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Bangkok: our home and our playground for the last five days. I will try my best to describe the chaos and insanity which we have been subject to in our first week in Asia but honestly you have to be here to understand what I'm telling you.
A smooth flight involving getting an early start with beers had us arrive in Bangkok. We were greeted by a pink taxi with a nice body kit and spoiler which took us into the city with the sunset as its background … the calm before the storm. We arrived at our hostel and met up with a few people I had met in my travels so far. Wasting no time in purchasing our first 80p beers we got straight to it and were told that we would be attending a ping pong show that evening. We received a warning that we had just arrived on the first day of Songkran, celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April, and we had timed it perfectly completely by accident. Getting to the ping pong show was an experience itself as we mounted and crammed into a Tuk Tuk, the traditional suicidal mode of transport around the city. The ping pong show was an inspiring spectacle as we were treated to various objects being removed and fired from several females. The show then turned even more explicit and it was time to leave. So we headed to Khao San Road, the famous street in Bangkok. When we arrived I can honestly say I had never seen anything like it. As soon as we got off the Tuk-Tuk we were drenched in flour and water, every person on the street had their own water gun which they were firing at any random person. Music was pumping from one end of the long street to the other and everything was lit up. Thousands of soaking wet people going crazy and dancing in the streets as even then locals tried to sell various items to you. The rest of the night was a blur as we moved from bar to club to bar to street carrying on with the chaos. I can tell that we were reunited, but not until midday the next day as we all eventually made it back to the hostel after going our separate ways that night.
So that was night one, we hadn't even been in Bangkok a day yet and we had experienced probably the craziest few hours of our lives, and that's an understatement. We soon discovered that during Songkran, the party never stops. 24/7 the whole city is engaged in an alcohol fuelled water fight with fire engines firing water at screaming crowds as the whole of Bangkok dances to the constant blaring of music from stations across the city. Feeling disgustingly worse for wear but using the excuse that became very customary over the last five days, that it's Bangkok, we headed to Silom Road, one of the main hubs for the water chaos. Again we arrived to thousands of people soaking wet moving up and down the street being destroyed by water cannons and flour. A highlight here was getting fired at by a policeman who had his own water gun. That night all we went out in was our swimming trunks and a vest, and for good reason. We decided to go for a nice sit down meal and were halfway through when the place descended into chaos. The whole restaurant engaged in a water fight and soon the place was flooded. Forced out back onto the streets we first encountered an elephant just casually being paraded down the road doing tricks with rings and standing on its back legs. That pretty much set the tone for the night as we moved again from bar to bar getting soaked in water and UV paint and drinking litre after litre of beer. First casualty of the tour was a lad we were with needing 16 stitches in his eye as a result of a slight misunderstanding with a couple of Thai gentlemen.
The next three days are better summed up because I could write detailed descriptions of our days there but it would take hours. We were happy to see the end of Songkran as it meant we could actually venture out and explore the city without getting drenched. The drinking didn't stop but we wanted to get a feel for the culture of the city and so headed to the Grand Palace and its surrounding markets. Kitted out in our big Asian trousers and shirts we paraded around the temples and markets fitting right in, which did mean we weren't harassed nearly as much by the locals. We also visited Chinatown which seems to be standard in every major city before treating ourselves to a drink at the highest point in Bangkok, the sky bar. The setting for a Hangover 2 scene, we dressed up as smart as we could and sipped on cocktails, a stark contrast to what we had been a part of for the last four days. After managing to hold a few civilised conversations with the hotel guests we then headed back down to the ground for an even more civilised evening … spent in an alleyway of Bangkok in another ping pong show washed down with as much beer as humanly possible.
After the time of our lives we were ready to leave Bangkok, leaving a very big mark on it. We would be back but for now we had a 9 hour overnight bus trip to our next stop Chang Mai.
- comments
Jonatan jo.bartholomew - Thanks ladies for your lolevy comments- you are too too kind Sally- no it wasn't the desert rd it was on the main highway between Auckland and Matamata. the policeman kept laughing because whilst hubby was getting a ticking off i took the opportunity to take photos!! xJune 30, 2011 2:08 pm