Drinking whiskey and a work's night out

Day 11. Not many photos from the last couple of days and none of them worth posting really. I might peruse them again and post one or two soon but I'm too lazy to do that at the moment.

Spent Thursday travelling into Bangkok, poking around, getting the bus up to meet Kriang at work and finished the day off drinking cheap Thai whiskey at Kriang's house. Although my linguistic skills still leave a huge amount to be desired I am starting to be able to get the message across through a mixture of Thai, English and impromptu sign language. I managed to explain to Kriang's gardener that I wanted a bike taxi to the local train station. As it happened I missed the train I needed anyway so I got another taxi, although this time it was nearly twice as expensive as the last one. I've noticed that often nothing is the same twice here. The first taxi avoided the highways and therefore the tolls and cost about 150 baht (about 2 quid) and the second one went through the tolls and cost 280 baht in total (I had to pay the tolls.) The difference being that the gardener spoke to the first taxi driver for me and must have told him to go the cheap way I think. I suspect that because the bike taxi's I've caught to the train station have cost me 20 baht each and the gardener checked after the first one to make sure that that was what I was charged. Yesterday when I went to the train station he was even more helpful: he called a bike taxi from his mobile and had it pick me up from Kriang's house. Door to door service and it still only cost 20 baht. Other things that have varied: I went for another "foot" massage which was actually a full body massage this time, including all of my legs, back, head, and hands which weren't included the first time, still only 3 quid though. I got the number 29 bus again and it cost me 8 baht instead of 7, had no fans and took two hours instead of one to do the same journey...

The Thais are quite strict and conservative in some ways and relaxed and liberal in others, like all countries, but in a way that I've not quite been able to put my finger on a coherent picture yet.

The train into town yesterday was an interesting experience too. Similar in age to the buses I've been on, there are only 3rd class trains running from the nearest station so there was no AC. Not very comfortable until someone got off and I was able to get a seat next to the window. There were also some pretty harsh sights on the way in. I've seen levels of poverty I've not witnessed in the UK but quite a few of the views from the train really highlight the issue. One was a woman's house, made of corrugated iron and old signs which opened right onto the building site of a massive overhead expressway. The back door was literally about 4 metres away from a 10 metre pillar which would support the road when finished. There was no fence or anything to separate the two and on top of this the train track was only another 6 or 8 metres away. There was a 4 metre hole for the foundations (after it'd been partly filled with concrete) which was completely open. The construction site was completely open and all along it there were school kids walking home and people taking shortcuts on bike taxis. There also more shanty-type towns (I don't know if they were technically shanty towns occupying land illegally, but they were shanty town style) than I realised and they are often crammed right next to very wealthy areas. I saw a small collection of shanty houses next to a Tescos and a large (not large by Bolivia's El Alto shanty town for example but by Thai standards large) shanty town sheltering under a massive, glass-clad high rise building. The contrast is heavy.

And speaking of contrast, last night I went to Kriang's work's night out which consisted of dinner at a local restaurant, with a fairly large array of different dishes that were all tasty, and some worryingly salty orange juice. Afterwards we went to a posh hotel for karaoke. Not my bag usually but when in Rome eh? The hotel had karaoke studios which is something I've not come across before. There were twelve rooms, available for private hire with a projector and karaoke system (with the usual cheese-taster tune selection, including plenty of Thai pop) and drinks served to the room. I did actually sing along to one or two songs and the first one I sang along to properly was in Thai. Apparently I speak/sing Thai better than Kriang but that was no doubt meant to be more taking the piss out of Kriang than complementing my Thai skills. Still, it was quite good fun and a couple of Kriang's colleagues were actually really good singers. Kriang got straight in there too and sang a couple. I left the camera in the car unfortunately so no photos of the people that came but they were all a lovely bunch, hopefully I'll get the chance to meet them again.

OK, I'm going to break from tradition and not post any pictures of booze before signing off. i have got a couple of pictures, but I'm going to grab a shower and some breakfast before heading into town again. Yoink.

