Thailand: two cheeky days in Crazy Bangkok
Our last day by the beach in Sri Lanka didn’t go much as planned, as it rained for most of the day. Nevertheless we vegetated under the umbrella, in a muggy 100 per cent humidity air for the entire day. We know that some of you will be very happy to hear that not all days are perfect and that we got soaked several times. We left Unawatuna at 6pm ready for the three hour journey to Colombo. It was hard to say goodbye to Krisna and Melani, they have been such fantastic hosts and they really made us feel at home at Villa Gaetano. Again, we would recommend this place a million times should you ever end up in this part of the world. They didn’t charge us for laundry, gave us a couple extra free tuktuk rides (apart from the agreed one per day), they let us not check out until 5pm since the room was not taken for the night – just to give some examples.
On the way to Colombo we had to stop at Galle to pick up my ring, which is so very pretty! Luckily the driver didn’t complain too much, and we were as quick as we could – just enough time to check that they gave us the same stone that we agreed the night before. We were lucky to have a last Sri Lankan sunset view in Galle and Unawatuna, as we drove passed the fort and then the fishermen boats and fish markets with a bright pink sky in the background. A great way to say goodbye to this pretty corner of the world.
The rest of the journey to Colombo was in the darkness, the first half very nice, in a newly built highway which is now 3 years old. For a couple of hours we almost forgot that we were in Sri Lanka as the driving was much much better on the highway, no horns, less crazy take overs, perhaps some subconscious respect for the new road.
The second part of the journey even if shorter felt much longer, as the driving in Colombo goes back to mental levels. One of the few things I won’t miss about here! Bruce was of course not touched by any of it as he snored from the first minute in the car until the arrival at the airport.
We arrived, checked in, and still had three hours to wait before our flight to Bangkok at 1:30am would board. We wisely (NOT) decided to have Burger King, which was revolting as usual (ROB my double whopper was lush despite costing $10), but with the aggravation that it cost 4 times a normal sri lankan meal. To be fair the options were not many in Colombo airport. Just one other place which had a buffet which looked far less appealing than Jenkins dried meals.
The flight with Sri Lankan airlines went smoothly without too much turbulence for my relief, I watched the Walk, the story of the man who walked on a wire between the twin towers. A great film, strongly recommend. Bruce snored again for an hour or so, but the flight was only three hours so not much time to snooze. I litterally had zero sleep, Bruce maybe a couple of hours between car and plane.
We landed in Bangkok at 630am, fresh and breezy. We tried not to fall asleep while walking, and even managed to get a metred taxi to our hotel after the usual ATM and data sim card chores – we now have almost autopilot as we enter a new country since we are at country number 4 in a month and a half! Our taxi driver was a grumpy old dude, which to be honest didn’t give me a great first impression of the Thai temperament. He left us in the middle of the road, and asked 100 Bhat more than the meter displayed, claiming airport fares and luggage additions. He was getting very angry so we ended up agreeing and handing him the extra £2. We then started walking with our big bags trying to find our b&b and once again uncle Google saved us by lighting the way for us.
We are staying in the south of Bangkok, near the river, in a lovely b&B called W home. Rooms are small but very clean, and the bed very comfortable. The highlight are the owners, Pook and Nui, wife and husband, which are very friendly and make the most amazing Thai breakfasts – different every morning. Today we had freshly made chicken noodles with pepper, coconut mini pancakes, and rice cooked in banana leafs with a local fruit which tasted like chestnut. All really delicious. We also met a nice Canadian lady called Theresa who is about to go to Sri Lanka so we shared our tips.
After brekky it was only 9am, and we felt like going to sleep… We had a quick power nap, before heading to the temple at the hottest possible time, noon. Clever beans.
We got the boat to the temples, and on the way there walked through a very weird market, and a lot of 100 Baht massage rooms. The boat is a real experience, we had to take it for the 8 stops between us and the temples. They arrive really fast, and don’t stop at the piers for more than 30 seconds. They use very noisy whistles and shout at people to get them moving quickly. One thing I’ve learnt about Thai people is that they hate slowness. Poor Brucey have no chance of survival here.
The combination of high and modern skyscrapers, and the pirate like wooden boats, the metal huts where some people live, and the buzzing tuktuks and scooters is fascinating. The pollution must be getting worse as well, since most people wore a mask to walk or travel around.
