It has been a few days since I arrived in Bangkok and the time is literally flying. The flight over here was as gruesome as 16 hours in the air might sound. Not going to bore you with the details but one thing that I've learned from two shady sales men in Tokyo airport, with whom I've had the pleasure of sharing some stories over a few beers, is that apparently Hawaii has the most corrupt police force known to man. Good to know! :)
The place that I am staying at is called the Rompo Mansion. I couldn't make out at first who is staying there as I did not see any tourists at all. After meeting a few of the residents I think that this is where people who travel for work to Thailand and stay for an extended period of time take their residence. The weather is strange, one the one hand its extremely hot and humid and I sweat pounds of water on the other hand it rained so hard yesterday that it flooded the lobby.
Traffic here is something legendary, not in a good way. You really have to be a skilled/courageous/missing a few bolts type of driver to take on the road here. Being a pedestrian is even more exciting. If any of you remember the old game frogger, it has definitely took on a new meaning in the last couple of days. Been experiencing with the different modes of transportation taxis, subway, train, bus, tuk tuks (three wheeled motor bikes) and my favorite bike taxis. Those are the scariest things to ride as there is nothing to protect you from the "skilled" drivers that I described above but if you want to get somewhere in rush hour, these guys are the way to go.
Been getting massages every day so far. Wow, what a great way to unwind, I'm finally starting to relax and taking it easy. On the first night I went to Kawa san road, this is where all the tourist stay. It was tons of fun but I'm really glad that I'm not staying there, it felt like I was back home, the only locals there were the people who were catering to the tourists.
Yesterday I went to the grand palace. When I arrived at the palace and got out of the taxi I was immediately greeted by a very attractive young woman and told that the palace is closed today and that I should go check out this tour that she is advertising. I would have totally fallen for it if I wouldn't have read about this scam earlier. Wooahaha, I felt so proud of myself; thank you lonely planet tour guide. At the palace I got myself a tour guide who showed me around and then showed me how to get on the local bus to go this other place that my ticket to the palace got me (forgot the name). When I found the buss I came up to the lady who handles the ticketing. Who by the way sits there next to the driver and comes up to every new person who gets on to take their money, has a really serious uniform and a stern face. The money goes into this tube shape hello kitty bad, I found the contrast to be hilarious. So yeah, riding the buss and being the only falang (foreigner) on there really made my day. Not going to describe the tour afterwards as it was rather uneventful.
Today I have checked out of my "hotel" and I'm going to get on a over night train to Chiang Mai, a city 14 hour to the north of Bangkok. Have to admit that I'm dreading the long ride already, but I have a feeling that its going to be a fun experience as everything here has been so far.
This is it for now, I think I'm going to go and get my daily massage right now. Stay tuned for more. Oh, almost forgot to mention this one thing. Ping pong show - totally overrated ;)
