Liketytrip

Bangkok was simply amazing. It was such a pleasure to arrive in a major city with everything you could possibly need. An attack on the senses, just as India had been, only in a completely different way and at the other extreme. Bright lights. Big city. For our entire time in Bangkok we were like little kids in a sweetshop with grins from ear to ear. Walking down the street was a breeze, they were litter free, the cars were horn free, and we looked forward to every meal.

We filled up on all things western including a trip to Computer City, a place of heaven for Guy where you can buy all things techy in a place the size and layout of Olympia. We went to the cinema twice, taking in the IMAX, and an exclusive mimi-cinema with seats that turned in to airplane beds, pillows and blankets. We had a window-shopping fix in the swishest of shopping arcades. In fact we ended up there several times; once when we were trying to get to a wonderful Christmas carols service in the Stock Exchange, but when we realised our rickshaw driver didn’t know where he was going (when he had made a complete circle of the local streets) we bailed and realised we were back in shoppings-ville. The arcade was filled with all sorts of pine trees, reindeer, baubles, fairy lights and carols. It all helped us get in the Christmas spirit. Shame there was no mulled wine!

Local transport round here is fun. The motorised rickshaw drivers don’t realise just how fast they’re going and nearly take off when they career over the short-but-steep bridges. We took a narrow speed boat down the canal towards the centre of town and I felt like I was in a James Bond movie. The bridges are so low that the canopy of the boat has to be lowered swiftly each time we passed underneath one – the ticket girls look like they have a fun job, trying desperately to hang on to the outside of the boat whilst giving you change, and wearing crash helmets just in case they may one day bump their heads. I’m not sure if it was a job or a sport. The bigger boats on the main river were a great way to get around too if you could jump on quick enough before they pulled away and bounced from pier to pier (wish there were more of these in London!). From here we saw loads of beautiful Thai temples, and whilst I’m sure we’ll get ‘templed-out’ for now I can’t get enough of their pretty roofs.

We were, of course, staying in Backpacker Central which means we were on the Koh San Road. A fun place to be and we settled in for some serious people-watching. I was pleased to be surrounded by women for once, in India they were seriously lacking on the streets. If anyone has a love of shoes, the girls here are spoilt rotten for choice. I could’ve bought a whole shops-worth. We took advantage of the cute pink massage parlours, I got my hair cut better than any Toni & Guy, and had some little strands of tinsel put in my hair (sounds odd, looks great, esp for xmas!).

A trip to Bangkok wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Patpong, their red light district. Our taxi driver found it hilarious that we were going and kept bursting in to fits of giggles even though he frequently indulged in their shows. We hooked up with a few other western ‘sightseers’ and took in a show but we were all a little disappointed by the rather self-conscious dancers and fled to a nearby bar feeling more sad than entertained. At least they looked like they enjoyed their food and therefore seemed healthy.

We did manage to fit in some proper culture in Bangkok and enjoyed going round the Palace with our slightly crazy tour guide. We also had a wander round the local residential streets, watched people practice their karaoke in the restaurant of a run-down department store. And we stumbled across the only Indian quarter in Bangkok purely by chance. We were not amused. You can take an Indian out of India, but you can’t take India out of an Indian – right next door through a fence was the whole of Bangkok’s rubbish at the local tip. And when we bought some bangles there, it took no less than 5 people to sell them to us.

So far so good. We’re loving SE Asia and can’t wait to come back to Thailand, but first we’ve got Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos to go and run round.