We had a late morning and were feeling lazy. So we defaulted to having breakfast at the restaurant in our hotel. Now, it was 11 AM and we could already feel, and almost see, the heat coming in off the street in waves… thank goodness for multiple ceiling and wall fans! The only disturbance in an otherwise pleasant morning repast was the construction going on directly across the street.
Pile-driving across the street from Tony’s Place.
To get to Bangkok, Tony’s staff suggested taking the mini-bus service that had a depot conveniently located just at the end of the block. So, we shlupped our packs and bags down the block and purchased 3 tickets to Bangkok; 180 Baht – 60 Baht for Eron, 60 Baht for me, and 60 Baht for our luggage (because the bags took up one whole seat). In we piled – all the way to the very rear row of a 16 seat (15 passengers and 1 driver) mini-bus. And off we went; then one more stop to stuff two more passengers in – which made 14 plus our luggage and it was one helluva full bus. Between the 15 people in the bus and the midday sun outside, the air-con was slowly losing the battle… so, I did the only thing possible; I fell asleep… or passed out(?).
After about 90 minutes, I was rudely awakened to find that while we had started out from Ayutthaya, Thailand we landed on some alien planet that was vaguely Earth-like but hot, humid, chaotic, noisy, and constantly in motion – this is the world of Bangkok (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok,_Thailand). We were unceremoniously dumped off in an alley just off the traffic circle that surrounds the Victory Monument (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Monument,_Bangkok) and were left to fend for our selves. Off we went without really knowing which direction to go… or even which way was north for that matter. Of course, one of Eron’s flip-flops chose this, of all times, to blow out. Now picture us trudging from one side of the road to the other trying to get a cab while the noontime sun is beating down on us… while wearing our packs and carrying bags… all the while, Eron’s going “fwip”, “flap”, “fwip”, “flap” because she’s blown a flip-flop… pretty pathetic, eh?
Dumped off in alley near the Victory Monument.
Near Victory Monument under the BTS Skytrain Station.
This place, like most others, has it’s own rules and way of doing things – it’s just that no one bothered to explain them to us before we seemingly “parachuted” in. Case in point; the hailing of taxis to get from “A” to “B”. Simple, right? You just wave one down and off you go? Aha! Not so fast, oh naive first-time visitor to the “Big ‘Kok”. The cab-drivers here are apparently doing so well that they are be picky about their fares? Well no; the sad reality is that the traffic in this city is so bad that cabbies are extremely hesitant to take on any fare that goes out beyond their usual operating area. We didn’t know this important little fact as we hailed cab after cab to be told simply, “Too far.”, as they drove away… very frustrating when you’re stranded on some strange alien planet, hot and sweaty, and all you want to do is get to your hotel (and you’ve got serious flip-flop issues). Eventually (after a sweltering 45 minutes or so), a sympathetic Bangkokian(?) took pity on us and wrote out our destination in Thai script (which is of course not based on, or even remotely related to, Roman Script). When presented with this, a cabbie finally relented and agreed to take us to the hotel. All was fine now, right? NOPE! Wrong! Not a freakin’ chance race-fans. Since the address was outside of his normal area, the cabbie had no clue as to finding the exact location. Suffice it to say, it was a further 45 minutes of driving around in circles and pulling over repeatedly to ask directions from locals before we finally found the tiny entrance to the lane leading to the hotel – another important example of the need to agree on a flat-rate before starting out on any cab ride over here.
Narrow Soi’s (lane ways) of Bangkok.
He’s not dead, just extremely intoxicated… or maybe he’s just melting in the heat.
Soi in front of the hotel. That’s the street-entrance at the far end.
Entrance to the Korbua House.
Welcome sign at the entrance.
We have finally arrived at Korbua House (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293916-d2691169-Reviews-Korbua_House-Bangkok.html#HEADING). This charming little boutique hotel is located right beside one of Bangkok’s canals. This is both good and bad; good because of the view, bad only if you have “smell o’vision” – in the heat and humidity of a city the size of Bangkok and with slow moving canal-water, you get a serious case of “eau de canal”. Apropos, since this city is also sometimes known as the, “Venice of the east.” Anyone who has visited Venice in the summer would immediately recognize the not-so-subtle “aromas” coming from the canal.
Bridge over canal next to hotel.
Canal-side cafe at Korbua House.
Elephant towel-art (just for you, Gary).
Even had bath-mat towel-art (ditto).
View from our balcony.
After check-in, our next priority was lunch of course! We found a nice Chinese-style restaurant just around the corner from the hotel. Once lunch was taken care of, we headed back to the room. This is when we identified the only real make-it or break-it complaint about this place – the WiFi was slow, almost dial-up slow… it worked enough to check and send short emails but it would just bog-down every time I tried to upload images to this blog. And the images I use are optimized for the web at approximately 40K per photo. So that’s why there weren’t any blog entries for a couple of days (note: this problem would plague us on and off for the remainder of the trip). The up-side is, I caught up on my backlog of images to be edited.
Since we were in Bangkok and our hotel was only a few blocks off of it, we decided to visit the infamous Khao San Road (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khao_San_Road) that evening. Everyone has probably heard of the stories of legions of scantily-clad “come-on girls”, the anything-goes atmosphere, loud music, neon lights, and not-to-be-denied hungry-for-Farang Lady-boys. But the reality is, somewhat disappointingly, much tamer than that. We’re not sure whether it is the season or it’s just that the area has evolved (and the seedy aspects have migrated elsewhere in the city) but, at worst, we found things to be generally quite “PG rated”. In fact, the numbers of young party-hearty backpackers were mostly over-shadowed by the presence of large numbers of flash-packers, 30’s and up tourists, retirees-on-adventure, and families with toddlers in tow (note: we were later informed that the ambiance on the strip changes after midnight and some of it’s seedy under-belly manages to ooze through the thin veneer of civility). The strip is only a couple of blocks long but does branch off into a maze of side-soi’s. It’s interesting to note that on the main strip, there is an Irish pub anchoring either end of the road.
Mulligan’s Irish Pub at one end.
Khao San Road.
Khao San Road 02.
There were the expected multitude of choices for tattoo shops, vendors selling cheap souvenirs, street-food carts, and even a bar featuring Lady-boys singing karaoke; the surprise was the 7 Eleven stores. Bangkok itself must have more 7 Elevens than Canada and the US combined but on Khao San Road (on just two blocks or so) they have three… two of them directly across the road from each other.
Gulliver’s Traveller’s Tavern at the other end.
We eventually wandered onto the side-soi’s to do more exploring.
Soi off Khao San Road.
A bar called, the “Fu Bar”.
The sounds and aromas coming from the street-food vendors had been driving us over the edge. So, time to find dinner. Tonight it was the restaurant that flows across the bottom floor of Sawasdee House (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g293916-d1389648-Reviews-Sawasdee_House-Bangkok.html) and spills across to straddle the road in front of the hotel. It was a great location for people-watching and the food was pretty good as well… although you definitely pay Farang-prices.
It had been a long day for us. So after dinner, it was all we could do to trudge our way back to Korbua House. Once in our room, we had just enough energy to make a small offering to Buddhaire Saijo Denki and then it was a quick shower and off to bed.
East to Hedon
East to Hedon 
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