All the scam stories we heard about Thailand quickly came to life, as we got straight away tricked by a guy at the entrance of the Royal Palace who said he was the Tourist Police and showed us a yellow card (most surely home printed) that showed it, and said the palace was closed because of a buddhist holiday and he then offered us to get a tuktuk to go to the open temples which were conveniently located further away. We got as far as sitting in the tuk tuk for about 2 minutes, before we got suspicious and found this very trick outlined in the Lonely Planet, and asked to get back. We lost 5 minutes and 40 pence. Very annoying, and frustrating since we have only been here for a few hours and we already got scammed twice! After having a quick streetfood taste of some interesting skewers, we decided to let go the royal palace and visited Wat Pho instead, the temple of the reclined Buddha.
The large temple complex houses the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand (from standing, to sitting, to lying down), including a stunning 46 metres long reclining Buddha.
Apparently the temple was also the earliest centre for public education in Thailand, and still houses a school of Thai medicine. Wat Pho is also known as the birthplace of traditional Thai massage which is still taught and practiced at the temple.
You can also find people that read your future and your past, and can tell you who you were in your previous life.
(We spotted Glenn Hoddle here)
We then had a long walk passing by the grand palace and up to the democracy memorial to finally grab some lunch in a recommended restaurant called Krua Apsorn, which was very very good. Proper Thai food… bruce was very happy since he got the biggest ever Tom Yum Soup – his favourite.
We then made another mistake and decided to get an Uber to get home. It arrived very late, and the lady driver wasn’t able to speak a word of English. We ended up having to call Pook from our B&B who had to communicate to the lady driver, and then with us, to tell us that Uber was a bad idea, that it was rush hour and the traffic was very bad – it could have taken us 2 hrs to get there. So the lady driver reluctantly and not without anger dropped us at the boat pier of China Town where we caught our sunset boat home. The name of our stop is impossible to remember and impossible to pronounce, so we had to keep our eyes open to ensure we left the boat in our 30 seconds window. The boat was so full we thought we would sink! Once we got back, Bruce went for a Thai massage (amazing and cost 4 quid for 1 hour , the tiny lady had superhuman power!) and I snoozed a bit but not too much.
For dinner we decided to go and visit the Asiatique Riverfront, a night market near our hostel open from 5pm to midnight.
Very buzzy and modern place, where lots of locals come for a stroll or a crazy night of karaoke or go carts. With their mini London Eye called MeKong in bright white lights, they made the Asiatique impossible to miss even from a distance. There are some nice restaurants on the riverfront, and in the mall mainly shop and food stalls and chains. Nice atmosphere, modern, busy, a bit touristy but balanced out with the fact that the locals are still much more predominant than foreigners. Some nice shops, and a lot of food options. Good if you are in the area, not worth a visit if you are staying in the opposite side of Bangkok.
Day 2: Sky train, James Thompson house, Bangkok art and cultural centre MBK mall, and the biggest market in the world
We had a nice breakfast again, thanks to Pook, and we met a very nice Austrian couple staying at W Home. We got talking and were a bit late on our schedule, but happy to catch up with other travellers.
We got a cab to the BTS Sky train station closest to W Home called Saphan Taksin and went towards the National Stadium, The daily travel card is only 140 Baht (£2.80) for all zones. We got to the National Stadium and walked towards James Thompson house, He was an American architect who fell in love with Thailand and Thai architecture as well as trading silk. He built his house in Bangkok following the oldest Thai traditions, with all the rooms at the top floor as the ground floor is always at risk of flooding, with thick floor apparently for the kids not to be able to leave the room. and also to protect the house from the evil spirits that often come from the floor. It was a very interesting tour, lasting about half an hour with a lovely Thai lady explaining everything in a very soothing almost singing voice. James Thompson went to Malaysia on holiday in 1967 (he was born in 1906 and he was 61 that year) and went for a walk in the jungle and never came back. He went missing and his body was never found. It could be to do with some revenge as he was working for the CIA before moving to Thailand to produce and export silk, or it might be because of his horoscope that was predicting that something bad would happen when he’d turn 61… Either way, a pretty spooky but interesting story. And the house is worth visiting, fascinating!
It was almost time for lunch but we couldn’t resist entering the art and culture centre, which is a great building with a very interesting architectural structure. On nine floors, the best of which we found were 7th and 9th. On the 9th there was an interesting, although a bit creepy, exhibition by the Thai princess which has now turned 60 (and gossip says she is lesbian because she’s not married) in which she shared all the photos of countries she had to visit in the past years (including a couple of pics of Milano which made me very nostalgic and proud). One entire room was showcasing all the cakes that she received for her birthday, pretty surreal. Everywhere in Bangkok they are very weary with safety, they always check your bags, and in most museums and exhibition you have to leave your bag in the locker and enter without anything on you.
