Bangkok - Wat Wat?

The so where next blog has an exciting moment today as Tom and Alex met up with none other than Robbie (ie me), not that fake one who they mentioned earlier but the real one. Anyway, Bangkok, how best to describe this most oxymoronic of cities?

After meeting Tom and Alex in Bangkok airport we took a cab ride into Bangkok with officially the craziest cab driver in the world - lane markings meant nothing to this guy! The Khoa San road is famed as backpackers central in Bangkok as this is where we duly headed and found a Spartan but relatively cheap room. The evening was spent ambling down Khoa San being offered everything from genuine ray bans and Armani suits to tasers and ping pong shows. Personally I wasn't in the mood for table tennis.

Our first full day in Bangkok was spent touring the sights that made Bangkok what it is. Rama I decided to move the Thai capital to Bangkok in the 18th century and build his royal palace and this is where we duly headed, despite at least 3 locals claiming it was closed, we weren't going to fall for their scams! The 90 acre sight contains an array of temples and royal residences all of which are as opulent as the next. The crowning glory of the palace is the 3 metre tall emerald Buddha which was made from a solid block of jade in the 15th century. After ambling round the palac we went to Wat Pho which houses a 49 metre long reclining buddha plated in gold, pretty impressive! Apart from his toes, which were all the same length, weird! In the afternoon we went to Siam Center which has 4 large malls adjacent to each other and enjoyed trying to brter with the stall holders who were selling 'genuine' designer clothes and goods. A few drinks back on Khao San and a great first day for me was done.

A nice lie in on our second day helped me get over my jet lag and in the early afternoon Alex and I headed off to Wat Traihit to see the Golden Buddha, which is a 3 metre solid gold statue, very impressive! We had rranged to meet Tom in Chinatown, or at least what we thought was Chinatown. The only problem was that we walked the wrong way for about 45 minutes! While it gave Alex and I a great opportunity to see the real Bangkok, away from the tourist trail, it did mean we were 50 minutes late meeting tom. Due to Chinatown not being where we thought it was we headed off to the night market. Unfortunately this involved heading through Patpong - Bangkok's red light district. We were constantly bombarded not only by seedy looking men offering us ping pong shows but the bars themselves bringing the so called entertainment right upto the street's edge. I think we all died a little inside while walking through.

Rob