Day 39 - Bangkok
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday 16th September
Thursday morning I was aiming again to go to the Grand Palace. I ate breakfast at the hostel's cafe before donning my leggings (seriously, they aren't a fashion statement, they're just to cover up my legs as per Buddhist beliefs) and heading out. I realised the Grand Palace was only a short walk away and started walking. I needed to cross major intersection and got slightly confused as to how to do it. A tuk-tuk driver then came up and told me it was closed (I didn't believe him) but I decided I was too hot to walk across and would prefer to head to the shops instead, so I asked him to take me Sukhumvit Soi, where all the international hotels are located (as well as a few smaller shopping centres).
I spent an hour wandering the streets and checking out a few shops before deciding to head down to the Australian Embassy to see Tracey. I found a bottle store and purchased a nice bottle of wine before walking down to 'Embassy Road', or 'Wireless Road' as it is known. The Aussie embassy was several kilometres away, which was an effort in the heat. Most of the embassy buildings were located well off the street (for security purposes I presume) with small gates at the front for consular purposes. Security around the US embassy was particularly strong - there was even a guard with gun on top of the overhead footpath nearby.
Arriving at the Australian Embassy, I was greeted at a tiny little security gate, where I was required to give in all my belongings. Yep, no camera, drinks, bags or anything was allowed into the embassy complex. Tracey later mentioned that scores of people had been complaining when they had come through recently to vote in the federal election, but she said after embassy bombings it made the staff feel more secure! I was allowed to take in the bottle of wine and, after a strict metal detector check, was escorted to the front office of the embassy complex. The complex consisted of two main buildings - the residence of the Ambassador (who I actually saw leaving the premises) and the main building, which houses the consular section as well as federal police and customs staff. It was a lot bigger than I expected and very well maintained - there was even a garden hedge cut into the shape of Australia!
After another security check I went upstairs to the consular section and asked for Tracey. "Purpose of visit?" asked the (Thai) officer at the front. "Um ... to thank her for helping me out in a bad situation last year?" Access granted and out came Tracey with a big hug. She took me into a small conference room where I gave her the bottle of win and thanked her for all of her help last year. She couldn't believe how well I'd healed, and we spoke about the recent Full Moon Party boat crash, for which I told her I'd had to take the day off work as the news story had affected me so badly!
After an hour or so chatting it was back to work for Tracey and off to Siam Paragon for me for lunch/dinner (my usual 4pm meal!) of Mexican. I then hit up a 'hairdressers' (I saw that in quotes because it wasn't a real hairdressers, it was more someone than had a few skills had opened a hairdressing shop on Khao San Road) and asked for a conditioning treatment, as my hair was parched from the sun. The treatment did absolutely nothing but as an added bonus she straightened my hair, which boded well for the night I was about to have ....
Back to the hostel at about 7pm I spent a few hours catching up on the internet (this website has so many issues with photos - I've worked out it's because when you try to add a caption, it changes the photo to a tiny size. That took me hours to realise though!) In my bed at 10pm I started to plan my next 10 days of travel. I wanted to head to Chiang Mai next, but then be in Pattaya for the AFL Grand Final (as on the net it seemed there were numerous AFL pubs there) and then across the border to Cambodia. Suddenly, a voice came from behind the partition of the bunk next to me. "Is there free wi-fi here?"
I presumed the voice was directed to me, so I returned the question with "I think the first 15 minutes is free but you have to set up an account at reception". That started a conversation with my 'next bunk neighbour' and I pulled up the separating partition to meet Liam, an Irishman who had just arrived in Bangkok for a three week holiday of Thailand. He'd seriously literally just gotten off the plane and was keen for food and drinks. Then all of a sudden my 'underneath' bunk mate appeared - Andy, a German, who asked "Can I get an iron here?" That started another conversation which ended up with Liam, myself, Andy and his 3 mates all deciding to go out for the night.
We all tidied ourselves up for our night out and headed to the front of the hostel for a few drinks. Liam was starving so whilst the Germans were drinking I took him for an orientation of the neighbourhood and introduced him to the wonders of Thai street food - Pad Thai and spring rolls. We then went into the 7-11 to buy a drink but we were denied - alcohol can only be served between 2pm-5pm and 7pm-12pm, and it was past midnight at this stage (yep, we hadn't even left the hostel yet and it was past midnight!)
The Germans had 2 clubs they wanted to attend but as they knew it would be expensive to buy drinks there, we decided to head to the next road on from our hostel to have a few drinks first. We found this completely random road-side bar, made up of not much more than a few chairs and milk crates, and ordered buckets all round. Being his first night in Asia, Liam got conned into buying a rose from a little girl - 1am in the morning and she was all of about 10! She challenged him to a game of paper, scissors, rock, which despite her best efforts to cheat he still won. (At 3-1 up she asked, 'best of 5'?) Having realised she was defeated, she then challenged him to thumb wars, which she was successful in. About 20 minutes of effort all for 20 baht, and I graciously received the rose.
