TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 30th
9 am - So I'm currently in bed in a random Thai person's spare room.
I ended up here through an interesting set of circumstances. At about six o'clock a second white person got on my carriage, we talked for a while and we decided he'd come to my hostel and see if there were any spare rooms. We got off the train in Chumpon to be greeted by the usual hotel hawkers. They were offering a fery deal to the island of ko tao at 550B (11 quid and a fair price) and a/c rooms for 350B (7 quid- not bad either) and a free transfer to the ferry the next day.
They also told me my hostel was 20km away but the driver would take me for 300B (six quid - not great when i was paying 200B (4 quid) a night). I phoned my hostel to find out that the manager/driver was in Burma on a visa run and couldn't come to get me and that a taxi would normally be 400B. Then after a background discussion they said they could put me up in town and get me on the way home tomorrow. I arrived about half eleven and was taken to what seemed to be an irregularly used spare room. It was nice enough although I did wake up to find I'd been sharing my bed with an ant or two -I don't mind as long as one of them wasnt the same bastard who bit me in the toilet last night. Although my suspicions for that fall on the giant spider I saw on another trip.
My lift comes at 11...
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Train in Vain
THE FOLLOWING IS BASED ON EXERTS OF A DIARY FOUND ON THE COAST OF THAILAND ON SEPTEMBER 30th 2009
Monday 28th 12.45 pm:
So I booked a "2nd class sleeper berth a/c" on the 1pm train out of Bangkok. I've turned up at the station to find out that this seems to equate to a rear facing seat.Not great if I'm here for 8 hours but there do seem to be one or two front facing seats which I may move to. I wonder what the Thai for "I suffer from motion sickness if I'm facing against the direction of travel" is?
Alternatively I could try and work out how to fold down what I had previously assumed to be a luggage rack, but may on closer inspection be my bed...
1pm - We've left on time!
3pm (my bunk) - So as the only white guy on the train I thought I was getting some funny looks. That was nothing compared to what I'm getting now I'm reclining on my bunk. Seems these people don't sleep on daytime trains...
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the woman opposite (now below) me who despite not speaking any English managed to alert the train guard ( who couldn't be bothered when I tried) to what I wanted and got me my bunk.
On our way to the bridge over the river kwai just now. Looks like we're delayed so I just hope there isn't a curfew on my hostel. Starving to death now, but my preordered dinner comes at 5 - just my luck today is the day my appetite comes back. Although this could be to do with the fact that the AC on the train means today is the first day I haven't been sweating like Iain Paisley at Parkhead.
Quite glad to be out of Bangkok if I'm honest. I loved the stuff I did and the people I met were amazing but the city itself was almost too much to cope with. If it were half as warm and a quarter as humid it could be the best city on the planet. I do love the haggling though and am VERY proud of getting my tuk tuk driver down from his 100B quote for a ride down to 35B (Two quid down to 70p). Overall, though its just a little too much for this fa reng. They were however selling deep fried mars bars in one fusion place I went - apparently they're "Scotland's national dish"
Also I won't miss being asked if I want to go to a ping pong shows - I thought it was the Chinese who had the obsession with table tennis....
My toilet trip has shown me the reason for the funny looks could be that my curtains are still open - all other bunks have closed theirs. I also noticed that the reason the toilet didn't have a flush was that it didn't need one. It is just sitting over a hole in the bottom of the train.
4.15pm - Just crossed the River Kwai - not what I expected if I'm honest it seemed a little unspectacular. Once again the train has been swarmed with vendors at the station - could be why we're an hour late but well worth the spectacle.
I still haven't worked out the pecking order among the guards (blue v brown uniform) but it was amusing to see a guy in what looks like a military uniform neatly making a bed for a 14 year old kid.
Monday 28th 12.45 pm:
So I booked a "2nd class sleeper berth a/c" on the 1pm train out of Bangkok. I've turned up at the station to find out that this seems to equate to a rear facing seat.Not great if I'm here for 8 hours but there do seem to be one or two front facing seats which I may move to. I wonder what the Thai for "I suffer from motion sickness if I'm facing against the direction of travel" is?
Alternatively I could try and work out how to fold down what I had previously assumed to be a luggage rack, but may on closer inspection be my bed...
1pm - We've left on time!
3pm (my bunk) - So as the only white guy on the train I thought I was getting some funny looks. That was nothing compared to what I'm getting now I'm reclining on my bunk. Seems these people don't sleep on daytime trains...
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the woman opposite (now below) me who despite not speaking any English managed to alert the train guard ( who couldn't be bothered when I tried) to what I wanted and got me my bunk.
On our way to the bridge over the river kwai just now. Looks like we're delayed so I just hope there isn't a curfew on my hostel. Starving to death now, but my preordered dinner comes at 5 - just my luck today is the day my appetite comes back. Although this could be to do with the fact that the AC on the train means today is the first day I haven't been sweating like Iain Paisley at Parkhead.
Quite glad to be out of Bangkok if I'm honest. I loved the stuff I did and the people I met were amazing but the city itself was almost too much to cope with. If it were half as warm and a quarter as humid it could be the best city on the planet. I do love the haggling though and am VERY proud of getting my tuk tuk driver down from his 100B quote for a ride down to 35B (Two quid down to 70p). Overall, though its just a little too much for this fa reng. They were however selling deep fried mars bars in one fusion place I went - apparently they're "Scotland's national dish"
Also I won't miss being asked if I want to go to a ping pong shows - I thought it was the Chinese who had the obsession with table tennis....
My toilet trip has shown me the reason for the funny looks could be that my curtains are still open - all other bunks have closed theirs. I also noticed that the reason the toilet didn't have a flush was that it didn't need one. It is just sitting over a hole in the bottom of the train.
