Bangkok

The journey to Bangkok i was led to believe was best done part by bus, you then walk across the border and get a tuk tuk to the train station and a train to Bangkok.  So we bought a bus ticket to the border, it picked us up from our hotel and was a lovely big bus with air con.  After some time we realised that everyone else had bought a bus ticket from the other side of the border to Bangkok and as the bus was so nice, we decided to do the same and skip the train.  The journey to the border took about 3.5 hours, but once we arrived the mayhem commenced.  You have to cross the border by foot, first you must leave Cambodia and then enter Thailand.  On the Cambodian side there were no lines so people just made a mad dash for the 3 people sitting behind the counters.  It took about 30 minutes of standing with about 60 other people squashed and very hot.  Once we had been signed out of Cambodia, its a 10 minute walk through i assume no mans land.  Curiously the only things there were off licences and casinos.  Once you walk through you join another queue, we were informed by a helpful website that this part would take about 40 minutes, meaning if we had still needed to catch the train we would have got to the train station with an hour to spare.  Only then did a helpful passing man in a uniform tell us the waiting time was about 4 hours.  That's 4 hours in the baking sun, with all the luggage and nowhere to get food or non alcoholic drinks. 

 

 

That was not fun, by the time we got through to the other side i had nearly had enough, but the thought of the lovely big air con bus straight to Bangkok did help.  Only it wasn't so, we got picked up in a pick up truck and told we were being taken to meet the bus.  We were taken to a bus depot kind of place and told to wait, which we did.  After about half an hour a minibus turned up, we were told that if your luggage fitted in you could go, if not you would have to wait for the next one.  Now there were a load of people that had got there before us but they had big suitcases, so our rucksacks were lobbed on, and we were squashed in.  Possibly the most uncomfortable 4 hours of my life.  We finally arrived in Bangkok at 9pm, having left Siem Reap at 8am, starving, very tired and a bit grouchy.  We had started out with the intention of walking to our hotel but as we no idea where we were or where it was, we got a taxi.  He drove us around the block for about 10 minutes and charged us £6 for the pleasure and dropped us at our hotel about a 2 minute walk from where we started. 

It has been really hard to find rooms in the centre of Bangkok, so we had ended up in quite a nice hotel with room service.  Room service was ordered and the sack was hit!!

The next day was our only full day in Bangkok, so I had a plan, this included the Forensic museum, Wat Arun (The temple of the Dawn) and The Royal Palace.  Everyone had said that Bangkok is a an assault on the senses, but i think because we have been to Phnom Penh and Mumbai, it seemed quite tame.  It is a very busy city and there are lots of weird and wonderful things for sale, but it felt very clean, safe and touristy.

My favourite item of food i saw for sale near our hotel was angry birds sushi (In Thailand and Cambodia they are obsessed with angry birds, i have also seen angry birds fish cakes).

The Forensic museum is based in an old hospital on the other side of the river and it took us ages to find it.  No one seemed to have heard of it and there were no signs.  So about an hour later, we find ourselves at the entrance to the hospital grounds.  The security guard asks us to put our cigarettes out on the floor, which we do, and Craig is promptly grabbed (literally) by a very over zealous policeman.  He tells Craig (somehow he didn't see me), that it is a 2000B (about £40) fine.  After about 5 minutes of pointing out that the Security guard had told us to do it, and refusing to pay a fine that we had no way of knowing was official.  He then decided that 200B (£4) would cover it, and we were on our way, quite an unpleasant experience though.

We spent about 2 hours in the hospital which had lots of interesting but very gruesome exhibits.  There was a whole section on the rescue and clear up effort after the tsunami.  There were a lot of mummies, pickled organs and babies, showing various injuries, diseases and disabilities.  There was a whole section on infectious diseases and things that you can get through food.  It was pretty gross but really interesting at the same time, unfortunately or fortunately we weren't allowed to take photos.

After the museum we got a tuk tuk to the Temple Wat Arun.  To be honest, we were all a bit templed out, but this one is partly made by mosaic, so it just wasn't optional.

I thought it was beautiful, really different.  Wikipedia says - Wat Arun (Thai: วัดอรุณ, Thai pronunciation [wát ʔarun], "Temple of Dawn") is a Buddhist temple (wat) in the Bangkok Yai district of Bangkok, Thailand, on the Thonburi west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The full name of the temple is Wat Arun Ratchawararam Ratchawaramahawihan (วัดอรุณราชวรารามราชวรมหาวิหาร). Wat Arun is among the best known of Thailand's landmarks. The temple is so named because the first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple with pearly iridescence. Although the temple had existed since at least the seventeenth century, its distinctive prang (spires) were built in the early nineteenth century during the reign of King Rama II.

By the time we had finished it was about 4pm and the Royal Palace had closed so we headed back to Khao San Rd for a well deserved drink.  Khao San Rd is the backpacker hub of Bangkok and a lot of people had said that it was a lot of fun.  I personally didn't think so, it was way too touristy, with lots of very drunk men on package holidays.  The street sellers were constant and it all felt pretty seedy - there was a bar called "No ID required"!  Just across the street there were stalls selling fake ID's, including from the FBI, press passes and even fke University certificates, the best sellers apparently Oxford & Cambridge.  We spent the evening amongst the mayhem, with a crazy (not in a good way) British couple, just watching the madness go by.  The must do whilst in Thailand is eat a bug so both myself and Craig tried a cricket.  They didn't taste of much, very crunchy and the legs got stuck in my throat, definitely not my new favourite snack!

The following morning with a very sore head, we went for breakfast with a very nice couple Doris and Gunther that we had met previously in Koh Yao Noi.  It was really lovely to catch up with them and hear all about their travels since they had left Koh Yao Noi.

It was then time to pack up, and send Elliott off to get his bus to the airport.  We said our goodbyes and then sat with our bags for 5 hours on Khao San Rd waiting for our overnight bus to Chang Mai (North Thailand).

That's a story for the next post............

All in all i didn't like Bangkok, the locals and travellers were not friendly, i didn't think the city had that much character and the police (and most of the locals) were just out for what they could get.  We heard so many stories of ridiculous fines for made up offences.  And the locals being unfriendly i think is probably down to having to deal with stupid, drunk, European men for too long, so they tarnish us all with the same brush.  Definitely not somewhere i would rush back to visit.....