A day of nothing

Day 29 (28/04/08): Bangkok, Thailand

Unfortunately, today's entry is going to be rather boring. After all the busy past few days, and with a lot of late nights, I spent most of today sleeping. After waking up, I failed to do anything of any real value. I wandered around the streets, got some cheap noodles, looked in shops but didn't buy anything. As boring as that sounds, Khaosan road is such a crazy place, with so much stuff happening all the time, that even just walking up and down the street, taking in all the sounds, sights and smells can be a very interesting experience. Although you do have to develop a sort of 'tunnel vision', to avoid the touts. In all the tourist areas, and especially Khaosan road, wherever you go there will be locals trying to sell you all sorts of things, offer you tuktuk rides or hand fliers to you. In my opinion, engaging them with any sort of verbal response, even if you are saying 'no', just encourages them futher. My preferred tactic is to never make eye contact and merely ignore anything that they are yelling from their stall, stand, rickshaw or dedicated piece of pavement. If they are quite determined, a quick shake of the head or wave of the hand normally gets the message across. It isn't particularly polite, but I figure they aren't being very polite either.

In the evening I bumped into a few people I had known from other places in my travels, and we sat down and had a few beers together. Later on, we bumped into the Swedes and Canadians from the previous night, and before you knew it, I was up till the early hours of the morning again. It is a really weird experience, you know somebody for only two days, and get on with them really well, and spend a fair bit of time together. And then, just like that, you each go in your own direction, and chances are you will never see them again, ever. Although one of the Swedish guys is also going to China, and we might be there at the same time, so will meet up if we can.

Wats and Temples and a real big Buddha

Day 27 (26/04/08): Bangkok, Thailand

Today was spent doing some of the typical tourist stuff in Bangkok. A hardy breakfast of porridge and banana to make up for the previous nights beer, and we were off! Avoiding the waiting pack of tuktuk and taxi drivers, offering to take us places for 'cheap price', we walked for about 10 minutes down the street to the Grand Palace of the Thai King. This large complex houses the old palace of the King, as well as Wat Phra Kaew. Upon arriving, I was told I couldn't enter the complex, as my shorts (which ended just below my knee), were too short. This is after all, a place of Buddhist worship. However, for a small returnable deposit, I could have a pair of drawstring baggy trousers to wear. I joined the queue of all the other 'scantily clad' westerners, and a few minutes later, armed with my new ugly pants, I could go exploring!

The Buddhist temple of Wat Phra Kaew was first, and I must say it was very impressive (check out the link for more photos). It comprises of a number of large and small buildings, altars and statues. Some of the buildings are covered in amazing decoration; gold leaf, gold tiles, small mirrors etc. One very large building in particular was completely covered in a small repeating patterns of gold tiles, sculpted parts, mirrors and colourful tiles. The amount of work to construct such a place is utterly mind boggling. All around the place were large statues acting as guards or 'supporting' the building. These too were covered in detail work and small decoration that was almost unbelievable to comprehend. Some buildings were just completely covered in gold leaf. We walked around, necks craned, sweating in the Bangkok heat, and were amazed at the amount of work it would have taken to create this place. Several of the larger buildings housed Buddhist altars, and after removing your shoes, you could enter. While the western tourists just marvelled at the sheer magnificence of the statues and the altars, many of the locals would actively kneel and pray. It was a very interesting experience. There were also large undecorated stone statues (my personal favourite), exquisite little gardens with miniature trees, pagodas and large ceramic containers with water plants and amazing flowers.

Within the same complex was the Grand Palace of the Thai King. Built in a somewhat in an 'East meets West' way, ultimately it was just a very large stately building, that paled in comparison so the magnificence of the gold-leaf buildings we had just seen. Before leaving, we went into a small museum housing some of the Royal Thai regalia, jewellery, swords and other accoutrements that come with being Royal. I actually really enjoyed the museum, and liked looking at the amazing artifacts. Rome of the rings were so encrusted with jewels and raw diamonds, that the ring was the size of a golf ball. Some serious bling. And oh, the musem was also wonderfully air-conditioned, another reason it was great.

Walked down the road to Wat Pho, home of the world's largest reclining Buddah. There entrance fee was cheap, and really worth it. The buildings around the temple complex were not particularly impressive, especially after the sights of the morning. However, the giant Buddha, that was pretty impressive. At 46m long, and 15m high, completely covered in gold leaf, it is a very impressive sight. Other than that, there isn't really much to say about it. It's just a really really big statue, all covered in gold. I guess you have to be there to fully feel its impact.

