Our actual travel to bangkok from siem reap was relatively uneventful, as we managed to avoid the infamous "scam bus" with the help of some somewhat appreciated parental intervention before we even left australia. basically, we flew, which takes less than an hour, and is one of those hilarious flights where you go up, get out your ipod and the hostess tells you to put it away because youre about to start your descent... at least they had good cake as part of the meal. as far as i'm concerned, good cake is all you really need out of a flight that short.
when we got to bangkok we got another taxi (with a different driver from last time - who actually knew where he was going, which sometimes helps) to kao san road, essentially white person central. we'd gotten so used to being a novelty it was weird to see so many other westerners. most were young backpackers, but we did see a couple of interesting specimens (probably the only appropriate word for them), including a man - possibly in his 60s - roamin' up and down the street in denim hot pants. that was attractive, let me tell you. i practically had to restrain iona from asking him out on the spot.
we weren't in bangkok for very long, and after a relative cultural overload at the temples in cambodia, we decided to use our time to hit up as many markets as was humanly possible. a couple of the notable ones were:
one that was essentially a giant 2 dollar store, filled with every crap plastic item you can possibly imagine.
a night market which appeared to be right in the middle of bangkok's red light district, where strange people kept popping up, whipping out this laminated card and asking us if we were interested in a 'ping pong show'. we're still not entirely sure what it was about us that made them think we might be interested in a sex show, but we were slightly reassured by the fact that they weren't just asking us. one of the lurking men asked another man if he was interested as he was walking through the market with his girlfriend. so charming.
after that market we got a bus back to kao san road, which wouldn't seem very exciting, but when we asked people where we should get the bus from, you could see them wanting to ask why on earth 2 white girls would get a bus, and why dont we just get a taxi or a tuk tuk like normal people. this went so far as to have one bus conductor tell us the bus wasnt going to kao san road, even though we're pretty sure it was. we got there in the end, obviously, as we're not still stuck at some strange bangkok bus stop, conjuring internet and computers out of the air. (though i could probably do that if i wanted).
on thursday, we got an overnight train from bangkok to chiang mai, which was much more fun than you would think a 16.5 hour train trip could be! we made friends with this couple from austraila/the phillipines,a nd got to be in their holiday movie. we were so proud. we also bought a veritable hoard of snacks before getting on the train, maybe slightly overcompensating, to the amusement of the guards (who were total dudes, just by the way). one of them smoked in front of the no smoking sign, another asked us to guard the carriage while he went and had dinner, and then told us he had an enormous bottle of beer and did we want it? we politely declined, but did guard the carriage.
we're in chiang mai at the moment, but once again, that'll be the next story...
write us comments, we'd love to know a) what you think and b) that you're still alive!
love you one and all
xxoxoxoxoxooxxxxxxx
