'The City of Angels'

the stunning and appropriate named: Grand Palace
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29th Oct

Ko Samui has without question the best looking airport ive ever been through. Forget metal sheeting, boring carpet lines and air-con duty free, and welcome with open arms the check in Huts and palm-tree lined runway with extended golf-buggies, like the ones in Disneyland, taking you from straw-thatched departure terminals to your plane...Happy days, though the security there was lax as you could blatantly penetrate the pot plants used to seal off the 'restricted area'!! Too knackered to argue with the tout at Bangkok and accepted the 1200Baht double deluxe room at New World Lodge Hotel which i later discovered is also the meeting point for my Cambodian tour early next month!! how random. Sampled some Pad Si Ew, a tasty vegetarian! thick noodle meal, before booking a day trip to the ancient capital of Thailand: Ayutthaya, as Olivia doesnt have long to explore Bangkok, went straight to BK's star attraction: the Grand Palace. And the name does justify it; its a palace and it most certainly is grand. To get there though, we decided to take the infamous tuk tuks - motorised tricycles - for a literally hair raising rampage diving in to impossibly small gaps in moving traffic and out behind other vehicles. As its an open air ordeal, getting stuck in traffic in the notoriously most polluted capital in the world, on a 30+ degrees day is not nice. My bandana got its first use around my face! And thus we arrived at the incredible Grand palace and in some stiffling heat, i witnessed some beautifully hand crafted gold leafed buildings, where the main temple contained an amazing 'Emerald Buddha' on a gold pedestal...observing the no photos or pointing feet towards the idol rules, it was clear this is as much a religious centre as it is a tourist attraction.  An unimaginably large gold reclining Buddha (some 46m in length) awaited our visit at nearby Wat Poh, with monks gliding around serenely... Took another tuk tuk to the infamous Khao San Road, where the world's backpackers, hippies, tourists, and young thais hang out for a good evening of drink, drugs and for the next two days, the Asahi music festivals - sporting a wealth of local Thai 'talent', with witnessing dodgy hip hop versions of 'Where is the love, Black Eyed Peas' being a highlight. Had a lovely dinner in a posh hotel restaurant in Thanon Rambuttri, a parallel street to Khao San, and lapped up a lovely Claypot rice dish and some chinese tea for only 100B (less than one pound fifty incl service charge). Well chuffed with this find. Back at the hotel, was lucky enough to catch Boro's thrashing of Man U live on blatantly pirated cable TV :)

If you can displace yourself from the pollution and vice of Khao San + Patpong, Bangkok offers a range of less obvious culture, lovely food and happy bustling people

Infamous traffic madness
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30th Oct

Day Trip to Ayutthaya (as separate entry)

Dined in the same restaurant having the same meal as yesterday, and after Olivia left for the airport to go home, it finally dawned on me that i had to look after myself from now on :S First stop was to find a cheaper room as no way could I afford 1200B for the rest of the time in thailand. Found 600B twin room at Thai cozy guesthouse nearby with some rather friendly staff who insisted i couldnt be English and was in fact Japanese :) Left it for 2moro to sort myself out and decide when i would go to the River Kwai (Kanchanaburi), and went to the last night of the music festival which left Thanon Khao San completely rammed along its length. Heard an appaling rendition of 'What it is to Burn, Finch' and it seemed i was the only person amongst the bemused thai crowd who knew what the screaming was about..hehe. Kara txted saying she and Frankie would be there soon on their last night on holiday, but by the time she txted (around 2am), i was fast asleep after a long day. oh well, prob bump into them in London.

Ringside seats to watch some proper butt-kicking
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31st Oct

