Thailand to Britain

....Bangkok on the other hand / 19 - 21 May 2008

Bangkok's new airport is pretty damn good. After landing I was out past customs and had my bag within five minutes. Couldn't change my Dongs though. Oh well, they'll be useful for when I go back to Viet Nam.

I stayed just round the corner from Khao San Road at Rambuttri Village Inn. It's pretty decent, just slightly set back and out of the way and has a pool on the roof so we made use of that immediately. In the evening we had a mooch around Khao San to see what had changed since I was last here in 1999.

Not much and a lot.

That is to say, it's still manic with stalls everywhere selling t-shirts and stuff but some new buildings have been put up behind them. Gullivers is still there on the corner but someone's moved Boots. There's more Europeans here and less asians than there is in Auckland.

On the way back to the hotel there were crowds everywhere. It was Buddha Day and Somdet Phra Nang Chao Sirikit Phra Borommarachininat was coming to visit the nearby temple, or to give her the easy title: Queen Sirikit of Thailand. Officials and security were all lined up and down the road came several limos. Apparently, you're not allowed to take photos of the queen, well that's what the tourist police told me, so I had to quickly knock up this quick sketch. She did wave when she got out though gawd bless 'er (or "buddha bless her").

--see bigger, better, brighter photos: here

The next morning we went along the river and saw the reclining Buddha (the biggest at 46 metres) and the rest of the grounds at Wat Pho. It's pretty cool. There's all these statues guarding the doors and they all look happy or camp. Like you'd ever get guards like that.

--see bigger, better, brighter photos: here

Leanne was heading down to Koh Tao to continue her three month tour, so I saw her to the coach and said "sawat dii khrap".

I only had a week in Thailand and I'd be blowed if I was going to spend it all in Bangkok so I booked a coach and ferry to Koh Samet the next morning. I'd never been there and figured it was close enough to chill out on a beach for a few days. I'd obviously not got a ticket to Moscow for the final but now I was worried whether I'd made the mistake of leaving the security of Bangkok where it was obviously going to be on in the myriad bars, to go to a small quiet island out of tourist season where the bars may close before the 2am kick off.

Koh Samet / 21 - 25 May 2008

A coach, a minibus and a slow boat later I was on Koh Samed and checked into the easiest, though not necessarily the cheapest, place on the Hat Sai Kaew beach. What a hole it was, dark n dingey. Oh well, for one night only.
I then spent the afternoon checking bars which would show the football and better places to stay for a few days.

After wandering round the bars and accomodation past beaches Ao Hin Khok down to Ao Phai, I soon came to the conclusion that this could be the island where the Westerners bring their Thai brides. I could be wrong. Giggedy.

I think there was only one set of beach huts I never looked at. None were as good as what I remembered from other islands and all were far back from the beach (in my budget). Still, Naga bar seemed to be the place to watch the match and so it proved, and Jo from Bradford was there too to serve beers. After a nailbiting final, I took my leave and the next day picked up bag and checked the one place I skipped yesterday. How did I miss this? White Sand gave me a place on the beach. Quality, and right in the middle of the action. Just what I was looking for to chill out. Although the pillows did make a passable impression of sandbags.

--see bigger, better, brighter photos: here

Most of my time was then spent either swimming, lying on the beach or sat in an internet cafe reading the football write ups. Sat on the beach, you get these guys walking past with three baskets hanging off their over-the-shoulder stick: dried squid, hard boiled eggs or nuts. Mmmmm, just what I want after sitting in the sun. Nope, I need a beer. And red curry for breakfast. That's me settled back into Thai life.

I did get off my arse one day to go on a boat cruise round the island with stops to scuba. I thought it'd be a good time to test my waterproof camera but it wasn't clear enough nor were there that many fish. Met a nice Norwegian couple, Ann and Stien, and went out for dinner with them that evening, sat on the beach, watching the fire jugglers at Ploy Talay. Stien has been living in Bangkok studying and said there is a better island to go to (somewhere that sounds like Prachuap Khiri Khan).

--see bigger, better, brighter photos: here

Bangkok / 25 - 26 May 2008

On the way back from Koh Samet I bumped into a lovely Canadian couple and a Kiwi lass called Brett & Kiera and Julie, a and a bonkers English guy called Micky. Wow! Nice guy and loads to say and interesting too but he could talk for England. Funnily enough he did represent Britain - and it was back in 1980 at the Moscow olympics - at cycling. All the way back from the minibus to the big bus he yabbered on and on. I couldn't get a word in edgeways not even to ask him a question.

TIP: on the mainland near Samet, go to Jim's bar in Banphe on 16th April and watch the fun

I had a night and a day in Bangkok so that evening Julie, Kiera, Brett and I went to Khao San, drinking some "fucking good beer" and wandering and wondering what head gear to buy off the street vendors and had a superb night and a great laugh.

--see bigger, better, brighter photos: here

The next day we went to Pangtip Mall, a huge shopping mall just for IT equipment which Micky had told us about. It's madness. Nearly every shop sells the same thing. At first it was geek heaven but it quickly got tiring. Was cheap though.

I braved getting back to Khao San on the back of a bike. WOW!! I thought the ice in my drink earlier may have given me the runs but this was terrifying. I thought I may end up under the wheels of a bus... going round and round.. or at the very least get my knees chafed by the the madman steering this thing through tiny, and closing, gaps in the traffic. Fucking crazy and it didn't help the driver having the hump at the agreed 60 baht and wanting more.

--see bigger, better, brighter photos: here

TIP: go to Pangtip IT mall for a cheap flash drive to backup your photos onto

But I lived to tell the tale, and now I am writing on my tiny Eee PC laptop I bought at the IT mall. I couldn't use the PC until I got to the airport to charge the battery and you wouldn't believe the first thing I did. I plugged in my memory stick that I had been using around internet cafes and thought "that's odd.. dont remember that Funny UST Scandal AVI file", and double clicked it. As soon as that second click went down I realised what I had just done and pulled out the memeory stick but it was too late. I'd given my new laptop a bloody virus!!! Spent all the time since then trying to connect to web to see how to remove it. Of all people to do it! All good now though.

It was a long journey to the UK, made worse by checking out before midday and flying at 1am and the hotel didn't have a room for me to clean up in. Neither did the airport unless you have mega US $$ to spare. I should have slept but Emirates always have the coolest movies and TV programmes to watch. One that I have to see more of is a UK comedy called Not Going Out with Lee Mack. Funny as.

TIP: if your flight is late at night or early in the morning, it's worth keeping the room on (or half if they allow)