We arrived in Bangkok in the evening of 10th May, the double decker coach dropping us off in the backpacker district that surrounds Kansan Road. We walked about the streets, checking out a few hostels before settling in a place called My House, recommended by Lonely Planet. The hostel was cheap and simple, yet clean though the staff were pretty moody. That evening we showered and walked five minutes through the neatly paved, pedestrianised streets passed the street stalls, massage parlours and numerous hostels leading up to the backpacker centre- Kansan Road. The phrase ‘bright lights of the big city’, used to describe the attraction of any city to countryside folk, perfectly sums up the road, both in a literal and metaphorical sense. The road was jammed with bars and restaurant, neon signs dominating the first and second storeys of nearly every buiding. At ground level, it was flooded with farang(foreigners) of all nationalities, many walking around in chang lager, singgha beer or tubing in Laos wifebeaters . Walking down, one was hassled by Bangladeshi bar promoters trying to pull you to outdoor plastic seats of bars, with offers of 80 baht for spirit laden buckets. Moustasched tuk tuk drivers hung in groups at the end of the road, asking you where you were going, making popping noises to try and whiz you off to a ping pong show. You had to dodge the odd moped, and what can only be described as motorized shopping trolleys- a bike with a large trailer at the front, lugging ice boxes of drinks down the street(even though it was pedestrianised). All along there were stalls on wheels selling food from chicken on a stick to Pad Thai(starting at just 25 baht for Pad Thai with vegetables, which for another 25 baht could be upgraded to include 3 diced spring rolls), the stalls big enough to hold a wok, noodles, soy sauce and beansprouts but small enough to easily transport away at the end of each night(they weren’t confined to Kansan road and were widely seen across the city). You could buy T-shirts from the numerous shops, order a suit from the famous tailors for around £70 (they are meant to be world class in Bangkok), or do what Robert did and get your ipod updated with almost any film, tv series or music album via a Thai with a laptop there on the street. We spent three of our four evenings here having a few beers, met some Danes on one night, and on the others watched some of the interesting characters. There were pale blokes sitting awkwardly, arms crossed legs inverted inwards, sipping buckets with pairs of thai girls, old men with thick rimmed glasses and flecks of grey hair giving away their use of hair dye at dinner with their bored looking young thai women, and the odd ladyboy, given away most often by their jawline, walking around. The third night was spent in the bright lights of china town where we had some peking duck(the waitress looked disappointed at not getting a tip).
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| Kansan Road |
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| Robert Ordering Pad Thai on Kansan Road |
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| Chinatown |
The evenings on Kansan Road aside, our first days in Bangkok were spent getting visas for China and Vietnam, and browsing the very upmarket (for thais, though for us they are just normal) western style glass shopping centres, with their futuristic toilets, fashion shows and ice rinks. Roberts camera was damaged on Kho Phi Phi so he purchased a new one (Olympus ZR20). We payed 7 baht to journey in on the unairconditioned number 2 bus.
From here we had to take a skytrain or underground metro to the relavent embassys and shopping malls. The metro and skytrain were flash and modern, air conditioned, super clean and easily as good as anything in the west. Yet they, alongside the very impressive shopping centres are the preserve of the Thai middle classes and elite- a small majority of the population. The shopping centre all had guards and security scanners at the entrances and exits, ensuring only the ‘right’ sort entered, well dressed thais and westerners(even though we are trampy backpackers we are western which is a freedom in itself). The efficient metro, was too costly for many thais to justify using it(consider a bus above costs 7 baht, a ride on the metro cost 30). I have never been to a country with such an apparent wealth gap and constrast in lifestyle and attitude- the rich with complete access to the western shops (M&S, Levi and Nike, Starbucks) and eateries (Starbucks, Krispey Kreme), viewing themselves as equal to the west and the not rich(but I wouldn’t say poor) who clearly desire these things and want to be western, walking around in plausible but fake Adidas, Nike and Manchester United shirts.
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| Robert with a 7eleven pork bun recommended by his mates from uni- he said it was rank |
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| Outside one of the plush shopping malls |
I personally wasn’t impressed by the Thais when we were there. The haslting on the street is understandable, but when you say no that should be that. We found on many occasions they would try and trick or con us, this wasn’t just the odd tuk tuk driver or market seller.
On the way to the Vietnamese embassy, after stepping off the metro a man claimed he was an off duty police officer and said the embassy was closed for holidays and we had to go to this travel shop over the road which we ignored, the embassy was of course open. In our hostel, we put down a 500 baht key deposit which they gave us a reciept for. They wouldn’t return the deposit without both the room key and the receipt (admittedly you are made aware of this), the latter of which will be binned anyway and cannot be justified -fortunately after I turned the room upside down we had both.
