You are all aware I am some what behind in keeping you up to date in my blog, yet there is so much to write about. I do have a substantial amount of free time so you'd have thunk that I would be all over it, some how I have got stuck in a bit of a cycle. Birthday and Christmas has happened and New Year is very quickly approaching. It is currently the 29th December 2014 and I am sat in the glorious sunshine after several hours at 'work' (definitely not WERK!), with a black coffee in hand, outside the coffee shop attached to my Sydney Hostel. I am clearly describing a budget version of Carrie Bradshaw, don't expect any sordid tales of man trouble in this instalment, or shoe talk for that matter.
Serving budget Carrie Bradshaw realness.Anyways, as usual I have digressed. I am here to complete the Bangkok Story, the second and final chapter of BKK...
The KTK had gone and I, in true dramatic style, thought 'what on God's green earth am I going to do now?'. It was time to go it alone. Although I have had a very long drawn out process of integrating and commencing this Solo Travelling malarky. I woke up on the morning of the 17th November wondering what to do next. I already established I wasn't a fan of Bangkok and going out into the city in the heat, and to be honest I really don't think there was much more of the place left for me to see. I was also slightly hungover from indulging in the cocktails the previous night, and on top of that I was in full mourning mode (loss of the KTK). I realised I needed to sort out transport to Pai, in Northern Thailand, this was a priority as I had finally decided that would be my 'spontaneous' destination. I had three/four days that I could play with and I didn't really know what to do with them but Caz and Ange both had met various people who had either been or were going to Pai and nothing but praise had been uttered about it. Seemed an obvious choice to me, and kind of what this travelling thing is about, right?
The previous day (16th) I had met a new roomie, Damien, a young Aussie guy who was also starting out his travels, his were specifically South East Asia/Asia. I saw Damien when I woke/got up from my mourning slumber and we chatted briefly about what he and I had been up to. We arranged that we would go out for drinks in the evening. I left the hostel and decided to walk to Khao San Road, thought this would be the perfect place to book bus tickets. Damien had already bought his ticket to Chiang Mai, and leaving the same day as I and he had told me it was in this area that he had booked his. It was a really nice day, weather was beautiful, it actually wasn't too humid and it was nice to walk and see some other sites. I took some photos of a collection of more Temples en route, this was called ROYAL PAVILION, situated along the Ratchadamnoen Klang Road. Rather annoyingly though, and I have probably mentioned this in my previous post, but there is little to no English descriptions of these temples and the significance of the Buddha in which lies. I personally find Buddhism quite interesting and unusually, for me, I wanted to take an interest in the temples/buddha's and it's significance but was unable too, but at the same time, I have now seen A LOT of temple's and to the uneducated, like me, they look the same, covered in pure, and in some instances, grotesque wealth, given it's surroundings. To me, it seems more apparent in Thailand than it does say; the Catholic Church and England. The difference between rich and poor in Thailand is huge, and I imagine that is the same for the rest of SE Asia, there really is no middle ground, from what I saw anyway.
The Royal Pavilion.Whilst taking snaps of the temples in the Royal Pavilion, en route to Khao San Road, a male approached me, he could see I was taking pictures, showing an interest in the statues etc. He started to talk to me and immediately I thought to myself 'What is he trying to sell me?' - given my experience thus far in Bangkok its not surprising. He opened with the usual questions of where I was from? How long had I been here? etc... I remained polite, after all a stranger is a friend we've yet to make, besides I am not a rude person and will always acknowledge a fellow man/woman. The male started to tell me about other temples that were in the locality and asked if I had been to any of them and if not he would tell me which ones I should go to. He started to write down a list of places that I 'must' visit. I thought 'How kind is this?'....briefly! He was either a Tuk Tuk driver or he was the organiser of such transportation in order for a Tuk Tuk to take you to all these wondrous places listed on his piece of paper, all for a large fee. Obvs when I turned him down he scrunched up this list of must see places and walked off. This sort of thing is so ridiculous in Bangkok, it's too much, all of the time - I must stress though this is my experience of Bangkok, I have actually spoken to people who have had much better experiences in this city. I made my way to Khao San Road, where I passed DEMOCRACY MONUMENT which is situated on a roundabout, kind of ironic given the recent and historic political unrest in the country. I stopped at a McD's, natch, free wifi (and a large Big Mac meal - I've a hangover to nurse!!).
