…and so it begins…

So here I am at the end of my first full day in Bangkok and it’s certainly been an interesting one. I’d forgotten how much I love this city. It assaults the senses from the moment you take your first step out of the airport. Bangkok is completely in your face and it makes no apology for it. As opposed to Singapore that seems to be a pretend western city with a slight Asian tinge, Bangkok is a dichotomy of eastern and western cultures and yet the two seem to co-exist with ease and vibrancy. I guess this is part of what gives Bangkok its character and charm.

So my first thoughts on arriving were ‘Wow, I finally made it! After that dreadful last 24 hours I am finally excited!”. The whole business of getting here on my own in a taxi so late at night wasn’t an issue at all. It occurred to me on the plane that I wouldn’t have been so frightened about landing in a western city that late at night and getting a taxi but for some reason I was afraid of it here. For some reason I thought some strange taxi driver was going to whisk me off into the night to steal my kidneys or something and I’d never be heard of again. I think it’s all the scams that you read about in relation to Thailand – it makes you paranoid. Speaking of which, I was the subject of a bit of a scam today but I’ll go into that further later…

As for my last 24 hours in AUS – all I can say about that is please, load your iPod weeks and weeks before you leave so you don’t get stuck with a complete shit fight as I did. I have music and quite a lot of it but a good portion of it didn’t make it due to iTunes being mean and nasty and as a result I don’t even know what didn’t make it. I also have a lot of surprise albums or artists due to music not being appropriately tagged (yes Mon, you were right) so all in all it was a joy of joys. Either way I still got over 8000 tunes so I can’t complain. I also packed for the first and last (read only) time the night before I left but that wasn’t such a bad option. I’m a bit of a deliberator but when I am low on time that turns into ruthlessness. So, I’m here, I seem to have everything I thought I needed and if I don’t – oh well. The only trouble I’ve run into with that whole thing is that I was so stressed out when I was packing that my brain hasn’t been able to remember where I put things and I’ve freaked out looking for stuff about 3 times which seems to mean I have to totally unpack my pack so I can find said object and then pack it all again. All I can say about that is Tim, thanks for the packing cubes. They are an absolute godsend to my flaky brain.

I’m staying at a place called Baan Sabai on Soi Rambutri (Soi meaning street). It’s a hop, skip and a jump from the backpacker mecca that is Khao San Rd and for me, that is perfect. Khao San never seems to stop (but I know it does – I was there at 8:30 this morning and everyone was just setting up for the day) so it suits me to be close by but not there. The area I am in is much more pleasant and pretty as well – it has the benefit of a few bars and side street vendors to add that Bangkok character but it is also quieter and slower and with trees. I’ll put some pics up soon.

So, my room at the guest house is pretty much like a prison cell – it consist of no window, a bed, a bedside table and a noisy fan on the wall. There is an air vent in one of the walls up high which is a small window size and this is just grand as it faces the hall where I can hear every man and his dog return home in the middle of the night. In addition, our neighbours across the way seem to own either one very loud persistent rooster or many roosters – either way, I can hear it/them – regularly. Despite all this, I quite like it here. I did consider moving this morning but decided to book an extra two nights as it has a nice feel and the staff are friendly. It is share bathroom only which is ok unless you need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and then it’s a complete pain in the arse (I speak from experience) however, it is clean and that’s all I really care about. It’s a damn sight crusier than the village will be I imagine… There’s no time like the present to adjust.

Today I checked out Khao San Rd and then decided to be a little explorer and head off to the Grand Palace and other nearby temples in the afternoon. The explorer part is the part where I decided to leave the guest house in the opposite direction than usual just because I hadn’t been that way before. Well as my street is not a straight street I had no idea where I ended up (well I kinda knew but not really) so I had to get the stupid map out and attract the attention of all and sundry, in particular, a young Thai guy who stopped to give me directions. He was all helpful at first – actually told me where to go and showed me on the map ra ra ra. He asked me where I was from as people do when you are a tourist and said ‘near Sydney’ as I always do. Almost no-one ever knows Newcastle so it’s just easier that way. Anyway, he asks me do I know Newcastle. Turns out his girlfriend is studying over there at our lovely University. Well knock me over with a feather, amazing. So I get all excited obviously and down goes the guard and in comes the scam. Before I know it I’m doing the 20 BATH tour of Bangkok with the obligatory stop at some travel agency where they try to force you to buy something at an inflated price. Sheesh! It’s the oldest Thailand trick in the book and I even know about it already so I can’t believe I feel for the damn thing. Anyway, I did, I didn’t buy their stupid tour and I got back to my hotel or safe and sound but without seeing any of the temples I wanted to see! I did see a Buddhist one up towards the evil travel agency and got some cool pics there so that was at least something!!!!

Tonight I met a lovely British girl while I was having dinner so we hung out and chatted for awhile which was lots of fun. Hooray for making friends. She’s off to Chiang Mai tomorrow so I’ll have to find a new one then. I’m sure I’ll manage it.

Oh yeah, and one more thing. You wouldn’t rate it but I managed to turn up to Thailand in the middle of a 3 day alcohol ban (well the end of it to be honest). They are having their elections so no-one is allowed to sell alcohol at this time. I’m not sure what that is about. Maybe you need to be sober to vote ;-) I tried to order a beer on two separate occasions before I figured out what was going on. All they would say to me is “No, we can’t sell you beer” and I was getting rather confused and no-one really felt like explaining it to me. Eventually I saw a sign up at a shop explaining the situation. Phew. I get beer tomorrow.