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We opted for an hour flight to get from Surat Thani to Bangkok instead of a 15 hour bus journey on Thai roads- which turned out to be an excellent move. In Bangkok we were staying in a Muslim run hotel about 10 minutes walk from Khao San Road in Banglamphu which had possibly the coldest aircon we have ever felt, but felt amazing compared to the 35 degree Bangkok heat. On the first evening we ventured to Khao San road (the main backpacker/ bar area in Bangkok) and sampled the staple diet of Thai curry and Chang Beer which we had developed over the previous few weeks. Although the street is crammed with street food stalls, local eateries and bars it had a friendly feel which we enjoyed and we ended our night people watching from one of the street side bars. One of the enjoyable aspects of Bangkok was the contrast between the backpacker areas with bars/ street sellers and the amazing architecture and culture associated with the Grand Palace and Wat Po about a 30 minute walk away from our hotel. The heat walking around the Grand Palace was unbearable at times, however, the sights were breathtaking. The vivid colours on the statues and temples gave the place a regal feel and the emerald Buddha- the most worshipped and iconic image in Thailand was stunning. It is called the Emerald Buddha as the person who found it in the 1400's thought that it was emerald stone due to its colour, however, it is in fact made from Jade. We also made the journey to Wat Po, slightly further along the Chao Praya river to see the huge reclining Buddha. Its size is staggering and no matter which angle you stand at it is virtually impossible to capture the whole figure in one camera shot.
Another one of the many cultural aspects of the city that we saw was the National Museum, where we took a free English tour which focused upon the image of Buddha. Since this point it has been extremely interesting to see the images of Buddha cast around Thailand and understand some of the origins of the religion and the must have characteristics of 'a Buddha'.
The atmosphere in Bangkok was like nowhere else we have ever experienced, oppressive at times but then you would stagger across a stunningly relaxing cafe or restaurant and recover emerging totally refreshed. One of the highlights was a trip across the city to see Siam Niramit which is a show depicting the emergence of aspects of Thai culture. The costumes were stunning and the stage also had a river running across it, where floating candles were sailed during the performance as well as an actor diving into the water to wash in one of the scenes- which was pretty breathtaking.
Transport was a bit of a mixture between walking when the temperature was cool enough, taking the express boat along the impressive Chao Praya river (13baht= a little over 20p for a 30min trip), 21st Century technology on the sky rail- avoiding the crazily congested road network and for the most memorable reasons- Tuk Tuk. No need for any fayre grounds in Thailand as these things do the whole thing, however, I'm certain that there is a ton of money to be made in developing their road infrastructure and teaching the nationals how to drive.J
One of the most surreal experiences was our visit to Chatuchak weekend market. 100s of stalls and hundreds of people make it quite an intense experience. Add to that hundreds of litres of rain in about 30 minutes and you're on the way to a floating market. At points the water was up to mid calf and the narrow lanes within the market were drenched and full of cockroaches.
We managed to find a really chilled out area within the main backpacking area in Bangkok which served as a base for our stay, which was slightly disconnected from the main hive of Khao San road, but close enough to hit the main attractions of the city within 30 minutes. It was chilled out and relaxing until the odd cockroach lands on Claire's head J She was not a happy camper.
At the end of our stay in Bangkok it was then back onto the airport bus and back to the international airport and try our utmost to avoid the many scams that operate within the airport. By luck and good judgement we succeeded and boarded our plane set for Saigon (HCMC).
Lots of love Dave and Claire x
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