Crazy Bangkok, Thailand

After another long flight and hardly any sleep in Dubai, we both arrived in Bangkok exhausted. To make things worse, we couldn't find our hotel. Turned out we walked in the wrong direction with our big heavy bags and everyone trying to sell things to us. It was crazy. Eventually we looked up and there was a sign for our hotel, 'Sleep Within Hotel' on Rambuttri Road. It was really nice, with a rooftop swimming pool which turned out to be our saviour after all the walking we were going to do. After having a good look around the hotel, it was time to go out and explore. The following day, after a really long but nice lie on, we got our first Tuk Tuk to the MBK mall. It wasn't what we expected, more like a huge market, within a shopping centre. But, we did have amazing food there. Worth a visit, even just for the food. On the way home, we ended up on the one, the only, 'Ko San Road'. There is only word to describe it, Crazy! Everyone was coming up to us selling us things, especially Tuk Tuk's, suits, and ping pong shows. They must be my biggest memory of this crazy city. But it was to become like a second home to us. The next day, we went exploring through Bangkok. Eventually we came across a lovely park beside the river, where we found a lovely temple, from there we walked along the Ko Phrar river. After more exploring, we ended up in a nice bar, where all the staff were really friendly. It was time to get some sleep to prepare us for the following day. And what a crazy day it was going to be. We got our first street food, lovely Pad Thai, we even used chopsticks for the first time and we really enjoyed it. I decided to get a haircut. When the girl started shaving my head, I thought 'what have I let myself in for?' She couldn't hold the shaver right but she did know what she was doing and did a really good job. We nearly got scammed a number of times from Tuk Tuk drivers. Everyone is in on scaming tourists. Trust no one, even the most friendly guy! Everywhere we went, Tuk Tuk drivers constantly asking us "Where you go, I bring you there." We walked down this very narrow laneway along the river. It was very scary. The area was very poor and dirty. I thought we would see loads of rats, thankfully not. We passed by this lovely garden with a beautiful small temple that only the king is allowed to sit in once a year. We got talking to a guy who pretended to be the gardener for the garden. We knew it was a scam as we could see a Tuk Tuk right outside. We eventually got to our first temple, it was really peaceful and quiet. We prayed to Budda. Then we went to the Grand Palace area, only to realise that it was the same area we were at this morning when we were looking for it. There was a lovely park in front of the palace. The palace from the outside was breathtaking, the detail, the colour. It really stood out in such a rundown city. We even saw the Emerald Budda, well its not really made of emerald, jade actually. And it was smaller than I thought, but it was amazing to see. It reminded me of the Mona Lisa in terms of size. You expect it to be bigger, but in reality its only small. If you ever go to Bangkok, this is a must, but go first thing in the morning and bring a large bottle of water as there is so much to see. Walking back from the palace, we noticed this really nice temple, so we decided to go inside. Outside the main temple we got talking to a really nice guy who he said was the son of a monk. He offered to go outside and hail a Tuk Tuk for us and told him to bring us to the Big Budda. He drove down this laneway with a dead end. We were both really shitting it at this stage. Luckily he was using it as a short cut. The Big Budda was amazing. But the driver wanted to get a free gasolene voucher if he bought us to the tourist info centre. In the Big Budda he was constantly watching us, staring me out of it, rushing us. We even went to the toilets and he followed us in. In the end he got the voucher but when Jason payed him, he wouldn't shake his hand. We walked back from there. Walking a round for a while, we couldn't find our way back, but we knew we were close so we asked an American. He seemed ok at first and gave us directions, advising us to walk down this quiet, narrow laneway. We said ok and he walked off. However he kept on looking back to make sure we went down the laneway, but we decided to take another, safer route. We think it was a scam. Eventually we asked someone else. A lovely English tourist. She was really nice and showed us the right way. We talked with her for a few minutes. We then got back to the hotel and decided to go for a swim. It was pure heaven. While up in the pool, we got talking to two Candian tourists for a while, two really nice guys. Later on we went for food in a street food place in the front of our hotel, 'Magic Max's, which was run by an entertainer. He did amazing card tricks that even amazed Jason. The next day Jason wanted to go to Chinatown. We didn't think much of it, but we did manage to get some nice food there. That night, we went back to the hotel to pack for Chiang Mai. Jason thought me some card games, which was the highlight of the night. The following morning we got our stuff ready and left our stuff in the storage area in the hotel, and went wondering through the streets of Bangkok for the last time. We both decided we want to go to 'Wat Pho' to visit 'The Reclining Buddha'. It was amazing to see. So beautiful. There was even a lot of other cool things to see. Later on, we got a boat across the river to 'Wat Arun Temple'. It was spectacular but really scary climbing up all the steps to reach it. I remember being up there and looking down. The steps were so steep, we couldn't even see them. I am glad I did it though, another great experience. Well worth a visit. It was now time to rush back to the hotel, to say goodbye and catch our bus to Chiang Mai. While Bangkok was crazy, it is a cool place to visit. Once you get used to the mayhem and people coming up to you all the time, you will start to really like it. You never know, we might even go back some day!

By Andrew

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