Democracy Monument.I made my way to Khao San Road where I went to Fifty Five Travel, where I booked a bus from Bangkok to Pai, via Chiang Mai with them for 11 quid. This was two separate bus journeys with a small layover in Chiang Mai. Most people would go to Chiang Mai for a few days first then on to Pai, but as I was flying from Chiang Mai to Sydney, it was more appropriate to end in CM. The journey was going to be long, somewhere in the region of 18 hours. I opted for the VIP bus again, armed with hope and faith that it would be better than the journey from Koh Tao to Bangkok.
I made my way back to the hostel, a slightly different route. The royals of Thailand are plastered everywhere, there are murals and banners across roads, and on buildings of the royal couple. Could you imagine that in England or even in London? Very strange, but also quite arrogant I guess. The people of Thailand generally have a respect for the Royals, but interestingly they are not allowed to speak ill of them, it's illegal so when I asked various Thai people they are very diplomatic, I would love to have an open and free discussion with a Thai about this but no one was willing or able to, I tried though.
Extravagant displays of the Monarchy.The walk was about 6 miles in total, it was nice actually, and allowed me to just think about the rest of my trip doing a Jason Derulo (Ridin' Solo). I got back to the hostel and met with Damien again and we arranged that we would go out to Khao San Road that night, in true backpacker form.
It is quite tricky remembering the night, I did take lot's of photos of us pretty wasted, espesh, Damien. We started the night in a bar I had previously been in with the KTK which was good, it had a guy strumming his guitar covering classics such as Wonderwall, and other indie type music. Obvs we started with buckets, which is pretty much how we ended too. Buckets are equally amazing and dreadful, as is Thai's version of Red Bull, M150, I think it's called. We watched the street below us, and specifically; the people looking to sample the street food, the one minute they're there and the next they're not bars (bizarre), and the local delicacies such as cockroaches, scorpions and other delightful insects that Timone and Pumba would devour. Speaking of which both Damien and I did indulge in a spot of scorpion. Pictures and videos (once I work out how to upload a video to follow), it tasted burnt but not horrific, I took it well, but I think in these cases it is very much mind over matter. The night continued with further buckets of Vodka and Red Bull and I am sure amongst other alcoholic beverages. We ended in a club just off Khao San Road, called The Cliff. From what I remember it was very good. I met a lovely girl from Amsterdam who was the perfect dancing partner, so many laughs, Selma Maroufi is her name - I hear you ask, 'How do you remember her name?' Well she wrote in the notes app on my iPhone followed by 'The awesome girl in Bangkok' - My type of girl right there! Hahaha! I will be sure to look you up when I finally get a visit to Amsterdam Selma!
We danced a lot. I remember hearing several Pitbull tracks, notably 'Timber' which followed me throughout Thailand, and for me the song of Thailand. Pitbull is incredibly popular it seems there. Anyways, here are just some of the photos from the night...
Pre Scorpion feasting.
Various shots of Damien, Selma & I.
'The awesome girl in Bangkok'
The mighty three.Damien is a top lad, he is just 18, seems older, no bad thing, and a complete pleasure to be around and a total credit to his parents/fam. It is also nice to know I can keep up with the 'younger' ones still haha. The following day we were obvs hanging, poor Damien locked himself out of the hostel room, he did knock but I was obvs out of it myself and thus he had to sleep in the communal area. I think Damien needed some recovery time, as did I. I didn't venture out until the afternoon where I went for a Thai massage, I shan't go into too much information but put it this way, I got a brochure and a reward card. I left feeling rather rejuvenated.