As the first drops of rain started, we finished our drinks and decided to head to one of the clubs the Germans were keen on. Somehow we all ended up in the same tuk-tuk ... all 6 of us! I have no idea how the engine survived us all ... there were 3 of us on the back seat, 2 boys in our laps, and then a sixth straddling the driver! We were in no danger of an accident as the tuk-tuk couldn't drive more than about 5km an hour - and somewhere along the lines the German boys even managed to swap positions, even with the one straddling the driver!!
When we arrived at the club, it wasn't the club we had asked for. The boys checked the club we had been taken to and it was empty, so we refused to go in. Despite the late night and the alcohol already consumed, the Germans were very organised and practical. They had addresses and times written down, and knew how to approach the taxi driver who had taken us to the wrong place. (For example, they knew that Thais can't 'lose face' in public, so they didn't shout - they spoke politely with them and arranged that we wouldn't pay if we weren't taken to the right club).
Back in a taxi - 2 of them this time, although we'd now picked up a random stranger from our stop - and we ended up at another club. Again this wasn't the club we'd asked for, but we were so keen for a few drinks we decided to go in once we knew there were people in there. There were strict bag checks requiring us to give up our cameras (the boys didn't as theirs were in their pockets), and we entered the club. Well, I think this was a game on the taxi drivers behalf - I'm fairly sure it was a 'hooker club' rather than a dance club, as there were a lot of Asian girls with drunk (and/or desparate) Western men. We stood around a table for a while, throwing back a few shots (2 was my limit - water was just fine after that!) whilst watching everyone dancing on stage. Liam was approached by a girl several times who told him that she was his for only '1000 baht' (about $35). He asked me to save him if I saw the situation again, and said he'd do the same for me. Deal!!
The boys kept pushing for me to go on stage so once a good song arrived we all went up. The music wasn't too bad, lots of top 40 dance songs like Usher and Black Eyed Peas - the only problem was being hit on whilst on stage! Whenever I would try to dance, sleazy guys would make their way over, so I stuck close to Andy and Liam.
At about 4:30am Liam and I decided to head back to the hostel - the Germans arrived about half an hour later. We laughed all the way home at our random night out and about starting conversations when you're a solo traveller (Liam said "Free wi-fi?" was really just an excuse to start a conversation.) Poor thing accidentally locked the lock on his locker before realising he'd just locked his keys inside ... oh well, that would be tomorrow's problem!!
I'm hoping to get the photos off Liam for this crazy night out, as I didn't take any ...
Thursday morning I was aiming again to go to the Grand Palace. I ate breakfast at the hostel's cafe before donning my leggings (seriously, they aren't a fashion statement, they're just to cover up my legs as per Buddhist beliefs) and heading out. I realised the Grand Palace was only a short walk away and started walking. I needed to cross major intersection and got slightly confused as to how to do it. A tuk-tuk driver then came up and told me it was closed (I didn't believe him) but I decided I was too hot to walk across and would prefer to head to the shops instead, so I asked him to take me Sukhumvit Soi, where all the international hotels are located (as well as a few smaller shopping centres).
I spent an hour wandering the streets and checking out a few shops before deciding to head down to the Australian Embassy to see Tracey. I found a bottle store and purchased a nice bottle of wine before walking down to 'Embassy Road', or 'Wireless Road' as it is known. The Aussie embassy was several kilometres away, which was an effort in the heat. Most of the embassy buildings were located well off the street (for security purposes I presume) with small gates at the front for consular purposes. Security around the US embassy was particularly strong - there was even a guard with gun on top of the overhead footpath nearby.
Arriving at the Australian Embassy, I was greeted at a tiny little security gate, where I was required to give in all my belongings. Yep, no camera, drinks, bags or anything was allowed into the embassy complex. Tracey later mentioned that scores of people had been complaining when they had come through recently to vote in the federal election, but she said after embassy bombings it made the staff feel more secure! I was allowed to take in the bottle of wine and, after a strict metal detector check, was escorted to the front office of the embassy complex. The complex consisted of two main buildings - the residence of the Ambassador (who I actually saw leaving the premises) and the main building, which houses the consular section as well as federal police and customs staff. It was a lot bigger than I expected and very well maintained - there was even a garden hedge cut into the shape of Australia!
After another security check I went upstairs to the consular section and asked for Tracey. "Purpose of visit?" asked the (Thai) officer at the front. "Um ... to thank her for helping me out in a bad situation last year?" Access granted and out came Tracey with a big hug. She took me into a small conference room where I gave her the bottle of win and thanked her for all of her help last year. She couldn't believe how well I'd healed, and we spoke about the recent Full Moon Party boat crash, for which I told her I'd had to take the day off work as the news story had affected me so badly!