Grand Palace, Wat Prah Kaew and Wat Pho

Had an interesting day yesterday so this is quite a big post again. You might notice I've changed the format slightly with one post to a page. That may mean a bit more loading but it was getting ridiculous having such a massive first page.

Right, back to the matter in hand. Fully entered tourist mode. From travel errors to rampant photographing to badly haggled Tuk-Tuks rides (no more Mr Nice Guy now, Tuk-Tuk drivers watch out!) Was supposed to get the train to meet Pook for lunch in Bangkok but due to a miscommunication (and a fairly large assumption on his part I reckon) with Kriangsak's gardener I got a taxi for the 20km journey instead. Fortunately it only cost about £2.10, but the train would've been about 30p. He saw me waiting for a taxi at the main road outside Kriang's village and offered to help me flag one down which was nice, but when I told him I was going to the train station he assumed I meant Hualumpong, the main station in central Bangkok, not Huatakae, the local station that I actually wanted. I jumped in the taxi and started checking a dictionary about how to ask for a ticket to Hualumpong. I looked up a minute later and we're hurtling along the express way towards Bangkok. By this time I'd missed the train so I figured I'd just carry on into town. I decided to get the taxi to the train station so I could get the bus from there rather than just get the taxi straight to AIS where Pook works. The bus cost 7 baht, about 10p, but was the oldest bus I've been on yet and wasn't air conditioned.


It actually wasn't bad at all, if you sit on the side out of the sun with the window open it's fine and somehow the bus seemed to get through the traffic quite well. They're not clear on this picture but note the ceiling fans and wooden floorboards.

Despite the smog and traffic I'm still really enjoying the novelty of getting around in Bangkok, there's a whole range of transport options: buses, minibuses, pickup buses, taxis, tuk-tuks and motorbike taxis being the most common. I tried the motorbike taxi last night for the first time. They don't travel very far, if you want to go a long way across the city you have to get a normal taxi or bus but for just a few kilometers they'll get you there quickly. Very quickly. The one I went on didn't stop during the entire journey, for queues, policemen or traffic lights. Definitely the way to get around if you don't mind paying a bit extra and you're not of a nervous disposition. You can haggle with them like the tuk-tuk drivers so you can move around for the same price as a taxi. The Thais even get two passengers on there making it even cheaper.

Most people I've spoken to have said Bangkok's fairly unpleasant and recommended that I don't stay for more than a couple of days. Whilst it is very busy, often smelly, crowded and more expensive than in the countryside it's a wicked place. Besides which I doubt it's no more expensive than Ko Samui or Ko Phuket and it's still a damn site cheaper than the UK of course. Despite all that I love it. It's bustling, busy, fast paced (and yet people don't seem to rush around, head down, on a mission, like in cities in the UK. I suppose it's too hot to do that) cosmopolitan and generally interesting and exciting. If Bangkok's rubbish I can't wait to see more of Thailand. Just a few more days to experience the capital though...

Anyway, I made it to AIS in time (well 20 minutes late but that's not bad by my standards especially considering I'm new to Bangkok) and had a nice lunch in a nice restaurant. After lunch I headed off to the Grand Palace and Wat Prah Kaew. I'd been wanting to see the Grand Palace and temples since reading about them before I came and they didn't disappoint.

There are so many buildings and statues covered in semiprecious stones and gold leaf. The time, money, detail, effort and artistry that must have gone into each building, statue and chedi is amazing. Some of the statues have gold leaf coming off and you could see bits floating around in the wind all over the place. Whilst I was walking around I met a nice Israeli bloke called David so we walked round together, taking pictures for each and sharing our limited knowledge of what we were looking at. Unfortunately while we were chatting away we managed to wander outside of the central complex without realising it. We'd seen everything we wanted except the famous Emerald Bhudda, a 1st century BCE statue of the Bhudda covered in green Jade and clothed in gold leaf. It's the only green image of Bhudda in a temple in the world apparently. We tried to get back in but the guards wouldn't let us because they'd stopped letting people in for the day. Showing them our tickets didn't do the trick. A rare case of Thais being unhelpful and to not see the Emerald Bhudda was very annoying. Still it was our own fault.

