Bangkok

23rd - 24th February

The night bus to Bangkok began with check in at the bus station, where you are given a sticker - with some Thai writing on it and told to wait.

The bus station became increasingly busy, and some kept impatiently asking the Thai lady if the bus was theirs, every time one pulled up, which made her angry until she ended up shouting at them.

Eventually - a minibus came 45 minutes late - and they told various people to get on. This was the first leg of the drive - it took just over an hour and the driver was driving so fast and had to keep emergency breaking - I was wondering if we were going to make it! 

The lady next to me was falling asleep and I thought she was going to end up with her head on my shoulder. Afterwards, she complained about his terrible driving (you were asleep through most of it, I thought.)

half of the people - with zero written on their stickers - were moved to another minibus. The rest of us were told to get on a local taxi to the next bus station for the 'big bus'. The taxi driver wanted us to each pay him 40 baht. We protested that we had already paid for our ticket but he said 'that's with the company' - 'I am not the company' 

We basically all refused to pay and he drove us to the bus station anyway - I think he was just 'trying it on'.

Here we had to show our online ticket again & given another sticker. Some people had numbers and some didn't. Here we waited for the 'big bus' or coach. More and more people kept arriving until the place was jammed full and after around a three hour wait, the coaches turned up. 

The people with the numbers were called up first, but then everyone started to move and it was looking like there weren't enough bus seats for the amount of people.

Eventually, I got on the double decker coach, in the last seat downstairs, which was the only one that wouldn't recline properly, because of the pole for the stairs behind it. Just my luck! I also had a very snory French man in the seat next to me, who was spreading his legs out. It was making me feel quite uncomfortable. I had a chat with the lady opposite, who was also French. 

She was the same age as me, 55, and a Pathologist from La Rochelle. She had been cycling round Thailand on her bicycle - which had caused a lot of problems and money to get it stored on the bus, she was saying. I'm not sure Asia is made for that kind of cycling. She said it was pretty scary at times - not like cycling in Europe! I don't think she'll be doing it again.

She was able to recline her seat to almost lying down and I was extremely jealous!

I fidgeted around for a long while, trying to get comfortable, when I eventually got into a decent sleep, at 2.00 am, we pulled into a service station and were told it was a 30 minute break.

People went off to get food and drinks. I went to the toilet. There was a toilet on the coach, just behind where the French lady was sitting, but it was tiny. I don't know how people were stuffing their faces at that time of night. I was trying to eat and drink as little as possible so I wouldn't need the loo too much.

After another few restless hours we arrived in Bangkok. This was the best part of the journey!

I had a slow walk to my hostel through the morning streets as it was getting light. I passed the famous Khao San road. There were people sitting around the pavement - a little worse for wear - after a night's drinking.

There were many homeless people, sleeping on the streets too.

I passed a temple, where Buddhist monks were filing past, dressed in their orange robes, barefoot, and carrying a bowl. There's a few here on the left side of the river

I found the hostel - dropped my bag - and got chatting with a guy from Bhutan called Mon, and ended up going for coffee in a Nepalese cafe that was open early.

I had a walk to the river, getting another toastie from the 7-eleven, then I got 'drawn' into a tour shop. The lady was very sweet but was trying to sell tours. 

I actually was out looking for a print shop. My Visa to Laos (my next country) has been accepted - I applied online - and a pdf sent by email, but you have to present a paper copy at the border. I asked the lady - Kitty - if she knew of a print shop. She offered to print it for me for free. 

I was interested in seeing the floating market and she said I could get a boat trip there from the river. I got a tuk tuk there for just 20 baht but then I kind of got talked into doing a boat trip, which I thought was going to the floating market, but it turned out it didn't. 

I haggled the price down from 1500 to 800, but it was probably a bit expensive. I was a little annoyed with myself at first - using up my dwindling cash supplies - but it did go all along the canals, through the lock - which was fun - and it was fascinating to see all the houses along the river. I also had the front seat on the boat which was great for taking pictures and videos!

One highlight of the trip was the amazing view of the Giant Golden Buddah at the temple of Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen. Standing 69 meters high and 40 meters wide, it is one of the largest in Thailand and made of 99.99% pure copper, coloured gold. 

As the boat chugged along you could just spot the top of it's head then suddenly it appeared.

Houses along the river

This one needs some renovation! - I liked the 'crane' type bird. There were many of these catching small fish from the river and some of the larger fish would flip up to the surface every now and then. I was curious as to why they did this - maybe finding food bits on the surface of the water? 

 a little lady selling drinks

A Monastery. You can see the monks orange robes hanging on the railings.

Bangkok skyline

Wat Arun temple in the distance

I actually really enjoyed the boat and it whiled away a couple of hours. I was not appropriately dressed to visit temples and so made my way back. I was flagging a bit anyway. 

Men & Women both had to have knees & shoulders covered at the holy sites. (What's funny though is the monks' robes always have one shoulder bare, as do the ladies' traditional Thai dresses)

Then back to the hostel for check in. This hostel is the cheapest so far - £3.75 a night - and I suppose you more or less get what you pay for - practically nothing. It's pretty scuzzy. My room & bed are OK although the blanket looked a bit dubious so I'm using my own sleeping bag. The bathroom could do with a clean and there's no soap or toilet paper. He takes a 300 baht security deposit, which makes me laugh, I'm not really sure anything's worth that much! I kind of like it though. at least I have the bottom bunk and a curtain! Yay - little things. 

Earlier on in my travels I would spend more time choosing a place to stay and reading reviews, but now I pretty much book the cheapest on the list with at least a 'Good' rating (not 'pleasant' or 'passable'). I figure, if you're only staying a couple of nights, it's not the end of the world if it's a bad place. I think I've been lucky so far - or maybe my standards are just dropping

Views from the balcony

I went out later to get food and have a walk around

The Famous Khao San road 

A little antiques/junk shop down the street - with a hugh cutie doll! - my Sis & I had a smaller one of these when we were kids. Mum still has it & our kids used to play with it too, at the beach. I was hoping to find a book to read but there wasn't anything in English that was any good.

A street near the hostel - it feels quite 'down town' here but also parts of it has a 'Venetian' feel with the river and canals

Food stalls

I remember when I was in New Zealand listening to the radio whilst driving - this song came on and the DJ explained how it was about a Chess Match in Bangkok, which I never realised before. I just remember it from the 1980's and thinking how exotic Bangkok must be! The video is pure 80's cheese. When I heard it in NZ it was the first time I'd actually paid attention to the lyrics.