The rain come down then, the way it does in these parts of the world, hot, heavy and solid. We had now been on our feet for most of the day, and combined with the rain, caught a taxi back to Khaosan road. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, and I had the very good news that my car, back in NZ, had been sold! That adds a huge boost to my travelling fund, but if I am good I will leave it as my setup money for the UK, which I know is going to be very expensive.

The evening and night was spent with a few other friends, people I had met in Taman Negara, and Helen had met in KL. Sometimes travelling can be a very small world indeed. Although at one stage or another, all travellers go to Khaosan road, and I have already bumped into a few people I've met in other places. Small world indeed....

Exploring Caves of Murder

Day 26 (25/04/08): Kanchanaburi & Bangkok, Thailand

Another lazy morning. I didn't sleep very well in the night, the foreign food finally starting to play havoc with my stomach (it was only a matter of time). As such, I didn't get up for the dawn service (no real suprises there!). There is another famous cemetry just outside of Kanchanaburi, as well as a well known Buddhist Temple with a cave. The recommended way to explore these is to rent bicycles, so shortly after a late breakfast, Helen (my current travelling buddy) and I rented two bicycles and proceeded to explore the Kanchanaburi countryside.

It was great to be back on a bicycle, even if it was a crappy rent-a-bike. We cycled down a country lane, passing through some farmland before coming to Chungkai Cemetry. This cemetry was very similiar to the one from yesterday, a very neat and immaculate garden, with a large number of graves for the Allied Servicemen who died in the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway.

Back on the bikes and up a small hill (no mean feat in the heat and humidity) to the temple complex of Wat Tham Khao Pun, one of many cave temples in the area. This one is particularly famous for a 1995 incident where a drug addicted monk murdered a British tourist and dropped her body in a sinkhole. The cave system itself is very impressive. Small little holes lead through to big chambers which house statues of Buddha, altars and other Buddhist iconography. The floor has all been leveled and concreted in places, and a number of lights provide illumination. A large number of stalactites hang overhead the large Budda statues. It is hard to describe adequately, and photos can't really do it justice, but it was very impressive. It rained briefly while we were in the cave, and we emerged to the end of a short rainshower.

Back on the bikes and down the hill. We had passed a sign that said 'Kanchanaburi Monkey School' and decided to investigate. Down the end of dirt road was a small place that had a few monkeys chained up. It didn't look very nice, and neither of us wanted to support that kind of animal treatment, so we didn't enter. However, the dirt road had taken us down to the river, and so Monkey School aside, we were treated to a beautiful view of the river and the mountains. Made the whole side trip worthwhile!

Back to Kanchanaburi, and I did one quick bike ride to see the bridge for the last time. It was mainly just an excuse to go fast on a bicycle again, something I am missing dreadfully. I raced down the street, and even overtook an old lady on a scooter!

We had checked out of our hostel, and caught an organised minibus to Bangkok. Normally tourist transport like this is a rip-off, but in this case it was about the same as a taxi to the bus terminal, and the bus ticket. So a good deal, and a lot easier! We arrived in Bangkok in the early evening, right at the (in)famous Khaosan road, the mecca and gathering place of all travellers, backpackers and hippies. The street itself is a sight to behold. Packed to the gills with all sorts of people, from all age groups, nationalities, cultures and backgrounds. Street vendors hawking food, drinks, clothes, jewellery and other tourist trinkets. The buildings lining the street are all restaurants, pubs or hostels. Neon signs light up the night, and music fills the air, as each streetside bar tries to woo their customers. The cheapest drinking places are merely some plastic tables on the side of the street, with someone selling all sorts of cocktails and drinks from a small cart. Walking down the street is a minefield, as you try to ignore all the touts trying to sell you taxi rides, tuktuk rides, tourist trinkets or trying to get you into their bar. It is a crazy, mind-blowing, strange, exciting and disturbing experience. It makes Oxford Terrace in Christchurch look like a Kindergarten.

We found a hostel, right on Khaosan road that is really cheap. It is little more than a square room with two beds, a door and a ceiling fan, but you get what you pay for (a beer from a restaurant costs the same as my room for the night, about $3.75NZ). Apart from that, it is actually reasonably clean, although the term 'steel re-enforced sandbag' would be more appropriate than the term 'mattress'.

The night was spent drinking in one of the roadside 'pubs' (some plastic chairs under an umbrella) and talking to other travellers. Perhaps the craziest, yet sanest thing of all Bangkok, is that all the places shut at 2am, and shortly after this the place is pretty dead. The good news means that you can actually go and get a good sleep, wake up in the morning and be ready to explore and go sight-seeing. Even if you are sleeping on a sandbag.