After the Grand Palace I went to Wat Pho which has the world's largest Bhudda image, the famous reclining Bhudda.

nice Thai couple whilst walking around Wat Pho. They told me about some of the architecture and history of the place. Unfortunately they declined to have their photo taken. I think in this case they were just shy but some people here believe that photos can harm the soul in some way. This belief is more common in the northern hill tribes apparently, but many people here seem to be shy about having their picture taken, much more so than in the UK.

After finishing at Wat Pho I got a Tuk-Tuk to China town. This was the one I haggled badly. My initial offer was too low and I still ended up paying about 10 Baht over the odds. Not a problem really since that's only about 14p, and I enjoyed the process anyway. It's often a bit of an effort because the drivers don't always speak much English. Sometimes they just repeat place names and then give numbers to haggle their price. In one or two cases in areas away from the more popular tourist destinations they've spoken entirely in Thai. Fortunately I'm rapidly learning numbers in Thai, not that I've suddenly become linguistically talented but the Thai number system is very simple. Anyhoo, it was fun because this guy could speak good English so it was no effort and I had a laugh. There's not many pictures of China town but here they are.

Again one of the highlights for me was meeting someone, a really nice Thai bloke outside the temple. Next door is a hospital and his daughter was actually in labour at the time. He'd come outside to stretch his legs and saw me taking photos of the temple. He spoke very good English and told me how he'd travelled around the UK and Europe a few years ago. He was really friendly and offered me advice about travelling up to Chiang Mai. One thing I didn't like in China town though was seeing this.


I seem to be developing a theme for finishing on a boozy note. In a slight variation from the norm I've got a small selection today. First is Asahi, a Japanese beer.


As nice as the rest but still just lager so not a great deal to choose from. Next is the first, and probably last, Thai wine I've had, Chateau De Loei.


At about £8 it was the most expensive bottle of Thai wine in the wine shop. Since it was in Paragon, a pretty expensive shopping centre in the middle of Bangkok (they sell Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Aston Martins on the top floor) I figure it's probably about as good as they come. Unfortunately it wasn't very nice and I think I'll use the last of it to cook with.

Lastly is this beauty.


Pocari Sweat, as seen on www.engrish.com. Mmm, tasty.

Khao Yai National Park Trip

Day 6. Spent the weekend at Khao Yai National Park which is Thailand's oldest nature reserve, a world wildlife heritage site and a very popular destination for Thais from all over the country. It was National Children's Day on Saturday which may have made it a bit busier than usual. Khao Yai's located about 200km north of
Bangkok and stretches across over 2000km² and four provinces. Here're the photos.

They're in completely random order, both in terms of subject and chronology. I've added the odd description here and there. Highlights of the trip included:

• Seeing two captive tigers
• Seeing wild deer, monkeys and an alligator.
• Hearing a monkey (or gibbon, I'm not sure which) dawn chorus which was both amazing and kind of eerie. The only downside to this was that I would've probably missed it if I hadn't been woken by the sound of a small child vomiting violently a few metres away but it was worth it for me, if not perhaps, for the kid.
  
• Swimming in a pool at the bottom of Haew Suwat waterfall.
• Seeing a few examples of one moped with an entire family on it (two adults, two children) and another with three people and a dog, none of which I managed to catch on film unfortunately. I'm hoping to see one with five or more lifeforms next, perhaps a family with a couple of kittens in saddle bags or something.
  
• Camping next to a friendly old woman (who we quickly adopted as a temporary aunt) who not only supplied us with various bits and pieces we needed: tinder (freshly chopped with her handy machete), cooking oil, a candle, lighter etc; but also offered help and advice with various things.
• Seeing a moving plant (video below.)
  
