Buzzing Bangkok
We arrived in Bangkok 4 days ago, a little nervous about what we would be about to experience. We'd been told to keep our wits about us, trust no 'friendly strangers', expect the taxi drivers to rip us off, and never set foot in a tuk-tuk (basically a motorised rickshaw) from a tourist hotspot.
We were pleasantly surprised when we got in the taxi at the airport and the meter was already running (we'd been told many drivers refuse to use these, and it can be a challenge to get them to do so). Our driver didn't speak much English and we speak even less Thai, so we had our first experience of bad communication. However, I think it worked in our favour as our journey was inexpensive (about £6 for an hour journey), although he was a lunatic on the road. We nearly knocked over one motorcycle and did an emergency stop for a bus. We had a very reasonable fayre and arrived at our destination in one piece (just).
Banglamphu
We chose to stay in the backpacker area of town called Banglamphu, very touristy. In fairness, it doesn't appear to be just backpackers, but Westerner's in general. It's been a great introduction to the culture as the area is full of tourists, and Thais wanting to take advantage of said tourists. As I say, we'd been advised not to trust friendly strangers, but it's difficult when they approach you so regularly. So on Day 1 we disobeyed the golden rule and took directions from two separate strangers to a 'tourist information' office, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, turned out to be a travel agency. We had a good chat with the staff though and it helped us to get an idea of what we might like to do in Thailand. I was sad to hear that the girl serving us lived in Bangkok as the pay is so much better, but she has a daughter back in her home town living with her mum. Nowhere is particularly quick to get to in Thailand - even trying to get from one end of Bangkok to the other can take over an hour. But because she needed to feed her family (another child's on the way), she had no choice but to live miles away from home and leave her daughter back home (I think it's about 3 hours away). Still, nice as she was, we didn't let that sway us into paying for anything until we were ready! We headed out of the travel agent and attempted to try and find our way back to the original road we'd been heading for (we'd only been trying to cross the road when we got cornered in the first place)!
We stayed local on day one. Thanks to all the westerner's there are many western influences in this part of town. Most places serve Thai cuisine, but I understand it's quite watered down. We vowed we would head somewhere more cultural the next day though, now that we'd been broken in and got our bearings a bit more.
Problem was, when the next day came, Chris and I didn't feel too crash hot. Poor Chris was sick and I felt quite nauseous all morning. I think we were probably just dehydrated, but we didn't leave Banglamphu for a second day. We'd got over the illness by the end of the evening and braved the Westernised streets again and I attempted my first Thai meal (a bit dry, but ok for a first attempt). Thankfully when we awoke this morning we felt much better. Just as well as we were off to meet the lovely Katrina who arrived yesterday.
Central Bangkok
Katrina is one very brave girl for starting her travels in Bangkok, especially in the area she's staying. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice area, but for a first time lone traveller, it's a bit daunting as every sign was in Thai with very few Roman spellings. Chris and I took a river boat to get to her (more on that later). Here we made our second 'mistake' of trusting a friendly stranger. This time it was in the form of a friendly French chap named Christian. He was going to the station and he would guide us there. I was sceptical, but we'd already agreed so I kept trying to remember every road we went down just in case. This proved difficult thanks to the lack of English writing and his amazing knowledge of every backroad. A few prayers later and we were at the station - Christian turned out to be a genuine bloke and we're very grateful to him. Should've known from the name I guess, hehe! I had no idea how we were going to manage later without him though.
We managed to find Katrina safely in her hotel and wondered where we could go to break her in gently. In the end, we decided to get her out of there and introduce her to our Banglamphu! It took us some time, and we didn't get to the stop we'd planned, but we eventually managed to find a boat to take us back up the river.
Now then, let me explain the boat situation as this was a very interesting experience for me. You'll have read my dislike for deep water, but this experience made it grow considerably - it was something else! The boats sit very low in the water and are very crowded (which may be why they sit so low). When I got on, I started to have a flashback to a news story I seem to recall where one of these sorts of boats had become so overcrowded that it had sunk. Thankfully, that didn't happen to us and we made it to Banglamphu
We eventually managed to get Katrina back to her hotel and it was an excellent lesson for all of us in navigating around Thailand. Katrina met up with her tour group safely in the evening, albeit a bit later than she'd hoped. Meanwhile, Chris and I took the boat back to Banglamphu one final time and went for dinner in a Thai restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet (and away from all the crowds we'd endured in the more touristy end). Worried at first as there were absolutely no other people in the restaurant, we then decided we must have started a trend as it was soon full with Westerner's and Thai's alike. Great choice and a great way to spend our last evening in Bangkok.
Today we are flying to Chiang Mai. We were hoping to get an overnight sleeper train but it was all fully booked for the next few days. No offence to Bangkok, but I didn't fancy staying here for too many more nights just to get the train. We will probably come back here on our way home though, and hopefully then we can get a train and we'll do the obligatory sight seeing, rather than just eating and drinking our way around the city!
