Three Nights in Bangkok

We travelled through the night on Tuesday flying from Goa to Calcutta and from there to Bangkok. We passed a storm as we headed east (you may have heard in the news about the recent cyclones that devastated the east coast of India) and I was fascinated by a belt of lightning several miles long; the lightning created burning orange patches of simulated daylight that glowed behind a veil of clouds - it looked incredible and I felt strangely small and insignificant whilst watching it from my plane seat.

Paula and I arrived at our hotel in Bangkok at 6am and headed straight for the Myanmar embassy to apply for our visas. There were around fifty people waiting already and so for the next two hours we were stuck in the cramped embassy building awaiting our turn having not slept at all the night before. After being in India for so long we were dying to go to a real shopping mall with proper shops and western clothes (I've ripped and ruined so many clothes by dancing, trekking, climbing an elephant...) and Bangkok is renowned for its shops so we headed to the biggest mall once we had handed our passports in at the embassy. Once inside the brightly lit mall full of fashionable Thai women I suddenly became aware of my appearance - I hadn't showered or slept at all in two days, my hair was forming involuntary dreadlocks and my pyjama-style trousers were held up with a piece of rope, hobo style!!

So far I've been extremely impressed with Bangkok - the parts I've seen are clean and the people are cheerful and polite and everything seems organised and modern. I wonder whether I would be as enamoured with Bangkok if I'd come here straight from England or whether it's purely the stark contrast to India that makes it seem so new, clean and pristine. Either way I am really taken with the city and the people.

The boats go speeding down the river so fast that we thought they had been hijacked at first!

There's traffic everywhere but not much horn honking thankfully! 

Once I'd finally been able to shower I went to meet Ben again for a few days before he flew to Perth, I still hadn't slept for forty eight hours but our time was limited so I kept going! We'd booked to stay at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel which is the tallest building in Thailand and has incredible views of the endless Bangkok skyline. This was unlike any cityscape I'd seen because the Baiyoke towered far above all the other buildings so there was a panoramic view all around; the bright lights of the city stretched as far as I could see to the horizon on all sides. That evening we ate my favourite food, Pad Thai, whilst Ben taught me some Thai phrases.

Outside a Bangkok temple.

Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country and there are many Wats (temples) dotted around the city. 

Bangkok is a quite a bit more expensive than neighbouring SE Asian countries such as Laos and especially compared to India so we navigated our way around the sky train network to save money instead of shelling out for tuk tuks. I was amazed to see how clean and neat the trains were; the Thais board the bright, air conditioned carriages in a far more polite and civilised way than any city I've ever been to. The word 'metropolis' must have been invented for Bangkok - the sky train lines have many levels that weave in and out of hundreds of sky scrapers and sprawling shopping malls and there is even extra pavements neatly hanging above ground to help deal with the hoards of pedestrians.

The view from our hotel room window.

That night Ben and I spent a few hours trying to find a good spot for dinner; we attempted to get in to the impressive Lebua Sky Bar where they filmed Hangover 2 but we were wearing shorts and flip flops so were turned away. We were beginning to get tired and hungry when we spotted a free ferry on the river running through the city, we weren't sure where it led to because the attendant didn't speak any English so we decided it would be fun to go to a mystery destination. We pulled up to a gorgeous complex called Asiatique with glittering lights along the riverfront and had dinner by the water. As we were eating a boat pulled up and suddenly the sky was filled with fireworks!

The riverside views.

The fireworks were magic!

After dinner we had drinks at the bar on the 83rd floor of the Baiyoke.

Ben left the next morning and Paula and I returned to the Myanmar embassy to collect our passports with our new visas inside. That night we tried to get in to the Lebua Sky Bar again as we'd been dying to go ever since we read about it in an in-flight magazine on the way to Bangkok. This time I made sure I was dressed appropriately and we were greeted by a team of staff and shown to a small place designated for tourists. We chose the cheapest thing on the menu (a Singha beer - £7!!!) and although the view was very good we were confused because it didn't look like the photos at all! Once we'd finished we thought we'd better leave before we blew more money and on our way out they asked us if we wanted to now go to The Sky Bar!!! Of course we said yes, we realised that the first place must have been a little trick to get you to spend money. They led us out to the open air bar on the top of the building and a live band gently played as we walked down the marble steps and past a team of bowing waiters.

This was the first part they took us to...

...then they showed us this!!

That view!!

Later on that night we went to Khao San road, some of you may recognise the name as this is where they filmed part of the film 'The Beach'. Known as a backpackers paradise this road is infamous for its party scene; we went to a bar and then a club where we danced like crazy people for hours and discovered that Thais are probably the most friendly people we have ever met and they definitely are a nation who know how to have fun! Paula and I both fell asleep in the tuk tuk on the way back to our hotel and had massive hangovers the next day whilst we packed and checked out. That was the first proper night out I've had since I started my travels and will be the last for a while as there is no nightlife in Burma plus I really have to watch the pennies (or should I say rupees, baht, kyat or dollars??!!).

My new Thai buddies :)