• Plus too much other stuff to mention here. The photos should give you some idea.

This was the furthest I've been from Bangkok so far. The first thing I noticed was that there were very few farang (foreigners) this far off the tourist map. I saw one other bloke on the first day and one group on the second day. I could frequently hear Thais talking about the "farang" as I walked past. Generally the children just pointed or asked their parents about the farang and a few practiced their English, which was more limited than my Thai apparently. Walking around Bangkok and the surrounding area nobody bats an eyelid so it was a bit strange at first but I quickly got used to it. It is also true that the Thais are generally all very friendly, much more so than in the UK. Smile at someone randomly in the UK and the reaction will likely be anywhere from cynical confusion to violence. Smile at someone randomly here and they just smile back. My kind of place.

Camping was good fun too although quite a lot classier than I'm used to. The majority of the Thais were obviously fairly regular campers because they were all so well prepared. It was home from home for many of them. The facilities in each camp site were excellent too. Everything you need is available to hire or buy, from BBQ buckets (not made from the usual metal like I've seen before but from a concrete type substance) to mats and from tents to food.

That's enough about camping and the park for now. I might edit more stuff in later but the pictures tell the story best. Just a quick note on one or two other things. Firstly I should say how brilliant Kriang, Will and Pook have been as hosts. It was a six hour round trip and Kriang did an excellent job of driving everywhere over the weekend from motorways to mountain roads. We took a fairly hefty detour, mostly for my benefit, in order to go to some place where you can milk cows, although the particular place we wanted was closed. Will has taken me into Bangkok on a tour for the afternoon, Pook always asks what Kriang has planned for me when she calls (and I think she might even have called a couple of times just to suggest things and check that he's looking after me!) and has given me a Thai sim card because I couldn't get my one to work. (So note that there's no point sending me messages and stuff to my UK number. If you do want to call or text the number is +66865605875.) And they've generally all been wonderful, thoughtful hosts so far. There's pictures of Kriang and Pook in the slide show above, but Will didn't join us so here's one of the Crosby Brothers. For some reason they look like musicians to me in this picture.



I also found the old SD card which I suspected was lost. There's only a couple of photos on there vaguely worth posting. This is a poor shot of the Golden Triangle Massage Palour where I had my foot massage. It's in the ground floor of the building to the left of Siam Prototypes.



And this is a traffic cop dealing with a massive pileup.


There was a line of about 15 vehicles all crunched up with a truck at the back, its load of cash machines or similar deposited on the road. I didn't take pictures of the crash because I didn't think it was appropriate considering people might have been hurt. In Bangkok the traffic and driving is about as bad as its reputation: you frequently see mopeds and occasionally cars driving the wrong way up the hard shoulder, which is usually used as an extra lane by those travelling the right way, people overtake, undertake and generally cut each other up constantly. Less than half of the moped and motorbike riders wear helmets, including child passengers and everybody tailgates each other because if you leave enough space for a car the gap'll get filled. You'd think that such massive pileups might serve as a lesson to people not to tailgate, but it doesn't, and after a week or so I'm not surprised. There's very few accidents, especially considering how people drive and everybody is very good natured. There's no such thing as road rage here, people hardly ever use their horn either. It's just everyman for himself and get on with it. Even the traffic cops undertake, speed and use the hard shoulder as an extra lane.

Penultimately here's another beer I've been enjoying: Chang beer. I like a bit of Chang now and again.


Lastly, just headed into Bangkok for dinner and a look around. Had my first Tuk Tuk ride. A novelty certainly, but there's too much smog, fumes and smells in Bangkok. Since you can get an air con taxi for about the same cash, usually a little less, it'll probably be my last. Saw an amazing Hindu temple, with detailed artwork all over it but photos weren't allowed. Bought a bottle of Thai wine, a Shiraz. I'll try that soon and report back.