Bangkok Continued
Tuesday –
Actually slept pretty well…It is not often I sleep past 830 or 9am but today was one of them. I think it was because I knew that I wasn’t doing a whole lot. I went downstairs had a little breakfast and was enjoying myself. A bunch of the girls there wanted to go shopping and I wasn’t so keen on doing a whole lot, so shopping seemed fine, plus I needed some new clothing.
So me, anna, maicie, rickke, bridget, sharon and two girls from california went off to some big markets. At first I was sticking with them but most of the shops were for girls so I got out of one shopping center after like an hour and headed down the street. Glad I did because it was so much cheaper and I found tons of stuff. When it was all said and done I had bought 5 lacoste shirts, 2 polo, 5 thai beer shirts (different kinds), one new zealand all blacks rugby shirt which is really cool. So basically i bought 13 new shirts in Bangkok, basically a new wardrobe. After shopping I went upstairs to a market and got some good food. It was cheap and fantastic. I know the theme of bangkok has been shopping but there is so much, it’s cheap and when its 90 degrees out with 70 percent humidity, staying cool inside is ideal.
Anyway after food it was time to meet up with the girls. We were supposed to meet up at 5pm at the same place the cab dropped us off at. Sharon and the girls from Cali along with Bridget never showed so the four of us just went home. No cab would take us so we had to settle for the three-wheeled tuk tuk’s. My first tuk tuk experience and it was fun. Who doesn’t like to inhale the fumes from the back of some disgusting three wheeled covered bike? I do, I do. So the four of us scrunched in to the back on this tuk tuk and headed home for like a 15-20 minute journey. It was a lot of fun. We took a few photos and that was that. (Anna is my bitch still!).
It was like 540pm and I needed to pick up my passport from DTC travel where I had paid an arm and a leg to get my vietnam visa, but the place closed at 6! I had no choice but to jump on the back of a motorbike, overpay since it was rush hour and hoof it over there. I love motorbikes they are so much fun. I’m sure they are the most dangerous form of transportation by far in Bangkok, but what a rush you get. The wind blowing in your arm, the threat of being hit by many cars, buses, bikes and anything else moving is amazing. I got there with 5 minutes to spare and picked up my visa. Now the hard part was finding transportation home. Again taxis wouldn’t turn on their meter and the train was not around, walking was out of the question, so i guess it was back on the motorbike! Before getting back on a motorbike and negotiating the price to get home I first had to pick up some dinner. Earlier in the day we had driven by some guy who was roasting fresh fish on a grill salted and seasoned inside. I had first seen it and was like “damn that looks really good.” Well of course right before I got to the corner walking down the street where my travel agency was there was another guy roasting fish on a grill, salted and seasoned. You knew the fish was real fresh because you could see the water bucks they came out of. I told the guy I wanted one and he prepared it for me Thai style. He put the whole fish in this container that didn’t really fit with the tail sticking out, some lettuce in a separate bag which I didn’t eat and chili sauce.
Now it was time to get back on the motorbike and head back to Suk 11. I found one negotiated a cheaper price than it cost me to get back, which is always nice. When I got home I went upstairs to meet the girls to watch a film. Instead Anna had gotten one of the seasons of six feet under and we watched a few episodes of that while I ate my fish. When I was finished with the body, one of the girls from California taught me how to eat the eye ball and brain. I couldn’t get the brains out, but the eye ball jelly was quite good. Didn’t mind the consistency at all really. So after eating the fish, Paul, Anna, Maicie and I as well as whoever strangled in watched a few more episodes. Some of the girls went out partying but Anna and I decided to drink some whisky and stay in. I can never turn down whiskey, especially if its cheap blended whiskey. So I went to the supermarket to get a bottle and some sprite. I was able to get a bottle for 180 baht, which is dirt cheap for a normal sized bottle of alcohol. Anna and I polished off the bottle in under 2 hours and Maicie had two drinks. I then proceeded to go back and get another bottle which was completely unncessary because I was pretty drunk and Anna was gone. But I still had a drink or two more. By that time it was 1130PM and I was ready to pass out. I went upstairs and little just fell flat on the bed and passed out.
Wednesday – I felt like a champ, and was up at like 815am. I was well rested but had a problem, where were my glasses? I remembered folding them neatly on the table in the tv room and was going to get them the next day. When I realized they were missing I quickly ran downstairs and couldn’t find them anywhere. I knew where I had left them and for some stupid reason I took my glasses off my face which I never do. Long story short, they were gone. Oh well, I do need them for school and I might have to get them made in Vietnam since I will be staying in some places for a few days and it should be cheap. I was really pissed, because even one of the girls from Kuala Lumpur had seen them on the corner of the table too! Our alcohol was also gone so its clear that the cleaning staff jacked my prescription glasses to probably sell on the black market, damn.