After an hour or so chatting it was back to work for Tracey and off to Siam Paragon for me for lunch/dinner (my usual 4pm meal!) of Mexican. I then hit up a 'hairdressers' (I saw that in quotes because it wasn't a real hairdressers, it was more someone than had a few skills had opened a hairdressing shop on Khao San Road) and asked for a conditioning treatment, as my hair was parched from the sun. The treatment did absolutely nothing but as an added bonus she straightened my hair, which boded well for the night I was about to have ....
Back to the hostel at about 7pm I spent a few hours catching up on the internet (this website has so many issues with photos - I've worked out it's because when you try to add a caption, it changes the photo to a tiny size. That took me hours to realise though!) In my bed at 10pm I started to plan my next 10 days of travel. I wanted to head to Chiang Mai next, but then be in Pattaya for the AFL Grand Final (as on the net it seemed there were numerous AFL pubs there) and then across the border to Cambodia. Suddenly, a voice came from behind the partition of the bunk next to me. "Is there free wi-fi here?"
I presumed the voice was directed to me, so I returned the question with "I think the first 15 minutes is free but you have to set up an account at reception". That started a conversation with my 'next bunk neighbour' and I pulled up the separating partition to meet Liam, an Irishman who had just arrived in Bangkok for a three week holiday of Thailand. He'd seriously literally just gotten off the plane and was keen for food and drinks. Then all of a sudden my 'underneath' bunk mate appeared - Andy, a German, who asked "Can I get an iron here?" That started another conversation which ended up with Liam, myself, Andy and his 3 mates all deciding to go out for the night.
We all tidied ourselves up for our night out and headed to the front of the hostel for a few drinks. Liam was starving so whilst the Germans were drinking I took him for an orientation of the neighbourhood and introduced him to the wonders of Thai street food - Pad Thai and spring rolls. We then went into the 7-11 to buy a drink but we were denied - alcohol can only be served between 2pm-5pm and 7pm-12pm, and it was past midnight at this stage (yep, we hadn't even left the hostel yet and it was past midnight!)
The Germans had 2 clubs they wanted to attend but as they knew it would be expensive to buy drinks there, we decided to head to the next road on from our hostel to have a few drinks first. We found this completely random road-side bar, made up of not much more than a few chairs and milk crates, and ordered buckets all round. Being his first night in Asia, Liam got conned into buying a rose from a little girl - 1am in the morning and she was all of about 10! She challenged him to a game of paper, scissors, rock, which despite her best efforts to cheat he still won. (At 3-1 up she asked, 'best of 5'?) Having realised she was defeated, she then challenged him to thumb wars, which she was successful in. About 20 minutes of effort all for 20 baht, and I graciously received the rose.
As the first drops of rain started, we finished our drinks and decided to head to one of the clubs the Germans were keen on. Somehow we all ended up in the same tuk-tuk ... all 6 of us! I have no idea how the engine survived us all ... there were 3 of us on the back seat, 2 boys in our laps, and then a sixth straddling the driver! We were in no danger of an accident as the tuk-tuk couldn't drive more than about 5km an hour - and somewhere along the lines the German boys even managed to swap positions, even with the one straddling the driver!!
When we arrived at the club, it wasn't the club we had asked for. The boys checked the club we had been taken to and it was empty, so we refused to go in. Despite the late night and the alcohol already consumed, the Germans were very organised and practical. They had addresses and times written down, and knew how to approach the taxi driver who had taken us to the wrong place. (For example, they knew that Thais can't 'lose face' in public, so they didn't shout - they spoke politely with them and arranged that we wouldn't pay if we weren't taken to the right club).
Back in a taxi - 2 of them this time, although we'd now picked up a random stranger from our stop - and we ended up at another club. Again this wasn't the club we'd asked for, but we were so keen for a few drinks we decided to go in once we knew there were people in there. There were strict bag checks requiring us to give up our cameras (the boys didn't as theirs were in their pockets), and we entered the club. Well, I think this was a game on the taxi drivers behalf - I'm fairly sure it was a 'hooker club' rather than a dance club, as there were a lot of Asian girls with drunk (and/or desparate) Western men. We stood around a table for a while, throwing back a few shots (2 was my limit - water was just fine after that!) whilst watching everyone dancing on stage. Liam was approached by a girl several times who told him that she was his for only '1000 baht' (about $35). He asked me to save him if I saw the situation again, and said he'd do the same for me. Deal!!
The boys kept pushing for me to go on stage so once a good song arrived we all went up. The music wasn't too bad, lots of top 40 dance songs like Usher and Black Eyed Peas - the only problem was being hit on whilst on stage! Whenever I would try to dance, sleazy guys would make their way over, so I stuck close to Andy and Liam.
At about 4:30am Liam and I decided to head back to the hostel - the Germans arrived about half an hour later. We laughed all the way home at our random night out and about starting conversations when you're a solo traveller (Liam said "Free wi-fi?" was really just an excuse to start a conversation.) Poor thing accidentally locked the lock on his locker before realising he'd just locked his keys inside ... oh well, that would be tomorrow's problem!!
I'm hoping to get the photos off Liam for this crazy night out, as I didn't take any ...
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