Today was about scouting around for an either cheaper room as 8 pound a night is still too dear on my budget. In a side street, i spotted a clean looking establishment called Lemon grass hostel. Rooms with fans and spotless shared bathroom for a special rate of 300B (4 pounds) after discovering the owner was from Essex! As i was checking in, bumped into this random aussie guy and he asked me where i was going. i said Kanchanaburi 2moro and in my luck, he goes fishing there and told me the cheapest way to get there. 3hr train from Bangkok Noi (Thonburi station) for 25B (30p!!!!) rather than the 400B minibuses that run for backpackers. Get in there. furthermore he told me to get off the station after Kanchanaburi, which stopped just before Kwai bridge as this was closer to the cheap accommodation (he neva understood why all the backpackers get off at the earlier stop, but its LP's fault...) such as the 150B Bamboo house he stays at when he goes fishing. Score. Decided this afternoon to explore more of Bangkok outside the Khao San area, so jumped on a tuk tuk after a brief stroll to Siam Square, a much more modern shopping district, teaming with school kids, businessmen and yet more suffocating traffic. Took a ride on the skytrain for the fun of it for one stop to the city park: Lumphini, where it was surprisingly tranquil peaceful and FRESH. a little rain shower helped to cool things down, and its well worth coming to the lovely gardens if not to escape for a little while from madness. To get back, i thought id do it the public way, ie not tuk tuk, but by massive passenger boats back to Tha Banglamphu (yes; bang lam poo), a much more scenic, traffic less and altogether cheaper alternative (15B). Splashed out on a big dinner at the same restaurant (rosirin, 3 days running now!) and requested to sit in front of the TV to view NY Giants thrashing Washington Red Skins... My hotel, having its back to Khao San road, was noisy and i found it hard to sleep as a result; was worried as had to do a trek to Kanchanaburi awaking at, you guessed it: 6am as the train departed at 7.30am from across town.

Wat Pho; huge reclining buddha
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See Kanchanaburi entry

3rd Nov

After a rather long journey on a train that felt like stopping every 5 minutes. the 3hr journey going there took 5 coming back. Nice and dark now, got a tuk tuk and practically bargained myself some lung cancer waiting in the traffic jam across the bridge to Banglamphu...booked into Tuptim, the sister company of Lemon Grass and decided to have dinner at (you've guessed it!) Rosirin...and sped to go to Ratchadamneon Stadium, a short tuk tuk ride, to experience some authentic thai culture of beating the living shit out of each other: Muay Thai Kickboxing.

Legendary Khao San road; sooooo different @night
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As my time in thailand was almost up [and through my misery (both meanings)] i had a fine selection of Baht to chose from, and as i arrived late and 5 fights had been completed, i haggled for some RING side seats for the gore-fest for 1,500B. Quality entertainment where punching/jabbing is considered weak,and elbowing the face and kneeing the ribs is how one brings the house of pain on your opponent. It all starts with this strange meditative-ritualistic dance/stretch preparation done in time with some thai drumming before they beat the living shit out of each other. The crowd love it; and you can tell by the ear piercing atmosphere where each blow signals 'oohs and aahs' from the fans who are incidentally are ardently betting with the hands like in a stock exchange. The little usher boys fight amongst themselves perhaps with the dream of emulating the heroes on stage though in one fight where two, prob exploited, boys were pitted together, one was knocked out cold! The main event between some tough looking contenders was a good match as the fighters also enjoyed the atmosphere, stealing secret winks with each other if one scores a good blow. so perhaps its done in a better nature than boxing even if more pain is involved, there's less of the bitter rivalry and more respect/manners than in Western boxing...

'tuk tuk' - a ridiculous cheap and nasty way to get around. not too fun for your lungs.
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4th Nov

After a rip off breakfast, i went bartering for some new clothes, and got a cotton oriental style cotton shirt and loose fitting trousers for 200B (just under 3 quid!) I had managed to blend in coz of my non-caucasian ancestry, but today i wore my 'ive been to the river kwai' t shirt and that deserved the extra attention from vendors and the marked up prices once i opened my mouth. But still got a delicious noodle soup for lunch for a mighty 25B (30p). Pretty much surfed the net for the rest of the day as there really isnt much to do here but shop...actually i got a fitted tuxedo made up for a bargain price: fifty quid for jacket, trousers and waistcoat which fit properly. You might be wondering why id want to carry it around for another month, but i actually got it sent home. Dossed about to await the meeting at New World Lodge for the week-long Cambodian tour i had enrolled in...

My group consisted of :Quan (Tour Leader); Marco (German; Room mate); Geoff (Brit); Nia (Welsh Brit); Alasdair (Bermudese Scot); Elaine (Irish) and Adam (Aussie)...im distinctively the kid of this trip as everyone is late twenties and beyond though everyone's nice esp the energetic and boundlessly enthusiastic Marco! After a tediously drawn out introductory tour briefing in which we were bowled over by the news that we had to depart 4.30am the next morning for Cambodia, we went straight to eat as it was already 8pm. After over-ordering for our first dinner together and not finishing the meal, i had to rush back to Khao San road to check the tux that they had made esp fast (half a day) and it fitted perfectly! score! Made sure i packed my new rucksack and threw the old one away, before going to bed for what was going to be a short sleep for sure!