Back again in Bangkok, Thailand

    

Arriving in Bangkok felt really good, especially because our VIP 24 seat bus ride didn’t really turn out that great. I could barely sleep because we were sitting in the back and the road was quite bumpy. Anyhow, we got to our hotel alright and checked in. The hotel was really nice and hip, it’s a new designer hotel right in the center of Bangkok across from Q-Bar. We could not yet get our room because it was only 5:30am, so we decided to grab breakfast and then head towards the Indian market.

The Indian market is similar to China town, it’s very very busy and you can buy anything you want. We also walked down through the flower market again and this time we were lucky to see a ton of fresh flowers of all types and colors. Afterwards, we entered Wat Po one of the most popular temples in Bangkok. There is a huge Buddha lying inside. There is so much gold around that place that everything is super bright and shiny. We took our time and explored the temple area a bit more. Finally around 11am we got really tired and decided it was time to get back to the hotel and get some sleep. We slept like we hadn’t slept for a week and after we got up we decided to go to some place without much stress and that of course means shopping for women… what a drag! Anyhow, so we went to one of the bigger night markets and spent most of the night running from store to store, haggling with the owners and buying almost nothing.

Everything is cheap and you should really be buying things, but when you’re in Bangkok and you are bargain hunting, you’ll always be saying “well, not sure, I look around some more, then come back later”. Obviously you never come back. It’s not that you don’t like the stuff or the store, but because you see other stuff you want to buy and you really want to check those out again at other stores you kind of forget about the things you wanted to buy earlier. Next thing you know is that the time is up, you need to go home and you didn’t buy a thing, simply because you were bargain hunting all night and you were paying attention to too many different articles. Well, I guess that’s the rookie way to shop at these places, but then again when you are a tourist you kind of always are a rookie in a way.

The same night after we got home we decided to go out and we went to a place called “the bed”. This is a trendy club that looks like an enlarged airplane inside with stewardesses walking around. It’s quite cool because you have real beds on each side of the room and then the dance floor in the middle. Wednesday is model day which means that all models get in for free. This usually costs 600 Baht which is quite steep in Thailand. Anyhow, we went in paying the full price … The Sukhumvit area really sucks these days though. All the places I went to were full of prostitutes and transvestites. These are the most beautiful people and it’s a deadly combination. First off, the tourist can never tell which women are really women, because the more beautiful they look the more likely it is that they are really men. Furthermore, the sight simply kills all passion you may have for Bangkok. Seeing the silly tourist with the best looking girls and knowing that in the morning they will be charges X Baht for going home with their prey is just silly. On the other hand it’s kind of fun to watch how these people brag about their victorious night and proudly present their catch, “hey look how cool I am, I got the best looking woman in town, I’m the man…”. What they really get, in many cases is a big breakfast bill and a very manly surprise in bed.

Enough of this type of Thailand, we all know it’s there but because to me it’s like a stain on a fresh sheet, I rather not think about it more. The next morning we got up, had breakfast and went over to the Royal palace. This is probably one of the most awesome sites in Bangkok. First off, you need to put some weird pants on because you cannot be walking around in your shorts. Interestingly, women only need a shirt, which doesn’t even have long sleeves, they can wear a skirt. Men can wear a regular T-Shirt but they need to wear pants. Girls for some reason need to wear a long skirt. I have no idea why this is, but it must be because the King does not like to see hairy male legs, but rather wants to see female ones uncovered… anyway, it’s probably some religious thing as you can tell.

Our day was very nice, we were a bit stressed out after spending so much time inside the palace but it was worth it, we did have some food afterwards and then decided to go back to Siam Square to do some more shopping and to grab some food. Everything worked out well. We took quite a bit of time to find a cab driver that was not gonna rip us off… most cabs won’t do that in Thailand, but the ones at the tourist sites simple milk you like there is no tomorrow. One guy offered us a ride for 800 Baht, that’s around 15 Euro, when this should really cost around 150-200 Baht… I simply closed the door and told the guy that I am Farang, but not stupid (Farang is the word they use for Caucasians).

We did see some awesome stuff including China Town’s rich markets (check out the gallery, where I photographes some shark fin, bird nest, and other weird things), we had some good Thai food at Siam square and finally were able to get some shopping done. At night I took Irina and Maria to the airport and then came back and went straight to Q-bar for some drinks. Not much to comment about that, it’s a dumpster like most tourist places, prostitutes and nothing but prostitutes… I hated it. So later on the next day I had business meeting and at night I went out with my friend JP to have dinner, drink and later meet up with another friend and watch the French Rugby team play Argentina with about 50 other French people. This was fun, even though I don’t really know the rules. French people are always fun to be around when they are watching their team … We went home afterwards and then straight to bed.

And then there was one day of work for me, which was ok… I stayed in all day and did some basic work. At around 8pm I went out again with my two French friends and we did the pilgrimage. This is basically a trip to Rangsit and to our favorite club when we were in college. The place is called Night Stadium and it was the cradle for us or the Shrine as we liked to call it. We arrived there and it was closed… we thought it had permanently shut down and we were all depressed. There is a really dodgy place next to it that we didn’t want to go to as we thought it was just another place with prostitutes, so we decided to go to another place. Everything was shut down except this German beer garden place that really sucked; bad music, bad dancers, and unhappy people… We had a beer there and then went back to the dodgy place. I went inside to check if it was ok to go in and to our surprise there was a real good party going on and they had one of the old bands that used to play at Night Stadium. We immediately ordered a bottle of Red Lable Whiskey and got pretty drunk. It was fun, the night had been saved and apparently Night Stadium will open next month again… anyhow it’s time they fix up the place a bit.

The next morning I got up at around 9:30 to go to Cambodia… I will write tomorrow again, but I can tell you the trip was quite interesting and fun.

Amazing Thailand - overview

1. Aug 18, 2007 Arriving back to Bangkok (Bangkok)  ( 13)
2. Aug 19, 2007 A little more of Bangkok (Bangkok)  ( 31)
3. Aug 20, 2007 Still in Bangkok (Bangkok)  ( 31)
4. Aug 21, 2007 Adventures in Ao Nang (Muang Krabi)  ( 7)
5. Aug 22, 2007 Railay Beach - Nice Place (Ban Khlong Yang)  ( 63)
6. Aug 23, 2007 The best beaches and islands of Thailand (Krabi)  ( 87)
7. Aug 24, 2007 A quick stop and great food in Surat (Surat)  ( 11)
8. Aug 25, 2007 Koh Tao - My favorite Thai island (Ko Phangan)  ( 72)
9. Sep 4, 2007 From Koh Tao via Chumpon to Bangkok (Bangkok)  ( 52)
10. Sep 5, 2007 Back again in Bangkok (Bangkok)  ( 185)
11. Sep 9, 2007 Traveling to Siem Reap, Cambodia (Siem Reap)
12. Sep 10, 2007 Siem Reap, like in the tales (Siem Reap)  ( 71)
13. Sep 12, 2007 Experiencing Angkor Wat (Puok)  ( 204)
14. Sep 13, 2007 Great days in Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh)  ( 81)
15. Sep 14, 2007 Adventurous vacation in Sianoukville (Sihanoukville)  ( 39)

Start from beginning | 1 - 15          Journal overview


Read about Bangkok in our travel-guide
From Koh Tao via Chumpon to BangkokAlle über Bangkok