a thai restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. The restaurant was decorated by lights, a father christmas and superman - all designed with different colour condoms. It was good for a laugh and the food was pretty good. No mints after the meal... instead we were all given free condoms.
After dinner we headed back to the main backpacker area to meet our Dutch friend Floor. It was good to catch up with him again and I arranged to meet up with him for lunch the next day. Once again, I had a really fun night with Floor, though, could have done without the tequila.
After lunch. Floor and I jumped onto a river ferry and then stopped at Wat Arun. After the Wat, Floor negotiated a longboat canal ride for us, enticing two other couples to join us and reduce the costs. It was very interesting and very pretty but after a while - I got bored with all the Wats.
Anyway, I headed back to the hotel and then to the train station, saying good bye to Nick and Lauren who were staying a little longer in Bangkok and then heading up North.
