1st June - 7th June - Bangkok & Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Well, sadly we were just too lazy to get up for the early meditation session - so our evil materialisitc ways are still currently embedded! However, the sad knowledge of how small by backpack is, is enough to curb my whims - so far!! But we did fit in a traditional Thai massage at one of the temples. Lush.
Bangkok was fantastic fun! And we're looking forward to getting back there before our flight to Singapore in a month (or so) - (have stopped counting the days!!) We have been surprised by the number of people we've heard saying didn't like Bangkok as it is too busy, dirty and smelly. They obviously didn't come via Delhi as we've decided it's postivitely lush: tuktuks that don't threaten your life with every movement, food that smells wonderful and definitely edible and people that do not hassle your every step along a road! We also stayed in an area just outside of the main backpacker street which probably helped.
We spent the first couple of days visiting the Grand Palace (which is utterly stunning) and other great Buddha's, scattered about the city. Each place we visited was equally beautiful and the people there were all welcoming and very smiley. Random people have stopped us in the street to ask is what we've seen, to tell us where we should go and to ask us what footie team we support. I've always been hyper-alert watching our wallets and bags, and waiting for them to offer to take us to their friends gem shop to buy cheap cheap, special price jewellry - but none of them have! In fact they have all told us not to buy at the tourist markets, pointing out the markets and places they shop in, as tourist place bad quality and too expenship!!
We got quite used to all the transport which is dead easy to use - tuktuks, aircon taxis (which are cheaper!), sky train, river and smelly canal boats, so were able to fit lots in around sorting our visas.
One evening we went for a wax! (Yes - we!!!)
The place looked great - clean and well run but after being ushered behind a curtain in the corner and shown to a newspaper covered bed I began to question my need to be hair-free. When I saw the guide-camp style saucepan (wobbly wooden handle and all) on a funny little camping stove loaded up with (possibly old and scanky) lumps of wax, I began to question whether I'd be left with any skin from which to grow unwanted hair!!!! For some reason I let them carry on. I say "them" as two ladies then swarmed around me, twirling the dripping wax around wooden spoons, blowing on it as if the were about to gobble it down like spaghetti but suddenly smearing it on me and then yanking it off! Nice! But it worked and I do have my skin left to continue growing the unwanted hair so am quite chuffed that we'll be back there in - oh about 6 weeks! Handy!
Another evening was spent cruising the red light district and night market. Here we were hassled (but only in a pleasant way) with offers of ping pong shows and other such shows to ponder over what they actually entailed!! We politely declined and stopped for a beer or two and some serious people watching. Fascinating!!
For the weekend we headed out to Kanchanaburi - the town where the bridge goes over the River Kwai. Ignoramous me obviously hadn't listened in history as I hadn't a clue why James had been talking about the significance of visiting this town and was quite intrigued when I saw masses of tourists marching over the bridge and taking lots of photos. However, we went to the local museum which was absolutely brilliant and it certainly opened my eyes to the importance of this place we were visiting. It was very moving to read all the accounts of what had happened there and very strange to see it now as a bustling tourist destination.
We spent Monday and Tuesday pottering about Bangkok again while we got the final visas sorted. On Monday night James whisked us off in a TukTuk to the Thai boxing stadium. Although it hadn't been top on my ' mustdo' list, it was definately worth going to see. It was pretty grusume at times as they just seemed to kick, knee and elbow wherever they could (and one poor wee lamb got carried off on a stretcher) but it was also fascinating to watch all the locals getting excited with some strange betting process. It seemed more complicated than the dogs at Walthamstow!
Tuesday night we got comphy in our first class sleeper up to Chaing Mai. It was great and we arrived at 7am the next morning almost fresh as a daisy!
Bangkok was fantastic fun! And we're looking forward to getting back there before our flight to Singapore in a month (or so) - (have stopped counting the days!!) We have been surprised by the number of people we've heard saying didn't like Bangkok as it is too busy, dirty and smelly. They obviously didn't come via Delhi as we've decided it's postivitely lush: tuktuks that don't threaten your life with every movement, food that smells wonderful and definitely edible and people that do not hassle your every step along a road! We also stayed in an area just outside of the main backpacker street which probably helped.
We spent the first couple of days visiting the Grand Palace (which is utterly stunning) and other great Buddha's, scattered about the city. Each place we visited was equally beautiful and the people there were all welcoming and very smiley. Random people have stopped us in the street to ask is what we've seen, to tell us where we should go and to ask us what footie team we support. I've always been hyper-alert watching our wallets and bags, and waiting for them to offer to take us to their friends gem shop to buy cheap cheap, special price jewellry - but none of them have! In fact they have all told us not to buy at the tourist markets, pointing out the markets and places they shop in, as tourist place bad quality and too expenship!!
We got quite used to all the transport which is dead easy to use - tuktuks, aircon taxis (which are cheaper!), sky train, river and smelly canal boats, so were able to fit lots in around sorting our visas.
One evening we went for a wax! (Yes - we!!!)
The place looked great - clean and well run but after being ushered behind a curtain in the corner and shown to a newspaper covered bed I began to question my need to be hair-free. When I saw the guide-camp style saucepan (wobbly wooden handle and all) on a funny little camping stove loaded up with (possibly old and scanky) lumps of wax, I began to question whether I'd be left with any skin from which to grow unwanted hair!!!! For some reason I let them carry on. I say "them" as two ladies then swarmed around me, twirling the dripping wax around wooden spoons, blowing on it as if the were about to gobble it down like spaghetti but suddenly smearing it on me and then yanking it off! Nice! But it worked and I do have my skin left to continue growing the unwanted hair so am quite chuffed that we'll be back there in - oh about 6 weeks! Handy!
Another evening was spent cruising the red light district and night market. Here we were hassled (but only in a pleasant way) with offers of ping pong shows and other such shows to ponder over what they actually entailed!! We politely declined and stopped for a beer or two and some serious people watching. Fascinating!!
For the weekend we headed out to Kanchanaburi - the town where the bridge goes over the River Kwai. Ignoramous me obviously hadn't listened in history as I hadn't a clue why James had been talking about the significance of visiting this town and was quite intrigued when I saw masses of tourists marching over the bridge and taking lots of photos. However, we went to the local museum which was absolutely brilliant and it certainly opened my eyes to the importance of this place we were visiting. It was very moving to read all the accounts of what had happened there and very strange to see it now as a bustling tourist destination.
We spent Monday and Tuesday pottering about Bangkok again while we got the final visas sorted. On Monday night James whisked us off in a TukTuk to the Thai boxing stadium. Although it hadn't been top on my ' mustdo' list, it was definately worth going to see. It was pretty grusume at times as they just seemed to kick, knee and elbow wherever they could (and one poor wee lamb got carried off on a stretcher) but it was also fascinating to watch all the locals getting excited with some strange betting process. It seemed more complicated than the dogs at Walthamstow!
Tuesday night we got comphy in our first class sleeper up to Chaing Mai. It was great and we arrived at 7am the next morning almost fresh as a daisy!
posted by Polly and James at Friday, June 10, 2005
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