4.15pm - Just crossed the River Kwai - not what I expected if I'm honest it seemed a little unspectacular. Once again the train has been swarmed with vendors at the station - could be why we're an hour late but well worth the spectacle.
I still haven't worked out the pecking order among the guards (blue v brown uniform) but it was amusing to see a guy in what looks like a military uniform neatly making a bed for a 14 year old kid.
Sunday 27 September 2009
I don't like cricket...
... its a little too chewy for my liking. The man selling the insects was nice enough though - must be used to the fa rang i guess.
As I'm coming to the end of my first Bangkok stint I suppose I should give my opinions on the city.
Bangkok is almost indescribable - it attacks all of the senses at once.
The smell of the city is among the most powerful things I have encountered in my life. And I say this as someone who has followed Charles into the bathroom. Unlike that situation, once you get used to it the smell here is actually pretty nice, with food vendors on pretty much every street corner.
The city never seems to sleep and there is always noise to go with that - the touisty Ko Sahn Road has bars which are busy until the small hours of the morning and then the Thai people seem to waken up for morning at about 5 am and then the noise starts again.
The Royal palace - which I visited yesterday - is by far the most beautiful man made thing I have ever seen. Along with the temple of the Emerald Buddha, they are just awe inspiring beautiful. There will be pictures to follow, but not as many as I would have liked as 1) I had forgotten the memory card for my camera (it had also decided to set itself to 3MP instead of ten) and 2) we were not allowed photos in the Royal museum - which contained some amazingly beautiful things) or in the temple of the Buddha itself.
We got to the palace by Tuk Tuk - which are definitely not built to hold 5 people other than the driver, but its always fun and games on the Thai roads. I now truly understand what a god friend meant when she told me that I would have to commit to crossing the road here. The red light/green man seems to be taken as a suggestion rather than an instruction by drivers. I'm also amused (and slightly scared) by the fact the green man (who moves here) speeds up his walking as the lights get closer to changing.
Tomorrow I take the Day time sleeper train (go figure) on an 8 hour ride to Chumpon on the coast - spending a couple of days there and then I'm heading to Ko Tao for some diving. Just hope the weather clears up as I go south....
As I'm coming to the end of my first Bangkok stint I suppose I should give my opinions on the city.
Bangkok is almost indescribable - it attacks all of the senses at once.
The smell of the city is among the most powerful things I have encountered in my life. And I say this as someone who has followed Charles into the bathroom. Unlike that situation, once you get used to it the smell here is actually pretty nice, with food vendors on pretty much every street corner.
The city never seems to sleep and there is always noise to go with that - the touisty Ko Sahn Road has bars which are busy until the small hours of the morning and then the Thai people seem to waken up for morning at about 5 am and then the noise starts again.
The Royal palace - which I visited yesterday - is by far the most beautiful man made thing I have ever seen. Along with the temple of the Emerald Buddha, they are just awe inspiring beautiful. There will be pictures to follow, but not as many as I would have liked as 1) I had forgotten the memory card for my camera (it had also decided to set itself to 3MP instead of ten) and 2) we were not allowed photos in the Royal museum - which contained some amazingly beautiful things) or in the temple of the Buddha itself.
We got to the palace by Tuk Tuk - which are definitely not built to hold 5 people other than the driver, but its always fun and games on the Thai roads. I now truly understand what a god friend meant when she told me that I would have to commit to crossing the road here. The red light/green man seems to be taken as a suggestion rather than an instruction by drivers. I'm also amused (and slightly scared) by the fact the green man (who moves here) speeds up his walking as the lights get closer to changing.
Tomorrow I take the Day time sleeper train (go figure) on an 8 hour ride to Chumpon on the coast - spending a couple of days there and then I'm heading to Ko Tao for some diving. Just hope the weather clears up as I go south....
Friday 25 September 2009
Confucius say "Man who walks through an airport door sideways...."
Yes I've made it to Bangkok!
I've survived the 6 hours in Heathrow and the 11 hour flight stuck between two people. Managed to break and repair the in flight controls for my tv (despite all the instructions being in Chinese). Didnt die on the Thai motorways despite the driver hitting 120kmph in a seatbeltless car. And managed to get myself into the hostel.
Can't get over sweating in the rain - yes thats right i stepped off a plane into a downpour - not impressed in the slightest with that.
Been out and had dinner - didnt sit too well but i think thats a result of tiredness - as are my insane ramblings here (promise there's more coherent posts to come)
Funniest sight of the day - a picture of the great wall of china on the way to departures in terminal 3 at heathrow, which has a electrical plug socket cut unintentionally into the wall.
Anyway I should sign off for now before I fall asleep on the computer
I've survived the 6 hours in Heathrow and the 11 hour flight stuck between two people. Managed to break and repair the in flight controls for my tv (despite all the instructions being in Chinese). Didnt die on the Thai motorways despite the driver hitting 120kmph in a seatbeltless car. And managed to get myself into the hostel.
Can't get over sweating in the rain - yes thats right i stepped off a plane into a downpour - not impressed in the slightest with that.
Been out and had dinner - didnt sit too well but i think thats a result of tiredness - as are my insane ramblings here (promise there's more coherent posts to come)
Funniest sight of the day - a picture of the great wall of china on the way to departures in terminal 3 at heathrow, which has a electrical plug socket cut unintentionally into the wall.
Anyway I should sign off for now before I fall asleep on the computer
Monday 21 September 2009
Afore Ye go
Just thought I'd throw a tester out there to see if this works.
Those of you who are interested in my travels, adventures and scrapes can keep up with them here.
I'll keep it up to date as I go, but can't promise I'll do it too often.
Eric
Those of you who are interested in my travels, adventures and scrapes can keep up with them here.
I'll keep it up to date as I go, but can't promise I'll do it too often.
Eric
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