That evening Damien and I went on a boat cruise at night and then attended ASIATIQUE which was along the river. It was really nice there, very clean and it did not feel like I was in grubby BKK. It was a purpose built place with bars, restaurants, stalls, attractions and Christmas trees. Perfect way to spend the last night in BKK, for me.
We headed back to the hostel where I drifted off to sleep ready for the final day. We needed to check out by midday, we had breakfast and got our shit together. By this point I am completely over repacking my already filled to the brim belongings, I packed far too much, it's ridiculous, but at the same time I still felt I needed it all in my life. On my final day in Bangkok I really didn't want to walk around a hot and humid city, getting my sweat on and being gross on my mammoth bus journey. Damien and I both had buses at similar times so we decided to go to Siam Shopping Centre and Central World, with the idea that we would be able to remain cool in an air con environment and not be too ratchet for our bus journeys. I checked out at about 1130hrs and needed to be back to collect my backpack at about 1700hrs. What I didn't consider was spending 5 or so hours in two shopping malls. It was arduous to say the least, it would have been OK had I been shopping, but even then I do not like shopping, I am a in and out type of guy, not a typical gay in that sense either! The shopping malls were huge. I think the last hour or two we just stayed in Starbucks, at least I was in good company! After spending near on 5 hours in two shopping centres and having nothing but a KFC, Chatime (MUST TRY Englanders - Bubble Tea, I was introduced to this phenomenon by my Brother, Shane and Lianna on our last night together before I left. Can be found in Chinatown, London. Also available all over Sydney as I have found!), and a Starbucks - so basically a full stomach and bladder - I went back to collect my big backpack from the Hostel. Both Damien and I got a taxi to Khao San Road where we parted. I have followed his journey since parting on Facebook and Insta. When I get to Brisbane I shall be shouting him up, he lives a bit out of the city but never the less it'll be awesome to meet up. Likewise when he comes over to the UK, assuming I am back by then.
I got to the Fifty Five Travel agency and waited to be collected. When I got to the bus I ensured I had my belongings on me as I had heard of various horror stories about these journeys. Unlike my first experience with a VIP bus this one wasn't too bad. The chairs reclined to almost flat, the journey was relatively smooth. There was about 9 backpackers and 3 Thai (presumably) people on the bus so there was plenty of room. We left Bangkok at about 1830hrs on 19th November and we got to watch one movie, which was at the start of the journey, 'Need For Speed' which stars whatshisface from Breaking Bad. Not a terrible movie actually, I quite enjoyed it. I fell asleep as most of, if not all did. We stopped at about 0100hrs on 20th November at a service station type place, for a 20 minute leg stretch and refreshments then back on the bus. I fell back to sleep. Sleeping on public transport is not something I do well but I was pretty comfortable and tired and slept pretty much most of the journey. I did get my iPad out of my bag which was locked. When I unlocked the bag the zip broke, I didn't think much of it, I thought I had broken the bag due to over-stuffing thus far on my trip, I was later to find out that it was probably not me that broke the zip but some filthy thief - more about that in a later post. At about 0530hrs we stopped in Chiang Mai, I was the only person going further, I was taken to a tiny back street and left outside an abandoned travel shop that was open, but no one was there. I was told I would be collected in two hours. I sat waiting, and found a toilet, which was vile. A feeling of dread was going through me during this time. I just thought that there was no way anyone was coming for me. Someone did though at 0730hrs and I was taken to yet another bus. I met a lovely couple from Belgium on this one, and after an issue over over-booking, 4 of us got our own mini bus and off we went to Pai, through the mountains, long and very windy roads, the scenery was stunning, I was playing nodding dog as at this point I had already been travelling for 14 hours. I arrived in Pai town centre, having passed my hotel and the driver not wanting to drop anyone off at their final destinations at about 1130hrs. Finally after 17/18 hours of buses I made it. It probably feels that long for you readers I imagine too. Apols for that.
My Pai update is to come, stay tuned loyal readers, for you will be rewarded...
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