Bangkok Part 1

Thailand

May 2007

THAILAND - BANGKOK

We thought Phuket was lively. Bangkok is Phuket on steroids!

It’s a very large, very polluted and very overpopulated city. That being said, we liked it during our five day stay probably because our hotel was a rather lavish to say the least. A funky Boutique hotel, called The Dream, and our room had cool neon lights and a large plasma on the wall. All those rickety bunk beds in hostels now long forgotten. This is the life!

Our hotel lobby was so modern and arty that they had cameramen and models in one day carrying out a photo shoot. It also has to be said that the staff here are the kindest we met thus far. Going out of their way to make sure we had a good day planned and knew how to get to places. Not to mention the hearty breakfast they boxed up for us on the two days we left for tours before 6am. Now that’s service.

So what did we do in Bangkok?

We checked out the largest shopping centre on the planet, or at least felt like it, and whilst there watched the new Spiderman 3 movie. Very good, go see it!

We perused the street markets near our hotel and one night were startled when the crowd coming towards us parted and we were faced with a baby elephant on a lead, right there on the pavement. Surreal!

Then we paid a visit to the massive weekend market with thousands of stalls to buy from. It was immense and very hot and busy. We left the place laden with heavy bags of bargains!

Every day as we walked from our hotel and past one of the many tailors, we would say ‘tomorrow, tomorrow’ to the poor man who was always desperately trying to make us a suit…. By Day five he started to get the picture… tomorrow will never come my friend….

One of the tours took us to Damnernsaduak Floating Market, which is the most authentic of these traditional markets on narrow canals. This was great fun and provided some excellent photo opportunities. You pay a small fee and climb in to a small wooden boat much like those you see on the river at Cambridge University. The lady paddles you up and down the avenues of water which are busy busy busy with merchants in their own little boats trying to sell their wares.

Here you can buy anything from hats, wooden ornaments, to fresh fruit and hot meats. You simply ask the boat to stop and then the haggling starts! The sun was beating down on us so with no shade Sarah was quick to buy a large Chinese style pointy hat. The pineapple slices here are absolutely divine! Sweet and juicy!

After the market they took us back to city but not until we’d had the opportunity to feed elephants and watch a rather exciting Snake show. Here we watched a Mongoose fight a Cobra, and let me tell you the cobra didn’t stand a chance. Mongoose are vicious little weasel like creatures! Then a young lad went in to a pit with three very large pythons and set about annoying them and trying to catch them. He amazed us all when he caught the third snake by diving at it and catching it in his mouth. Quite clearly the same stunt had not gone so well for another lad who was on the sidelines, with a massive plaster on his chin. What a way to earn a living.

On our way out of the show we looked at the many snakes they had in glass tanks. Some of the tanks not only had giant snakes but also some live food. In one we spotted a shivvering shrew in the corner who just knew that when the snakes got hungry it was game over! Poor thing.

Once back in Bangkok city we were dropped off at the Grand Palace. Established in 1782 and now a royal residence, throne halls and government offices. It holds the renowned temple of the Emerald Buddha and has many very beautiful structures and more gold leaf than you can imagine. Packed with Regal Splendor and tradition, It’s the symbol of the kingdom and is the biggest Palace in Thailand.

Another trip took us to Ayutthaya. A world heritage site. It was the old capital, and was very important for 417 years. During this time an abundance of palaces and temples were built as a token of economic success. In need of much repair, but still an amazing set of ruins.

On our last night in Bangkok we just had to go and see a ping pong show! So after a superb dinner and at a very stylish vegetarian eatery, our three wheeler tuk tuk whisked us to a seedier part of town and suffice to say we saw some very strange things indeed. No need to elaborate on that one… over and out!

Now check out the rest of the photos in part 2...