South Africa & SE Asia 2008

Day 25 - 28 Bangkok

Emily and i can not make our minds up about Bangkok, our impression has definitly changed from our arrival on Thursday.  We were slightly overwhelmed by the noise, lights, stalls, cheap clothes, tuk tuks and people of khao san rd, whilst carrying backpacks, wearing jeans and wandering aimlessly trying to find somewhere to stay…but it was pretty amazing on arrival

Now our bodies are confused by the freezing air-con (im so glad i brought a jumper) and melting tempertures outside.  We have met the extremely rude and the extremely polite, and a lot of con-men.  Do not trust anyone, even “officials” especially a man who hangs around outside the palace looking official, with the aid of his “government” tuk tuk who magically appears on the road side as you say goodbye.  He wants you to go to his gem shop, when we asked the tuk tuk to take us to our preferred destination he refused.  On our first day we had an argument with a tuk tuk driver who took us to a shop and even though we had said no other stops apart from Wat Pho who agreed…

Taxi drivers are on the whole rude and overcharge you severely.  They either laugh and drive off if you ask for a meter rate or shake there head if you ask them to take you somewhere just down the road.  Probably because they want to take you to their gem shop.  We used cabs for the first couple of days because they are still quite cheap but sometimes paid 60 baht for what should be 35 baht as its no way further than 2km.  We’ve only managed to get 2 cabs on the meter and paid a fair rate. 

 Then we discovered the  retro buses, not that it was hard as there are millions of them, 7 baht a ride and we used #53 most of the time as it went on the useful route from Thanon Phara Athit near our hostel and Khao San rd, past the grand palace, past Wat Traimit, Chinese arch, chinatown and to the Station.  No hassel.  We were also impressed by the metro which we got from the Station to Chatuchak Market, 39baht each way took about 25mins. 

Even at the train station the “official” information ladies, everywhere with ID cards want to help you.  i asked one lady about going to the Southern bus terminal from the Train station where we were at the time researching ways to get to Krabi and she said that it didnt exist anymore and i could buy a train ticket instead of a bus ticket. Well she wasnt very helpful was she. So seeing as most of the trains are booked up for tomorrow to go down sown we cant bear to hang around until 22.50 for the last free train we are taking a gamble and going to the Southern bus terminal in the morning.  We will get the earliest, cheapest, avaliable bus south and if possible get to Krabi, otherwise just pick anywhere somewhere…and leave bangkok.  Obviously ill laugh if the bus station is not actually there.

Having been very critical so far, i would like to say Bangkok has been great and its worth a few days here. Get outside the backpacker zone, it is very rewarding! Get on the buses, ignore the people who want to help you, get on the express boat and go down the river if you want to see Bangkok.  Explore less touristy Wats - we went to Wat Traimit - the solid golden buddha (emily is unconvinced) which was really good, small unimpressive Wat in the middle of China town.  Go explore Chinatown, we had fun doing that after seeing the Olympic flame display on Saturday.  we would also recommend Chatuchak Weekend market (battering is harder though) and the air-con metro you have to take…

One of the best things we did was going to Moon Bar at Vertigo the 59th floor of a skycraper and had a 6 quid cocktail on the roof bar overlooking the night lights of Bangkok city (cheers Hannah for the recommendation)… Emily was wearing shorts so they gave her a wrap to put on which was good.  But how they let us in i dont know, we broke all three rules on the sign outside the very fancy hotel, No Backing, No flip flops, No shorts. Well Sky Bar and Distill (similar idea) already turned us away but that was much fancier.  It really was worth the blowing of 1/2 days budget, absolutely stunning.  We cabbed it both ways paying 80 baht each way on metered taxis.

Bring on paradise. if the southern bus station exists.  of course it does…

Day something to something - Jo’Burg

We took the 27 hour train journey from Cape Town to Jo’Burg whcih was surprisingly painless. I didnt sleep that well but em did. It cost about £35/R550 and then you pay R35 for bedding.  They kept asking us if we were ok…well it was the tourist train after all they must have been worried about giving a good impression.  You dont need to take food on with you although i was determind to eat bread for 4 meals as i had stubbornly brought it with me.

Andrew, Em’s cousin met us at 4pm ish on Mon, thought we were coming off the first train that arrived from Cape Town and said he was worried about the people he saw coming off it…but then apparently they announced the Tourist train’s arrival.  We vegged that night and i gushed over Andrew’s cute Spaniel puppy.

Today we went to the Apartheid museum and the Gold Reed City park (ex gold mine-come-theme park). The museum was fantasitc a fantastic place to go - extensive factually and with the information given in a neutral voice.  The media footage on display was particually interesting for me, the 15min video given that it was in the 1980s and when i would be too young to recollect.  What was interesting about this was the group of young school children (8yr olds) who came in to watch while we were there.  There were a black school, with one white boy, and it was an odd experience watching white policemen beating black protesters with the children reactively gasping at the scene.  I actually felt stunned, and so many questions were raised in my mind.  What did they think of the white policemen? How can they watch that and not hate what they see being done?  What have their parents brought them up to believe? Do they understand what they see?  It was definitely (as i edit this a week later) what has stuck in my mind the most from the museum. 

The Gold Reef mine tour was fun and i came away educated, which is always good.  The theme park was empty which made it slightly errie… The rides were fun even though i now have whiplash from the tower of terror, but the pain has eased slightly by the 2 glasses of wine at dinner. I am going to go and be horizontal now. 

Tomorrow we are doing a morning tour of Soweto which will be very interesting i think, the concept is a little strange perhaps but there is no other way to see the township or walk in Jo’burg really. We fly to Bangkok tomorrow night and arrive the next night. We can’t beleive how quickly the time so far has gone…

Edited and added to on 21th April while i wait for a coach in Bangkok

The Soweto tour was interesting, people have obviously got fixed conceptions of the dangers of Soweto.  We arrived at Eunice our guide’s house, which had corregated metal walls and consisted of a double bed, tv, dvd player on a stand, a 2 ringed electric hob and clothes hangin on the walls with some other small pieces of furniture fitted in.  She was quiet but answered our questions and was welcoming.  She took us to the Orlando West Secondary School, which was where the 16th June 1976 March went to, mainly consisting of the pupils.  We were shown the Hector-Pieterson memorial, a child who was one of the youngest to be shot by the police during the protest, which intially started off peacefully. We went to the museum dedicated to him, and i found this had a more profound impact on me than the Apartheid museum, because the information and quotes from the school children seemed to sink in more.  What sticks in my mind now was a quote from a girl who said for a few days after the 16th June 1976 kids could not walk about the street because of police snippers, even if they wanted to walk to the shop on their own, not protesting, they would still be shot at.  Even in the back. 

To be edited later Days 15 - 21 - Cape Town

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