From May 27 to June 24 I am travelling through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Nepal. I hope to keep this journal up to date with the latest stories!
Day 2: Out and About
(Monday, May 30, 2005)
Started the day with a confused and laboured phone call from reception at 8am. My room-mate Brian from Sydney had arrived and reception were wondering if I was up so he could dump his things in our room. Well I was awake now! It was good to see someone else who would be on the trip.
But a fairly lazy morning followed, partly because it's not worth dashing around in the muggy heat that was set to prevail today too. I had breakfast with another Intrepider from Texas and again got more confident that the travelling team would get on very very well. Afterwards I caught a riverboat - I love these journeys - across to the Museum of Forensic Medicine to see some grizzly exhibits including jarred siamese twins, skulls with gunshot wounds, and preserved bodies of murderers and rapists. Lovely.
The air conditioning of the building - within hospital grounds - was very welcome as I felt more woozy today... perhaps the Malarone, perhaps the heat, perhaps something else. But more ventilation was assured with another longer journey by riverboat to Tha Sathon where I could pick up the skytrain to look round the mega-shopping district of Siam. This was mainly for interest but also to pick up some items before heading to Cambodia tomorrow. There was some fun in trying to translate the labels, but most embarrassing was when I was looking for tissues, and picked up a packet (whilst studying the "ingredients list" and other clues) of Tampax. Easily done, easily done!
And I had a chance encounter with a man who's daughter was married and living in Aberdeen. It's sometimes surprising (sceptically so) the number of people who have a connection with Scotland as soon as you say that's where you're from... normally these conversations are then angled towards buying something or going with that person for "good view". But this was more genuine, and so we talked for a good while about travelling around Thailand and other such delights. All from a dialogue started when I looked lost and he approached me to see if he could help. Fantastic.
And now I'm back in Banglumphu, ready to meet up with the group at 6pm for some drinks and whatever else we have to do - I'm hoping it's not going to be full of ice-breakers (as I think most of us should be pretty chilled out by now anyway) but it will be great to find out who else will be sharing the bumpy back-of-a-pickup-truck and fast-boat journeys in the next two weeks.
And with that I should be off. Photos are not too numerous just now, but I'm sure there will be many more as the travels become more exciting!
Day 1-ish: Edinburgh - London - Doha - Bangkok
(Sunday, May 29, 2005)
The journey sounds like the statement you read under fashion designer logos, the omission being Milan. However, in just under 24 hours my journey took me from Waverly Bridge in Edinburgh through numerous airport lounges, duties free and climates. Edinburgh was dreich, London was balmy, Doha was scorching and Bangkok still is muggy.
A good journey tends to be one where nothing much happens, and this was the case for me. No more than an hour was spent hanging around waiting for transfers, and it all went very well. Our arrival in Bangkok was accompanied by amazing thunder and lightning bolts which shot down to the city from above. The sky was dark and angry and so it was with some relief that we touched down successfully. I'm glad I read an article recently that explained why airplanes are no longer affected by lightning bolts!
And so welcome - sadeeki-cha - to Bangkok. The city "where anything goes except the traffic". I prefer the stop-moaning-and-get-on-with-it approach to jet lag, and so today I was up and about by 9am, champing at the bit to explore a city which has a real excitement to it, and I'm not just talking about the taxi ride last night to the hotel!
It's been impossible not to look like the typical tourist, and my first call of judgement was when I was stopped by a curiously randomly located guy on a road crossing. He looked semi-official and tried to give me advice about what to see. I listened, and let him doodle all over my Lonely Planet map. All sounded good, but I wanted head into the centre first. Hmmm, cue the curiously-randomly-timed tuktuk that then turned up to take me to the first port of call (all for 30 Baht, which seemed too good to be realistic). I declined. Perhaps later, once I'd met my imaginary friends in town (no, not a figment of my personality, just a ploy to get away!) and scarpered. Seemed genuine, seemed friendly, but it was just a bit suspicious. I remember the similar dilemmas in Nepal, where the people are also supposed to be friendly. As a person you can't doubt everything you see, but as a tourist you have to exercise a bit more caution.
Anyways, the rest of the day was spent hopping on and off the river boats - great fun and really cheap - to see a few of the riverbank sites. The Grand Palace and all the temples inside the complex were amazing. Very intricate architecture and art work, all against a clear blue sky and scorching sunlight. Perfect thirst-inducing stuff for the first I'm-a-tourist-so-please-overcharge-me experience. There were still more temples to do, and half-way through there is a very inviting van selling chilled drinks. 100 Baht per bottle? That's just under one pound fifty. Much cheaper than my arm and leg, which I was prepared to give. All seemed fine until the end of this path... where a more official restaurant sold the same thing for 20 Baht. Five times more! Because I'm worth it?! However, a quick glance across to see the prices we charge tourists back in sunny Scotland shows it's similar wherere you go.
Chugged across the river again to see a great wee temple complex - Wat Arun - and then back to get the sky-train through the city's skyscrapers up to the massive Chatuchak weekend market. 7000+ stalls in one place, selling everything from furniture to fruit. The experience is overwhelming, but I just spent the time browsing around, enjoying being out of the baking heat for a while. The variety of wares results in a constant embracement of different smells, from sweet coconut juice to stenching sewage from the drains below.
That was me up till late afternoon. I thought I could walk back from one of the other sky-train stations but gave up when I realised I'd misjudged the scale of things. Probably like saying walking from Blackford Hill to Edinburgh centre, or Partick to Glasgow centre - do-able but not fun when it's muggy, 30degC+ and after loads of walking around already. However I'm reassured that despite recent inactivity due to exams, I don't get intermittent claudication after 50 yards!
Better be off. Stomach's rumbling and I'm hopeful of a good Thai curry tonight, seeing as I'm in the right place for that. Today's been good and a big tour of a big city, but I am looking forward to joining with the rest of the group tomorrow!
David
(PS Some photos are up already)
