We got through Thai customs with no troubles, but no smiles either, and into Banglamphu, the touristy part of Bangers. Our intended hostel was full, so we forked out $20 for another one, then returned to Joe's Guesthouse and booked in for the next two nights. It was 9pm before we ventured our for dinner, and waht an adventure! Khao San Road is a party street and a half. There's night markets selling knuckle dusters, laser pointers, 'designer' underwear and everything in between. Food carts have pad thai, kebabs, BBQ corn, roasted cockroahces, fruit, milkshakes and pancakes galore. We stuck with the pad thai. Sneaky old men line the middle of the street (usually pedestrian only) and show the young fellas that pass a tiny card with all the sex show options - 'one pussy, seven ping pong'. The taxi drivers are also in on it, offering 'Taxi, si? Ping pong, sir?'. There are so many backpackers and enough bars to cater for all of them. Apparently every bar can make 'the strongest cocktail' in a bucket; one bar even advertises that they don't check ID cards. No biggie, because you can get fake IDs, student cards, dive certificates, even diplomas from the market stalls.
Knackered from a day of travel, we hit the sack pretty early, only to be woken up by knocking on the door (knock and run!), and a phone call about 3am. Not to mention the music from all the bars and clubs.
The next morning we braved Khao San Road again, very different atmosphere in day time. Got some breakfast, many offers of taxis and tuk tuks and tours (no sex shows in the morning) and changed hotels. New Joe Guesthouse has a cool restaurant, bar and coffee shop, but the room is tiny, and the bathroom is a toilet with a shower head on the wall. But, it's $12.
We spent the afternoon walking by the river, which has a nice path along it (better than anything in Jakarta), and canals every now and then, and a nice green park in which we had a bit of a sit. Went for dinner along Soi Rambutri, very nice and less back packers than Khao San. Good people watchin. Tried to sell our Lonely Planet Bali but got rejected at 400 Baht. So that's how the market people feel. He didn't even try to bargain.
Today (Thursday), despite every intention to be up early to beat the heat, we only left the hostel at 10am. Walked to the Grand Palace - despite everyone offering us lifts, bless them. Got conned on the way by people with corn to feed the pigeons - they shoved it in our hands, even between my back and backpack, opened the packets for us and made us throw around the corn, saying it was for luck and hapiness in Buddhism or some shit. Then they wanted us to pay 150 Baht! But we gave them about 30 and walked away. Sneaky sneaky corn people.
We had to borrow very cool long pants and skirt to get into the Grand Palace (modesty and that). The Temple of the Emerald Buddha was quite spectacular, very ornate mosa
ics of glass and colour tiles - Mum's mosaic class would like it...The whole area was very grand, lots of big buildings and little temples, also lots of tourists and security guards with guns. And the lawns were immaculate! Obviously we weren't allowed on them. Got a very poor kebab for lunch and are now relaxing in the hostels restaurant.
No comments:
Post a Comment