Today we move south, taking a 15 hour train journey to Trang, 40km south of Krabi which is ultimately where we’re heading.
Bangkok has been awesome – it’s one city I’ve always wanted to visit and i’ve not been let down. We chose to stay in China Town rather than the tourist area Khao San and having been out in that area last night, I’m pleased we did – Khao San is awful – it’s loud and too brash, definitely not my part of town. On the other hand, China Town has been fantastic, very few Farangs in this area and the food (one of my favourite subjects) has been superb – at night ‘street-kitchens’ appear from nowhere as all the sidewalks are converted to ‘restaurants’ it’s a great way to enjoy food and while away a few hours people watching.
The Tuk-Tuk drivers are a nightmare, real scamming twats. You can pretty much take an A/C cab anywhere, they start at 35baht (about 70p) and for this you’ll get at least a KM for that, most places are between 60/80baht, so quite cheap. Each and every Tuk-Tuk driver starts at 200baht – this is for an open vehicle therefore no A/C (unless you count the wind whilst riding) and as many diesel fumes as you can get in your lungs! We’ve been ‘slumming’ it in A/C cabs everywhere!
We also checked out Sukhumvit which is where the majority of the embassy are housed and also numerous Tailors – all of whom are Indian (which also means superb Indian food!) Of course I’ve ordered a suit – a matt black, skinny, 1960’s style Mod suit – from a tailor called Jimmy – will hopefully get some phots up when we get back from the South and I go for my second fitting.
The Golden Buddha was pretty cool and just around the corner from where we’re staying – a solid gold Buddha, the fact that it was made out of gold was a recent discovery as for 100’s of years it was encased in stucco and was either hit by a wayward ping-pong ball(!) or just bashed whilst being moved causing a flake to break off and a golden glow emanated beneath – apparently it’s valued at $10mUS, it’s pretty impressive.
We’ll do more sight-seeing when we return as we’re planning to spend a few weeks exploring the city no doubt collecting ping-pong balls along the way.
CraSh Williams' Blog 