Arriving in Bangkok I had no idea what to expect from Thailand
other than that I may die from eating peanuts or fish (supposedly the main ingredients in most of Thai cooking!) Consequently I was too afraid to eat anything other than crisps and toasties from Seven Eleven for the first few days. I have since learned that peanuts are extremely easy to avoid (so far...) and fish sauce appears not to cause allergic reactions due to its lengthy fermentation process. Phew!
The first thing I was surprised by, having come directly from India where poverty is in your face at all times, was how moneyed Thailand appears to be. The buildings, cars, roads, temples (everything) are shiny, new and expensive looking. There are high rise towers aplenty. The people are stylish, coiffed and gadget laden. The highways are wide and smooth with a petrol station on every corner. The vibe of the city that I saw in my brief sojourn is cosmopolitan, stylish, and sleek. A modern metropolis with modern inhabitants to match.
On my first day, despite no sleep, I cruised the canals on the local ferry, getting an interesting insight into backwater life. I climbed up to the Wat Saket golden temple - a rather surreal ascent with its atmospheric steaming undergrowth, statues, spiritual music and golden buddhas.
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| Steaming ascent to Wat Saket |
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| Fat monk |
Arriving to Bangkok on the weekend meant I got to experience a morning getting lost at the Chatuchak Weekend Market, (Asia's largest market and suitably maze-like). You can buy anything there, from vintage clothes to antiques, pet
animals to BBQ’d pork, rugs and scarves to ceramics and handicrafts. Just make
sure you bring lots of money. Or none, if you’re on a budget as tight as mine.
Still, I couldn’t resist picking up a cheeky Tie dye t-shirt for 80
English pence and a bargainferous pair of second-hand Puma shoes from the vintage section.
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| The 'Thai' dye t-shirt in action in Kanchanaburi |
Then I had to force myself to leave before spending any more of my precious Baht.
So we headed in
search of the fabled “ghost tower” of Bangkok - a 49 storey high rise, one of the many victims of the ’97 financial crisis when businesses failed and much construction stopped dead in its tracks. It lies
unfinished, graffitied and abandoned; a perfect alternative tourist attraction
for the adventurous, and those able to wheedle their way past security.
We were greeted by some shifty looking men (I couldn't tell if they were security guards or opportunistic hobos) who we slipped
150 baht each (£3) in order to be granted entry. Eery and rubble-strewn, the dark staircase of this shell of a building seems to go on forever, taking you up to
floor after floor of empty rooms with nothing more than a toilet (and sometimes a battered bath) installed and fronted by incongruously grand Roman-esque balconies, majestically watching over the city
below.
The views at the top are worth the hearty climb, and the photo
opportunities at sunset are unmatchable.
My time in Bangkok was brief and I would have liked more time there to sample the street food, night life and general milieu but I moved swiftly northwards in search of cheaper prices and more rural surroundings.