Today was also the day that I would be meeting my Intrepid tour group to start my tour of Southeast Asia; Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia! I didn’t have to check in till before six so I decided to hang out with Paul, Maicie and Anna a bit longer as I really had enjoyed hanging out with them for a few days. Every time i meet cool people who are just going off it really makes me want to just travel with no time limit and no plan. Just have general cities or countries to go to and just wing it, oh well maybe another time in life. Paul had so many great stories. He was 39 and had been so many places are already mentioned. He was also fun to talk to, to hear stories about places around the world 10-15 years ago.
Anyway after getting lunch with Anna and Paul for the street vendors and watching some more tv (it was so damn hot out blah) I decided it was time to get to my next hotel in Chinatown all the way across town. I gathered up all my stuff from the hostel, looked for my glasses a few more times, but to no avail, said my goodbyes and headed off. I tried to find a taxi or tuk tuk to take me but both said “traffic jam 400 Baht,” what a crock of shit. There is never a traffic jam when they say there is and the meter always works (ok sometimes there is terrible traffic, but there are ways around it, they just don’t go those to get more money out of us tourists!). My last option was the skyrail to the train then a cab to the hotel. This would be a pain with all the stuff I bought in Bangkok, the new shirts, etc, and the new backpack I had bought to take with me on this tour. My plan was to store my stuff at the new hotel and just gather it up on the way back. So I climbed all the stairs to the skyrail then all the way down to the subway in the burning heat with three bags. Some young kid helped me get to the train and on the right line. He was legit, just a regular kid, thats the key finding young kids who are clearly not scam artists. So I finally arrived in Chinatown and needed to get to the hotel. After a few taxis I found one who would do meter. When I got to the hotel the meter ready 37, I gave him a 100 he tried to give me 40 back and go “come on,” I was like “give me the 20 baht, you’re ridiculous,” he smiled, trying to put a fast one by me, was he nuts? I took my extra 20 baht and checked in. The girl at the desk told me I was last to check in. There were only 6 of us including myself. I was interested to see who was in my group. I think after getting so much crap from Paul about who would be in my group I was nervous. I through my stuff in my room, tipped the bell hop for taking my bags to my room and then went to say hi to the Tour Leader. Her name was Andrea. When I knocked on her door a lady half opened up the door and it was clear she had been in the shower. I was like “hey now,” she laughed and told me to give her a few minutes to get dressed. I went back in a few minutes and she was dressed and we started chatting. There were six of us 5 from Australia and me, the token American once again. On my Contiki tour to Europe last year out of 40 I was the only American for like 6 weeks.
Anyway as it turned out my roommate’s name is Morrie. He is 64 and from Melbourne. The other ladies are all in their thirties and mid-late forties. Hold the laughter back. This should be fun. I was nervous the group would end up being like this, it would either be all young or all older and well it is all older, whatever I’m just hear for the ride, I’m sure it will be fun.
6pm was our time to all meet and greet, Andy had some things to tell us, we had some paperwork to take care of and whatnot. After the meeting we headed off to a huge night bazaar. It was fun, I got some great food, cheap and two frozen Dragonfruit drinks. Dragonfruit is my favorite fruit right now, it is awesome. Similar to a Kiwi, except it has white flesh. After the night bazaar we all headed home. We stuck five of us in this cab which was funny and had to settle for paying 150 to get home, we really had no choice no cab for 20 minutes would use a damn meter, this shit is so corrupt.
I got back and Morrie was up playing on his computer, I packed up my stuff, separated what needed to be stored and what I was going to take. Tomorrow the group was off for a canal cruise tour and a tour of Wat Po and a free afternoon.
Thursday –
So today I am current with my blog finally! Basically we took a longboat tour of the canals of Bangkok then I went back to Wat Po with our new tour guide Witty. He was good, Wat Po the second time was much better than the first time and I saw a lot more this time. I was more fresh than the first time with Rikke where we were both so tired we just saw the reclining buddha and headed back. After Wat Po, we all headed to Wat Arun one of the old capital cities. It was covered in handmade and painted Chinese porcelain, it was spectacular. We took the ferry across and back across the river and then headed up the river one stop to where our hostel was. And now I am back sitting at the internet cafe listening to Janis Joplin “Hey Hey Hey Bobby Mcgeeeee.”
In a few hours we will be taking a 12-14 hour train ride to the north of Thailand to a place called Chiang Mai. There is a lot to do and this is where we can go to the famous Elephant Conservation Park, Hospital and maybe ride and feed a few. We can also possibly do bamboo river rafting. From Chiang Mai we will go to Laos by bus then float down the Mekong River for two days through Laos. Those are my next few days. I will try to update in Chiang Mai but won’t be able to update the blog until we get to Luan Prabang. Hope all is well back home.
Thanks,
Josh
Tags: Travel
Josh
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