Alone in Bangkok

I got up this morning with a bit of anixety. This is the first time in over 3 weeks I've woken up, and no one was around. I was alone. Harv and Dan left for Japan at 4am, and I was left in Bangkok waiting to catch a flight to Hanoi, Vietnam tomorrow morning. I came to the realization that I'm on my own for rest of the trip. I tried to drown my anixiety by keeping busy. I ate some breakfast, watched the Super Bowl in Thai (those poor Seahawks), worked out in my DIY gym, and switched guesthouses.

We arrived in Bangkok on Friday afternoon in good spirits. I was yearning to see anything new, and looking forward to getting out of Pukhet. The temperature was hovering around 36C when we arrrived, and has been since I've been here. The sky in Bangkok is always grey, because of the smog generated from cars, tuk-tuks, and buses. Learning from the past, we made reservations, and arrived at our guesthouse without any problem. The guesthouse Dan picked was convieniently located near Khosan Road. Khosan Road has the distinct reputation as being the worldwide mecca for backpackers. It is to backpackers what Vegas is to gambling in America. Khosan is only open to pederstrain traffic. The 2km strip is lined with restuarants, bars, shops, street vendors, guesthouses, and food stands -- all priced for the budget conscience traveller. In the evening, we walked around Khosan for dinner, and accidently ran into Mark and Kindra from Vancouver - who we met on Bottle Beach at the beginning of January. They were eating Indian food when I heard someone yell Harvey's name. We met up with them for quiet drink after they had their dinner.

On Saturday, we visited the Chatuchak Weekend Market. The scale of the market is unbelievable - it covers an area of 35 acres, contains more than 15 000 shops and stalls, has over 200 000 visitors each day. The range of products on sale is extensive, and includes household accessories, handicrafts, religious artifacts, art, antiques, live animals (which unfortunately are frequently caged in cruel conditions), books, music, clothes, food, plants and flowers etc. Most of the shops are under large tents. Each tent containing a certain type of product. I stayed in the large clothing tent most of the day. I restrainted myself from buying too much, but I ended up with the most items bought between the three of us. I bought 5 nice T-shirts for 450 baht or $12. The t-shirts were a steal, and easily cost $15 each in Canada. At 7pm, we met up with Mark and Kindra before they headed off for Laos. We had dinner, and drinks at the Wild Orchid with them, then wandered Khosan before turning in for the rest of the night.

Dan and I spent most of the day at MBK Center on Sunday. MBK is a mega mall in the center of Bangkok that contains 7 floors of market-style shopping. Dan wanted to do some last minute shopping before leaving Bangkok, so I decided to tag along. The shopping experience was like no other. We were scurried in by mobs of Thai people looking for bargains. I paused to look around when we were on the escalator. The floors below us looked like ant farm. There were thousands of people in the building, and we were in the middle of the maddness. I didn't buy anything but vowed I would return to MBK when I catch my flight home in May. In the evening, we met up with Kimko and Sebastian from San Francisco. Kimko and Sebastian met Dan and Harvey in Chang Mai when I was still in Vancouver. We had dinner and some drinks then, all of us including Kimko and Seb caught a tuk-tuk to Patpong to watch some ping-pong. It's hard to describe what we saw in Patpong without getting too graphic. But, we basically watched a 20 min show where we saw razor-blades, rope, a birthday cake being blown out, a ping pong ball thrown across the room, and darts being shot at several baloons. I'll let you figure out what body part was ultilized in the all of the tricks. After the show, we visited an old Shell Gas station that turned into a nightclub at night. Cigarettes, and torches were lit around gas pumps where gasoline was once dispensed.

I love Bangkok in doses. There is a lot to like about Bangkok if you can get over the smog and exhaust that pollutes the city everyday. Tonight, I'm heading to the sports stadium to see some real Muay Thai Boxing. I can't wait!


Khaosan at night
Yum. My first serving of street Pad Thai for 15 baht, or .45 cents.
Fake Student, Driver license, Press IDs for sale on Khaosan
Trying on traditional headwear
Mark and Kindra with us at the sidewalk patio
Baby elephant walks down street
Dan drooling over the pirated software at MBK center
Seb, Kimko, Harv and Dan on Khaosan
Kimko lighting a cigarette beside a gas pump