Bangkok
Bangkok is busy, historic and modern at the same time. The seedy side coexists with a deeply spiritual environment.
Wandered a little far, and got chatting to a guy in the army who had the day off, who was giving me advice on what to do, he told me to take a Tuk-Tuk to these various places for 30Baht and called one over. I told the driver, who was insisting on taking me places I only wanted to go to the hotel, he said, fine, go take a boat..... So I did, got a bit ripped off I think, as rather than take a normal water taxi, I took a rental longboat, but it was just me, and ran direct to the pier I needed, and I got a couple of nice shots.
I had a lovely, but very pink Singapore sling in the rooftop garden and got a good shot or two of the view.
We got together in the lobby and headed out for a cab. Traffic was murder! The driver said it would normally be 100 baht, (2quid) but that he wanted 300. we said, yeah, whatever. Which surprised him I think as I suspect he was hoping to drive us away with the exorbitant 6 pound cost between three of us!
Took us an hour to arrive, and the taxi driver spent most of the time telling us about tours he would be happy to take us on. Which would be fine, but his English was very poor, so it took some figuring out..... When we finally arrived it was half seven, so we were late!
The food at the local stall cost 40-50 baht, so about 80 pence for a large plateful. I had a green curry with a bottle of water, I was still hungry, so went back and had a garlic chicken and spicy basil concoction with a coke. In total I spent about 3 pounds. It was amazing food.
After dinner, we headed to a bar. It was set in the grounds of a derelict petrol station, chairs in the forecourt, pumps still in pace. They served cocktails in buckets. Big, plastic buckets. So, as there were six of us, we had 1 between two. Then another one, then another one. There was something awesome about drinking an excellent Mojito from a plastic bucket, with a straw in a ruins of a petrol station, considering I started my night with a cocktail served at the finest restaurant in Thailand (Apparently....)
Dinner at some random little place on the way home, nice décor though, cocktail bar meets internet cafe. Had a pretty spicy green curry, I was worried because they said 'its spicy, can you handle it?' I replied 'guess we will find out......' but it was fine, spicer than most, but not to the point of deadening taste buds or anything.
Back to the hotel, everyone went their separate ways and I am sat, typing this, at the outdoor bar by the reflecting pool, chocolate Martini (which is delicious, by the way) in hand, generally relaxed and a little tipsy!
Sights & Culture
Temple of the Golden Buddha
My first stop on the tour I arranged was the Temple of the Golden Buddha. It is a remarkable building, the spire soaring alone into the sky.
Inside, monks meditate in the shadow of the buddha. We were not able to see the titular Buddha due to reconstruction works ongoing, but even the smaller ones are remarkable.
Temple of Buddha Reclining
Also know as Wat Pho, we visited the Temple of Buddha Reclining following the Temple of the Golden Buddha. It is located very close to the Grand Palace and shares a certain style of architecture.
The Reclining Buddha is huge and deeply impressive.
Marble Temple
Finally, we saw the marble temple, Wat Benchamabophit, which had been inspired by western churches. I was greatly entertained, in one of the ornate temples, where gold covers most of the surfaces to hear an English woman remark, with disapproval 'so much gold, but there is such poverty outside!' I can only imagine she has never been into a church, cathedral, or the Vatican, and is not aware of any privation in England. The greatest works of Christendom are hypocritically extravagant as any other religion.
Grand Palace
The tour operator gave me a lift up to the Grand Palace. Had a wander round there for a while, which was pretty awesome, it’s a combined palace and temple where the Emerald Buddha is found Its impressive and amazing.
Museums & Galleries
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Parks & Gardens
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Restaurants & Bars
Moon Bar
Then headed over to the Moon Bar at Vertigo, it’s on the 61st floor and stunning views.
We were there from before sunset to darkness, incredible place, worth a trip, but bring a healthy bank balance, and if you wanted to impress someone at a date, who wasn’t afraid of heights, and you were in Thailand, definitely a good idea!!
Shoppping
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Sports & Activities
Patong Night Market
From there, general consensus was to head to Patong Market to watch a ping pong show. This isn’t really my thing, and had said so previously, but as everyone else was saying it’s a good plan, I went along....
We took a Tuk Tuk, well two actually, and Leo bargained an excellent price with the proviso that they just took us to the market. Tuk Tuk's being the unreliable weirdoes that they are took us to a ping pong show somewhere else because they were paid a commission by the owner. The trip was manic, as the two drives raced each other around town!!
We then left and walked the 15 mins to the main market. The first place we went into was ok looking, its never going to be classy (It was called 'Super Pussy' and had a sign for a V.D clinic on the floor above it....! I managed to get a photo, because that is just awesome! However the cost to stay was apparently more than had been agreed, so we left and attempted to find somewhere else. We were taken to a shonky upstairs place and by this point both a mate and I are pretty uncomfortable with the whole thing, neither of us had wanted to go, there was a decent live music bar downstairs so he said, and I quickly agreed, that we'd wait there, we chased away a prostitute, got very annoyed with the flower sellers and generally relaxed whilst the other three stayed at the show.... they came down, annoyed because no one had done anything, but, because they had negotiated such a cheap deal to get in, the 'dancers' weren’t going to start without some decent tips and they weren’t going to pay any more! So, eventually, they got bored and gave up and came for a drink with us....
So, my story from the red light market of Bangkok is actually that I went to a live music bar and had a few drinks and saw a couple of naked girls. The irony is, compared to the Saturday a week before in a charming suburb of south London, it’s a deeply tame story.