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Hey,
Well Tom and I are currently in Bangkok (again!) this is our third time here, and as exciting as frenetic as it is I cant help but approach it with a heavy heart. Bangkok has all the grace of a man wearing heels (which is a suprisingly common sight), maps make no sense...left is right, up is down and everyone constantly trying to rip you off quickly turns you into a cynical wreck. We will, however be here once more after this visit, and we have found a little oasis in 'Lamphu House' where we are turning into regulars and the staff seem to know we want Bannana Shakes and Pad Thai (sad ey?)
Anyway, last time we blogged we were in Chang Mai but pretending we were in Laos, so really I ought to start in Chang Mai. Chang Mai is Thailands second city, it is ancient and moated and holds a vast amount of beautiful temples. It is the place to go if you have a love of thai cuisine or hippy tendencies with courses in everything from meditation to elephant handling. We were only in Chang Mai for a few days but certainly made the most of the cuisine! Other than this we spent some time going roudn the various Wats and temples in the city. We also went to the tribal museam which was very interesting and gave us little look at what the Thai were doing to support the hilltribes in the area. To be perfectly honest I think that we were both slightly disapointed in Chang Mai. After Luang Prabang in Laos we found it to noisy and although the temples were beautiful I think we were a little 'templed-out'.
Moving on from Chang Mai we got the overnight sleeper train to Bangkok, a fairly uneventful little trip we slept like babies to the gentle (violent) rocking of the train. We arrived at Bangkok at 7 in the morning and checked ourselves into our faithful Lamphu house with the plan to get some kip and then head off to Chatachuk market, a market with no less than 20,000 stalls...heaven! Unfortunately, however, we didnt get that far as soon after we woke I started throwing up...and this continued for the next day, which scuppered our plans somewhat!
The days after, recovered if not slightly hungry, we made our way down to the Vietnamese embassy to hand in our passport for out Vietnamese visa's. This is a 5 day procedure and so we thought we would make the most of our time and head out of Bangkok for a couple of days in Katchanaburi. This plan also ended up delayed however, after I discovered that my bank card had been cancelled! Lovely Nationwide decided for new online security measures to issue all new cards, which I didnt have. Being a seasoned traveller of course, I also carry travellers cheques for emergencies, and I went to the foreign exchange with my head held high, how clever I was! The smile was quickly wiped off my face however, when they asked for my passport. My passport??? That would be the thing I just handed into the Vietnamese embassy.....ah! So, tail between my legs I had to make the call which I am sure my parents are learning to dread. A few hours later, with some money put in my backup backup account, by mum going into the bank herself (thanks mum!), and the promise that my Nationwide card would be re-activated the next day we headed off to Katchanburi.
Katchanburi, is a fairly indistinguisable town to look at but has a rather extrodinary history, being the start of the death railway and the home of the bridge over th River Kwai. Whilst here we headed over to the POW allies cemetary where thousands of immaculate graves mark where the bodies of many English, Dutch and Australian soldiers lost there lives in the making of the Bridge and railway. We also went to the death railway museum, which gave us a little background knowledge before we went to see the bridge. The bridge itself is really just a bridge to look at, but with a little imagination and maybe a quick viewing of the film 'The Bridge over the River Kwai', it becomes something else. We also learnt here that it is impossibly to call it anything other than 'The Bridge over the River Kwai', if you just try and say...'lets go to the bridge' or 'when is the train going over the bridge', it sounds strange, so you end up with sentences of ridiculous length. In the evening we had a romantic meal overlooking the bridge and river...although we shared with a couple of tag-alongs, James that we met on the train and Emma that we met in the Vietnamese earlier in the week. On a funny side note, we met Emma when she approached us at the embassy with her application and a confused look on her face. In all earnestness she was wanting to know whether when it asked if she wanted a 'single or multiple' entry visa, did it mean did she have a boyfriend or not?!
So, after leaving Katchanburi we made our way back to Bangkok. Last night we headed out to a Muay Thai boxing match at the Rajamanden Stadium. It was a pretty crazy experience! There were 11 matches, starting with the least experienced and heading up to the match that the crowds turn up for. I am not a conneiseur (no idea how to spell that) of boxing, but what was going on was pretty vicious. Unlike normal boxing, Thai boxing involves elbows and knees and you can hit any part other than the baby-makers. Understandably then there was a lot of blood! The bizarre part however was the ritualistic dance before hand that begins before the boxing starts where the boxers pretend to be dancing birds and kiss the floor and other strange goings on. The match itself is also carried out to live music that I can only liken to snake charmer, It starts off fairly slow and through the course of the round it gets quicker and quicker whipping the crowd and boxers into a frenzy. Most of the time Tom and I just sat there wide eyed with our jaws on the floor...crazy stuff!
So that takes us to today. Tom is currently at the Royal Palace, but I had 'inappropriate clothes' (my trousers didnt cover my ankles) and wasn't allowed in, and so I did what I do best and went shopping on Khao San Road. This morning we picked up our passports, my card is working again, neither of us have food poisoning and we are all set for a couple of weeks on the Thai island of Koh Tao!
And that is all for now, so see you soon...
Liz and Tom x
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