Bangkok Madness

We're in sunny Bangkok!
It's mighty warm here.

We boarded the KL - Hat Yai (Thailand) train just after 21:00 on Sat 13 March. James and I were squashed into the top bunks in 2nd class. You can't sit up, you have to lie down. The people below us had loads of room. Unfair! We had to sleep with our bags and stinky shoes too. Still slept reasonably well tho thanks to little curtains.

We arrived at the border of Malaysia and Thailand at 11am the next morning. We had to get off the train and get our passports stamped. Then we got back on a portion of the train and off we went to Hat Yai.

A chap got on the train at Hat Yai and guided us to a tourism office where we bought our onward tickets to Ko Lanta. The journey from was hellish. I think mostly because we kept thinking the journey would be shorter that it was. 'Are we there yet?' syndrome. We had to change minibuses in Krabi. I had a broken seat and James was behind being crawled on by the cutest baby in the world.

When we finally arrived after dark it was 8pm and we had to decide whether our hunger or grubbiness needed the most urgent attention. It turned out to be our stomachs. Pad Thai, Papaya Salad and ice fruit smoothies. Best food ever.

After eating and a shower we collapsed. We'd been traveling for 23hrs straight. We were at the Where Else resort. It looked really pretty at night with lots of lanterns and candles.

We had a good sleep and woke the next morning to settle into our 4 days of swimming and lying around and not doing very much else at all really.

We went into town a couple of times and bought some bits and pieces - again for our non existent home. I am rather pleased with these.

Our journey from Ko Lanta to Bangkok consisted of 2 minibuses and 2 coaches, the last one overnight. For some unknown reason the film choice was Saw IV. Who wants to watch that?? I tried to stuff headphones in my ears and listen to Adam and Joe, but it was so loud. Lots of screaming and squelching.

Fortunately there was a man on the bus who appeared to be a bit mad and was singing prayers at the top of his lungs and getting rather aggitated with the film. After a bit a nice man intervened and they turned it off.

James and I had to sit separately which I was gutted about. It's hard enough sleeping next to a complete stranger but I was next to a rather large lady who liked to spread out. I got a good 4hrs solid tho by lying very still and very straight and wearing my eyemask and earplugs. The blankets they gave us were disgusting and stank of man sweat. The air con was so powerful that you had to cover up tho. This trip is doing wonders for our immune systems.

We were turfed out off the dark safety of the coach into the Bangkok madness, straight into the taxi of the loudest, littlest, maddest Thai man. He was horrified I was 36 and had 'no babies'. Kept going on about it the whole journey, shaking his head. When we arrived the the Cozy Bangkok Place James gave him 200 Baht rather than the 150 we had agreed on in beginning (cos we had no change). He was very happy and told me I would have a baby next year.

Our guesthouse didn't open until 8am. It was 6am so we asked if we could sit at one of two tables outside a tiny food stall. I didn't feel too perky. One of the ladies fetched us tin mugs of water. They were preparing food and chatting away to each other. James and I played cards and watched the sun come up. People were on their way to work and stopping by for little plastic bags of food. A Buddhist monk came by and said a blessing and they gave him some food. We had some of the Tom Yum Kai (spicy chicken soup) and rice and a sort of sweet omlette with onion. One of the ladies refilled our soup bowl for us. It was like having your mum cooking for you. At 8am we paid 52 Baht (1.04 pounds) for the best breakfast ever and checked into our room.

We slept for a few hours in our lovely room and went into town later in the afternoon to the air conditioned malls. James finally caved and we bought tickets to see It's Complicated. I love Merryl Streep films! That day (19 Mar) was our 5th anniversary, you know.

Yesterday we went back into town and wander round different shops and in the evening went to Sukhumvit for tea. We ended up in a rather posh Indian restaurant and spent 10 pounds each. Money we shouldn't really have spent but it was really good and I discovered Gajar Halva which is amazing and is made from grated carrots but tastes almost exactly like bread and butter pudding. That's got to be good...

So now it's 13:25 on Sun 21 Mar and we're sitting in the lobby of the Cozy Bangkok Place guesthouse in the old town. If anyone is coming to BKK soon we thoroughly recommend it here.
We have the sleeper train to catch to Chiang Mai at 19:00. Looking forward to it. We have paid for bottom bunks this time.