Until next time, Lah gorn ka. (westernised spelling for the Thai Goodbye, I hope!).
xXx
We were pleasantly surprised when we got in the taxi at the airport and the meter was already running (we'd been told many drivers refuse to use these, and it can be a challenge to get them to do so). Our driver didn't speak much English and we speak even less Thai, so we had our first experience of bad communication. However, I think it worked in our favour as our journey was inexpensive (about £6 for an hour journey), although he was a lunatic on the road. We nearly knocked over one motorcycle and did an emergency stop for a bus. We had a very reasonable fayre and arrived at our destination in one piece (just).
Banglamphu
We chose to stay in the backpacker area of town called Banglamphu, very touristy. In fairness, it doesn't appear to be just backpackers, but Westerner's in general. It's been a great introduction to the culture as the area is full of tourists, and Thais wanting to take advantage of said tourists. As I say, we'd been advised not to trust friendly strangers, but it's difficult when they approach you so regularly. So on Day 1 we disobeyed the golden rule and took directions from two separate strangers to a 'tourist information' office, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, turned out to be a travel agency. We had a good chat with the staff though and it helped us to get an idea of what we might like to do in Thailand. I was sad to hear that the girl serving us lived in Bangkok as the pay is so much better, but she has a daughter back in her home town living with her mum. Nowhere is particularly quick to get to in Thailand - even trying to get from one end of Bangkok to the other can take over an hour. But because she needed to feed her family (another child's on the way), she had no choice but to live miles away from home and leave her daughter back home (I think it's about 3 hours away). Still, nice as she was, we didn't let that sway us into paying for anything until we were ready! We headed out of the travel agent and attempted to try and find our way back to the original road we'd been heading for (we'd only been trying to cross the road when we got cornered in the first place)!
We stayed local on day one. Thanks to all the westerner's there are many western influences in this part of town. Most places serve Thai cuisine, but I understand it's quite watered down. We vowed we would head somewhere more cultural the next day though, now that we'd been broken in and got our bearings a bit more.
Problem was, when the next day came, Chris and I didn't feel too crash hot. Poor Chris was sick and I felt quite nauseous all morning. I think we were probably just dehydrated, but we didn't leave Banglamphu for a second day. We'd got over the illness by the end of the evening and braved the Westernised streets again and I attempted my first Thai meal (a bit dry, but ok for a first attempt). Thankfully when we awoke this morning we felt much better. Just as well as we were off to meet the lovely Katrina who arrived yesterday.
Central Bangkok
Katrina is one very brave girl for starting her travels in Bangkok, especially in the area she's staying. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice area, but for a first time lone traveller, it's a bit daunting as every sign was in Thai with very few Roman spellings. Chris and I took a river boat to get to her (more on that later). Here we made our second 'mistake' of trusting a friendly stranger. This time it was in the form of a friendly French chap named Christian. He was going to the station and he would guide us there. I was sceptical, but we'd already agreed so I kept trying to remember every road we went down just in case. This proved difficult thanks to the lack of English writing and his amazing knowledge of every backroad. A few prayers later and we were at the station - Christian turned out to be a genuine bloke and we're very grateful to him. Should've known from the name I guess, hehe! I had no idea how we were going to manage later without him though.
We managed to find Katrina safely in her hotel and wondered where we could go to break her in gently. In the end, we decided to get her out of there and introduce her to our Banglamphu! It took us some time, and we didn't get to the stop we'd planned, but we eventually managed to find a boat to take us back up the river.
Now then, let me explain the boat situation as this was a very interesting experience for me. You'll have read my dislike for deep water, but this experience made it grow considerably - it was something else! The boats sit very low in the water and are very crowded (which may be why they sit so low). When I got on, I started to have a flashback to a news story I seem to recall where one of these sorts of boats had become so overcrowded that it had sunk. Thankfully, that didn't happen to us and we made it to Banglamphu
We eventually managed to get Katrina back to her hotel and it was an excellent lesson for all of us in navigating around Thailand. Katrina met up with her tour group safely in the evening, albeit a bit later than she'd hoped. Meanwhile, Chris and I took the boat back to Banglamphu one final time and went for dinner in a Thai restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet (and away from all the crowds we'd endured in the more touristy end). Worried at first as there were absolutely no other people in the restaurant, we then decided we must have started a trend as it was soon full with Westerner's and Thai's alike. Great choice and a great way to spend our last evening in Bangkok.
Today we are flying to Chiang Mai. We were hoping to get an overnight sleeper train but it was all fully booked for the next few days. No offence to Bangkok, but I didn't fancy staying here for too many more nights just to get the train. We will probably come back here on our way home though, and hopefully then we can get a train and we'll do the obligatory sight seeing, rather than just eating and drinking our way around the city!
Until next time, Lah gorn ka. (westernised spelling for the Thai Goodbye, I hope!).
xXx
posted by wobblepop at 3:06 am
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