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Wilson's World Tour
We left Cairns at about 1300, but then had to fly 2000km's the wrong way back to Sydney, then fly back over the country and onto Bangkok. We eventually arrived in Bangkok at about midnight only to find our bags hadn't arrived with us ! We went and spoke to the people responsible, they assured us our bags would be delivered to our 'hotel' by 0900 the next morning, the only trouble was they wanted the keys to the padlocks we had on our packs, so they could take them through customs on our behalf ! We had visions of being woken up at 0900 and being told we had a reservation at the Bangkok Hilton ! We signed a form and handed them over and just hoped they'd arrive in the morning.
Being fairly used to this travelling lark, we'd pre-booked a hostel, so jumped in a taxi and headed out into the chaos which is Bangkok driving ! The taxi looked pretty much brand new, but didn't have any seat belts !, he obviously opted for psedo leather look seats instead !.
We got to the hostel safely and crashed out after a tiring days travelling.
Although Sam's been to Thailand many times to see her Dad, she's never really explored the place so was as excited as I was at the prospect. We got up and decided to head into Bangkok and see if we could get aboat to cruise along the river. Our hostel was purposely a bit out of town and away from Koh San Road, the main backpackers street, but convieniently close to the very new and efficient sky train. We took the train all the way to the river, as we passed through the city you could appreciate the wealth of the city with the amamzing skyscrapers and building work which is going on. Once at the river station we found a guide who's take us on the river for a couple of hours, visiting the floating markets, flower markets and several Wat's. The boat was a typical Thai motor boat, very long & narrow with a huge car engine suspended on the back, from which a huge prop shaft comes out of and a propeller attached to that. I reasoned we should sit at the front of the boat, as far away from the engine as possible ! Due to the volume of boats on the river it was a pretty bumpy ride untill we got to the smaller canals, where it was a lot more confortable. It was incredible to see the houses, perched precariously on rickerty wooden legs and also witness the pretty poor conditions some of the people have to live in. The rivers were pretty filthy, but it didn't stop the kids going for swims and we even saw one brave man washing his teeth in it ! We got to the floating markets, it was pretty amamzing collection of floating 'areas', there was a 'eating area' the kitchens were women in smaller boats moored along side with BBQ'S smouldering away in their wooden boats, then handing up the food. I don't think we could've eaten there as it wasn't very stable and rocked as the boats went by. There were then stalls selling all manner of things.
We then carried on and visited a flower market, it was pretty incredible, a lot of the stalls were making really intricate flower offerings for visits to Buddha and had huge bunches of roses for 50b about 70 pence !! We also floated past a lot of magnificent Wat's (buddhist temples) and planned to see them properly in the next few days.
We got a taxi to the Koh San Road as we weren't sure where to eat and assumed as there's a lot of backpackers there, the food should be OK. We had a good meal and then headed for the shops along Koh San Rd which sell an incredible variety of stuff. I bought a Rolex watch, a pair of oakley sunglasses and some Thai fishermans trousers which looked as if an elephant could wear them let alone a little Thai guy ! Sam also bought a few things and we both enjoyed bartering with the stall holders, feinging looks of horror at the first price they suggest, walking away when they won't come down to your price, knowing that they'll call you back and agree the price.
The hostel we were staying in had an amazing restaurant, I had a fab green curry that was so flavoursome, we both vowed we must go on a Thai cookery class at some point during our stay and try to master just one dish each.
The next day we headed to the Emerald Buddha. Apparantly it was originally found by a monk who was clearling some things away which weren't regarded as important, when he noticed that this buddha plaster seemed to be comming off his nose. When he looked more carefully he realised it was green underneath and when they removed all the plaster, discovered it was made entirely out of Jade, they must have thought it was emmerald at the time and it stuck. But it is now the most reveered Budha statue in Thailand. It is housed in the most amazing buildings, almost unbelivable, they're so intricate and enormous at the same time. The photos will give you an idea, but not anything compared to seeing them close up.
The grand palace is also in the same area so we walked around that to. It used to be inhabited by the King, but is now only used for ceremonies, but it's a really beautiful building and makes you appreciate how wealthy the Thai Royals must be.
As we were in Bangkok I'd thought I'd get some more contact lenses, so we headed to a big shoppiong centre. It was amazing, only the most expensive designers were in there, top end hi-fi shops, Ferrari and Porsche dealerships, it really was incredible and again gave an indication as to thew wealth of some of the Thai People.
Later in the evening we went to a big night market and again bought some things, this time we both got some really nice cotton tops, as in this heat t-shirts just stick to you, Sam also bought a few floaty skirts, I'm just getting worried how were going to carry all this stuff !!
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