After we went for lunch inside the MBK mall. The mall is nothing so crazy, a part from the fact that it looks very modern (as did the cultural centre) and for us it’s a new face of Bangkok after seeing the most rough and ready and old bits – this is the modern/futuristic/commercial area. The food court is at the 5th floor, and you have to purchase a card and load money on it to purchase anything. There are about 50 different food stalls, with different types of food freshly made in front of you. It is here that I saw the first 2 Thai lady boys in my life. One of them was very beautiful and a part from being too tall and having too big hands for a woman, and of course the low camp voice, she looked really feminine. It was a very interesting experience and would definitely recommend visiting, some of the sweets were never seen before and looking very unusual.
After lunch we got back to the BTS Sky train, had to change one line and went all the way up to the last stop called Mo Chit to see the Chatuchak weekend market. It is the biggest market in the world, and we heard stories about snakes and parrots being sold here. As we got in, it looked like a busy and big touristy market with clothes, streetfood and not much more. We got a map and started realising how big it was and started asking for where the animals were. We found a couple of stalls with small pets like hamsters and chinchillas and porcupines and rats but nothing too crazy. And from Bangkok we learnt to expect something more crazy. We kept asking and we finally found out that the real market is separate from the touristy market! They are both huge, but the map they give to tourists somehow misses the actual real authentic Thai market. We got in through a hidden hallway, and found the crazy Bangkok we were looking for. Millions of types of fishes and birds, puppies, snakes, monkeys even are sold here. They are sometimes horribly badly kept, on tables/small cages. The smells are very strong, and the cleaniness is not part of the game (a bit like Robs football team – the Falcons changing room). It was interesting but also a very distressing experience to see it. It is very authentic just the same as it must have been years ago.There are not many tourists that find their way through to this section. And they don’t like you taking photos.
We were there for over 2hrs and could have stayed for longer but the legs were starting to suffer and the police started to escort people out as the market was about to close. We took the train again towards Nana, and got off to walk in the lively area of Sukhumvit. We had a great dinner at Oskars despite almost being kicked out because of being underdressed. They particularly didn’t like our horrible sandals, can’t blame them! The initial plan was to get back before dinner, get changed and come out a bit more dressed up, but we were in the market until too late, and our guesthouse was too far from the centre to make it worth to come back and out again. Luckily we had booked and said it was our first time there so still got accepted, just about! We had some good food, black cod for me and beef bourgignonne for Bruce and shared the mixed mini desserts, all very yummy. But my favourite thing of the whole meal was my cocktail, called Flowers Spritz: with prosecco, eldelflower, rose and lavander. So good! Bruce got a girlie but tasty expresso martini before moving back to beer.
After dinner Jamie Connell joined us, an old mate of Rob’s, with his friend Kevin. (ROB I haven’t seen Jamie since I was 17 so it was amazing to see him and catch up on 20+ years! – top lad!)
We had a warm up drink there together before Jamie brought us out to two very cool bars. The first one is in a very small and hidden road, which looks like a dead end, and where you can only see sticky windows of thai massage places. Until you get to a magic door, where there is a phone box and nothing else. He goes there, types in the secret code in the key pad, and the door magically opens to Havana, a great cuban bar with a lively atmosphere, at the entrance a lot of panama hats are up for grabs, and the live music was about to start with proper tunes of the Castro era. In the toilets there is a continuous replay of the radio repeating the Castro speeches, and the mojito is simply amazing. I also tried a coconut negroni, which was very good since I often find Negroni being too bitter, but the coconut made it much much better and sweeter.
The next stop was at the top of the Fraser Suites, in a bar called Above 11, on the 32nd floor with a breathtaking view over crazy Bangkok. And the best music ever, 90’s hiphop. The restaurant there is Peruvian mixed with Japanese, which made us wonder what sort of business plan was behind the initial idea. Again there was some resistance related to our outfits, but somehow thanks to Jamie we got in. They both had to go after that drink, and we carried on with one more, back to Oskars which had now a very good DJ before taking an Uber home. The traffic was quite bad, and it took us 45 minutes to get back – but only a £2 journey! Once we arrived we managed to blow a light bulb and get a power cut off – as you do when you come back a bit tipsy!
Early start tomorrow for our 6hrs journey to Ko Chang… Should be interesting!
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