Thai me down

Well the first stop after leaving Melbourne was Bangkok, Thailand. This place really stinks, and I mean that literally. I arrived sometime close to midnight and went straight to the hotel(this was the view[movie - 1m]). The next day(9th August) I ventured out to see what Bangkok had to offer and experienced a sensory overload. Smells, wafting up from drains, loud noises from tuktuks flying past, lots of people, rushing over there, there, there even there.

First thing I decided to do was go and see some sights(shopping could wait) So I caught the train to the river to take a cruise. This cruise had about 15-20 stops where you could get off and see the sights then get back on again.

I was really only interested in seeing a big Buddha and some fancy temple type buildings so got off at the stop that had one of each. After a short walk I entered a big room(without my shoes) that had a huge Buddha reclining inside. I was intrigued to know how he got in because none of the doors were big enough. I can only assume he wasn't so big when he went in? The photos don't quite show how big it was as I deliberately cropped the tourists out. But it was huge.



Then I wandered around the grounds of the temple and talk about Mosaic tiles, these guys have mosaic'ed this whole place. Pretty shoddy job though, I'll remember not to get them to do my bathroom. They were crooked, they'd used cracked tiles, and their choice of colours eeek.



After I'd seen enough I grabbed some food at a restaurant all for the exhorbitant price of about $2. And just in time for the rain to come. When there was a break in the rain I dashed back to the boat and headed back to town. When I got back I had a wander through MBK(a massive shopping centre) before getting some food and heading back to the hotel.

The next morning I extended my stay for another 1/2 a day which meant I didn't have to leave my luggage and precious saxophones in the lobby until 10pm. It also meant I could use the room to shower in after walking around all day in the heat.

After this I walked up to something park, past some huge hotels and consulates. It was quite a nice park but the water in the lakes was a really eerie green colour. After this I walked to some more shopping type roads and walk past heaps of people trying to sell me stuff. Naked girls seem to be the most popular, or the hardest to sell, one or the other because I was constantly hassled by people selling them.


Then I have this kid come up and start chatting to me and decides to help show me to a shopping centre where I can get everything. So we walk a little way down a road toward what legitimately looks like the back of a large shopping centre. Ends up being this little room really well set up with lots of jewelry and fabrics and things but after a quick look I decide I'd been had. Little jerk, if anyone sees him when their in Bangkok tell him to watch out. He was kind of short and had dark hair.

So then I headed back to MBK to see what I could buy at crazy bargain basement prices. Only got a few things, including some bathers which I then went back to the hotel and used. I figured I should try out a tuktuk so rather than taking the train decided to catch one of these. That was en experience - check it out here[movie - 1mb].


That night I had dinner at a what was sort of the Bangkok Le Restaurant equivalent. It was just across from the hotel and had an awesome view and a guy on a piano singing along to dodgy midi backing tracks. The best part was the whole meal cost me about $25 and half of that was the wine.


So after the meal I went back to the hotel to get my gear then headed to the airport. Next stop London.