On our final full day we went to the grand palace and temples along the river. These were impressive, gold covered domes and towers, surrounded by well cared for lawns and trees harking back to a seemingly nicer era. On two occasions when walking along the street with the map to get there we were asked where we were going, and told they were closed for public holidays and that we should get a tuk tuk or go and see other sights. Upon walking off they were annoyed that we didn’t listen to them. Even when we reached the temples, a man outside an exit said the last tickets were sold at 3 o’clock(it was 3:15) whilst the policeman guarding it looked on, of course when we reached the entrance we were absolutely fine and found the temples were open, business as usual.
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| The Temples that weren't open |
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| The Palace |
I think that the Thai’s have just got too used to tourists in Bangkok, seeing you as farang cash cows with infinitely deep pockets, which being a backpacker simply isn’t true. They try and guilt trip you with the ‘doe eyed im poor and desperate look’ when you try something on but don’t buy it, and harass you if you even go near a stall, following you about. Tuk tuk drivers look genuinely annoyed when you try and barter down a price which is more than double what you should be charged, and every time we used one, they tried to take us to a shop or some other place, even when we knew exactly where we wanted to go (we always had to refuse several times). You only got a smile if your wallet was open. It meant you couldn’t completely turn off and relax and when walking avoided looking around and making eye contact.
The worst bit was they weren’t poor(with mobiles, mopeds and air con extractor fans hanging out of nearly every flat), just not rich enough to buy designer clothes or holiday in Europe(there were of course poor people in the city, one particularly unsavoury sight was a legless begger crawling round the street like something out of Nazi Zombies).
We took some trips out from the city, paying 250 baht to visit a colourful floating market an hour and a half from the city, with gondolas selling fruit, fans and hats amongst other things to tourists and locals alike. We also did an overnight trip to Karanchari, a three hour drive away. This trip was of special interest to me, as it is the site of the infamous Railway of Death and Bridge over the River Kwai, popularized by the book and film. The trip took us to a cemetery and a museum full of dusty poorly maintained artifacts next to the bridge. From the museum we walked to the bridge itself, still in original condition (bar the two rectangular mid sections bombed in, and replaced after, the war). From here, as a tour, we took a train over the bridge, two hours along the death railway, from which we saw some spectacular scenery alongside people tending the land. We also saw waterfalls on the first day(where we got stuck for an hour as the rain poured).
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| Bridge over the River Kwai |
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| On the train, riding through the scenic countryside on the Railway of Death |
Our accommodation, included in the tour, was a wooden floating hostel, which sat on the river, bobbing with the wake produced by passing longboats. It was excellent, with good food, nice room and wifi all included. We had some beers with Tim, a Photographer from New York, chatting about America and Europe, which inevitably led to us saying how good football and the premiership are (before being caught with our tails between our legs by watching a really dull FA cup final!).
The next day we were put on a bamboo raft and drifted downstream, till we reached our morning activity. This was elephant trekking, with three of us sat atop an elephant attached by a chain to its bairn. We were in a group with two other elephants. It plomped us down the bank to the river where after a drink, it waded downstream through the water and again back up the steep banks- we were all holding on tight. The guides and elephants were close, the elephants obeying every command to stop, keep moving or let another passed. Whilst the baby was chained to the mother (a plastic tube protected its neck), it never seemed cruel, they looked in good condition with no scars or anything. It was a great activity.
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| Rob and Tim Floating Downstream on the Bamboo Raft |
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| Tim, Rob and Myself atop our Elephant |
We then were wisked off in a minibus to hellfire pass, a gruesome part of the railway of death where many allied POWs perished, underfed by the Japanese and forced to reach nightmarish deadlines, digging meters of rock out by hand over days which lasted up to 18 hours. A really good museum, funded by the Australian government told the gruesome story of how 12000 POWS, along with the often forgotten 80000 Thais and Malays, died constructing the railway, designed to link Thailand with Japans newly conquered territories in Burma.
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| In a small section of Hellfire Pass |
The afternoon took us to tiger temple, where we got to see and appropriately touch tigers, with some cool photos taken for us by guides which walked about holding our hands. We were then taken the three hours back to Bangkok where we had some Pad Thai on the street with Tim, before Rob and I headed to the train station and caught the 2200 air conditioned sleeper train from Bangkok to Chang Mai, which arrived the next day at 1245.
