What can be written
about Bangkok that hasn’t already been written? Well hopefully this story will
keep you entertained. We arrived in the evening, 12 hours after leaving Siem
Reap, and met Fel – a good friend from Uni that we haven’t seen for two years. Fel had
just arrived in Asia for the first time and so added some much needed
enthusiasm to our withered travelling souls. Besides a 12 hour layover in
Malaysia, Thailand represents the last country on our 17 month adventure. We
met this realisation in a state of general excitement about seeing friends and
family, but with an undercurrent of anxiety towards the future and our
prospects. Whenever one is excited, anxious, or feeling whatever really, lots
of large Chang beers make it all better…Until the next morning.
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| Crazy long dreads! |
With stinking
Changovers we tried to survive by getting the essentials – food, water, and a
massage of course. We started getting massages in Laos and since then, we’ve
had one every few days. They are sublime and silly cheap ($4-$7).
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| Five in a tuk-tuk |
I would go into
specifics about the content of the show, but our parents are loyal readers and
I don’t want to creep them out too much. Besides, the excitement of a Ping Pong
show is the mystery of the unknown. I will just say that Fel ended up holding
10 meters of damp ribbon at one point. As a side-note, there are two Ping Pong
shows in Bangkok, and I’ve been to the same one twice, which is a great shame
because otherwise I could have made a SobCoe table to compare them.
Besides that, we also
went to Chatuchak Weekend market, which was so large and overwhelming that the experience wasn’t too pleasant - and you know how much we love markets! The size of this market is utterly
ridiculous – we walked for hours and saw less than half. No wonder 200,000
people visit each weekend.
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| Excessive street food |
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| Market!! |
Fel and Katie left
that night to Chiang Mai because they were Bangkok’d out and wanted to move on.
As my life is governed by sporting events, I stayed to watch the Wimbledon
Final – great match and I adore the Fed so it was a joy to watch. Being in a
bar full of ladyboys on Khao San Road did make the experience a little stranger
and certainly more memorable than other Wimbledon finals. The game finished
just after midnight and I wandered about using the remainder of the evening to
fully review the other Ping Pong show. Stay tuned…
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| Khao San Road |
I didn’t really go but
now I wish I had, for journalistic purposes only. I promise.
Costs (per person)
Siem Reap to Bangkok
Bus = $9 (£6)
Bangkok Hotel (Lucky
Guesthouse) Double AC per room = 450 Baht (£9, $13.50)
Ping Pong show = 400
Baht (£8, $12)
Fel’s ribbon story =
Priceless
Bangkok to Chiang Mai
Train Seat AC = 700 Baht (£14, $21)
