Wednesday, March 15, 2006

A week in Bangkok



Well, finally here. Met a couple of German guys on the plane, who have been here before. Shared a room with them on the first night ( saving money already), then headed down to the infamous Khao San road to find accomodation whilst in Bangkok.
I think the combination of my chalk white skin and the perpetual beads of sweat on my, already shiny, forehead made me the biggest target in Bangkok for every tuk tuk driver and street vendor (and there are plenty of them). I'm slowly hardening to their charms and have acquired the art of ignoring or waving the dismissive hand fairly quickly.
I was also quickly introduced to a drink commonly known as "the bucket". This consists of plenty of thai whisky, red bull and coca cola. Its drunk from a small bucket filled with ice, through straws. A very sociable beverage indeed!
Have met a rediculous number of people (mainly due to the buckets) three of whom were back from home. Dave and Shonie were the first two, and they headed down to the islands after my first night on the Khao San road. They seem to have embraced the culture fairly comprehensively, so much so that I'm not sure they'll be coming home. But probably the most bizarre encounter was whilst washing my hands in the toilets of Gullivers bar. Dave Wainwright walks in!! What, how, why?
After the initial shock and comedy double takes we hugged and headed straight for the bar. We then proceeded to have a great night culminating in dancing with ladyboys on pool tables and me dancing with a load of Libyan blokes (still with my camera bag firmly strapped to my back) with, quite possibly, the cheesiest moves ever. Now Dave had been there since 2pm, we met at about 9pm, and needless to say, he had no recollection of our encounter until he found my business card in his pocket the next day. He was in Bangkok for two nights before flying down to the islands.
I found him the following night, where I proceeded to repeat everything that we discussed the last night, due his alcohol induced amnesia.

At this stage, I'm going to sign off, as I'm leaving in about half an hour to head up to Chang Mai and onto Myanmar (Burma). I'll finish the Bangkok installment when I get there tomorrow.
I've attempted to upload a couple of pictures, and if successful, will get some more done on the next installment.

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