A Different Bangkok

2^nd – 5^th February 2016

I wanted to get away from Khao San Road. It’s fun but so touristy. And now all my friends had left, it wouldn’t be that fun either. I found a hostel across the city that had a rooftop pool so I booked myself in there. Stephen and Breanne would be back in Bangkok in a few days so I decided to wait around to see them.

Not to shabby

The pool was pretty awesome despite the large number of flies swimming around in it. This was the perfect place to relax for a little while after the hectic couple of weeks exploring southern Thailand.

The Skyrail

The reason the hostel was relatively cheap was because it was away from everything. To get into the city I had to catch the Skyrail. This was cheap enough and, providing you miss rush hour, comfortable enough too.

Modern Bangkok

I had only explored one small area of the city the first time I was here so I was keen to see some other things. It was quite strange to be in the middle of a very modern Bangkok. I had got used to the Khao San Rd area where everything is a bit run down and held together with tape but this was very different. This was really modern. With the skyrail, huge malls and tall modern skyscrapers, it was a very different Bangkok.

The King

I went over to a large park where there was a big statue of the king. They absolutely love the king here. There’s pictures of him everywhere. He’s the longest reigning monarch alive today and this year he will celebrate his Platinum Jubilee. That's 70 years! I really hope I’m not in Thailand when he dies. The grief the Thais will have for losing him will be enormous.

Nice park

No idea what this is about

I wandered around the park for a little while before heading back into the centre where all the big malls are. I saw these big animal type things which I thought were a little weird. No idea what they are for.

Site of a tragedy

Just outside this mall was this small Buddha shrine. This was the target of the terrorist attack that happened in August last year. I remember watching it on the news and I recognised the place. It was quite strange to stand here where many people had lost their lives so recently. There were a larger amount of guards here than you might expect but there’s not much they could really do if they wanted to target it again.

A sad place

They have scanners at every entrance to all the shopping centres and train stations like the ones you’ll see at airports. I don’t know if they were here before or after the bomb. The guards seemed quite relaxed though. I would beep every time I went through with my backpack on but they only looked in it a few times.

Big shopping centre

I spent some time in the MBK shopping centre getting a few things sorted. I needed to get a bunch of passport photos for the upcoming visa I would need. I went to the Burmese Embassy to get my visa sorted for Myanmar. I wasn’t going just yet but the next time I would be in Bangkok would be for as short amount of time as possible. The place I went to get my photos was at a proper photography place. It was a little weird, it was like being in a mini photoshoot.

Friends!

A few days passed before Stephen and Breanne arrived back in Bangkok. We had originally intended to meet in Koh Tao but they had messed up their travel itinerary and didn’t want to go back on themselves.

There was a slight disaster when we tried to meet in the city the night they arrived back. We didn’t really pick a rendezvous point and they had left the Wi-Fi so I couldn’t get in contact with them. I left a message telling them to meet me at one of the stations of the skyrail. I hadn’t anticipated that it would be extremely busy or that there would be 8 different exits! My battery lasted just long enough to tell them to meet be by one of the exits but I had no way of knowing if they had got any of my messages. I had waited around for about 2 hours before giving up. I thought they would do the same. I went and got some food nearby. I went back to the station to get the train back to my hostel and I saw them waiting for me. Oops!

Off on a train

All was well though and we arranged to meet the next day for a day trip to Ayutthaya. It’s the ancient capital of Thailand and is about an hour north of Bangkok. Well in theory. It actually took over 2 hours to get there by train. Once we arrived we hired some scooters and explored the temples.

Temple, Buddha, Pagoda

Very old

Got stuck

The first place we went to was Wat Mahathat. There was a Buddha head in one of trees. The story goes that a couple hundred years ago the head fell of a statue and rolled its way into some trees roots. It just so happened to land perfectly upright and facing outwards. I’m a bit sceptical about this story.

Groupie

Elephants!

We saw a few elephants giving people rides. Well I should say I saw elephants that were forced to give people rides. It’s becoming more well-known that the Thai mistreat elephants in some places for the enjoyment of tourists and making money. Still it was the first time I’d seen these kind of elephants.

Bigger Temple

Soaking in the history

Ayutthaya was once the biggest city in the world before it was destroyed by the Burmese in the 18^th century. They destroyed almost all the Buddha statues but the temples are still standing. They are impressive to see. You can see how much Stephen and I were appreciating the history of the place in that picture.

Wat's that?

Big Buddha

Driving around on the scooters was pretty easy. The last time I had one is in Bali and after driving there I feel like I could probably deal with anything. Stephen and Breanne shared one. They had a bit of an accident when trying to turn around. The back wheel slipped on the gravel and sent them both to the floor. It wasn’t serious though. Stephen had a scraped knee and Breanne was completely fine.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet

The big temple

Impressive

We saved the best temples until last. Wat Chaiwatthanaram was the biggest one of the lot and quite a mouthful to say. It was a little bit more of a drive and we lost each other along the way. It would have been quite bad had we not been able to find each other again.

Huge Buddha

Many people praying

We drove back across town to have a quick look at a huge Buddha statue where we found a large number people praying. We didn’t look around too much as we decided to get the earlier train back to the city so that we could go out for a drink.

Drinking!

It took more than 2 hours for the train to get back into Bangkok so we were suitably staving by the time we arrived on Khao San Rd. I thought it would be a good place to eat as then we could go out after. I took them to Golf Bar as it was definitely my favourite place to go. One of the staff recognised me and said hello.

They were a bit rude this time though. The boss woman who was sat in the corner with all the money told us we couldn’t sit on a particular table because they could squeeze 5 people on so we had to squeeze ourselves onto what I consider a two person table despite the place being pretty much empty. It was made worse when one of the staff got a bit funny with Breanne because she didn’t want to order anything. I think he realised I was getting annoyed and let it pass.

The rest of the night was enjoyable though. We didn’t stay too late as we wanted to catch the last train back into the city and back to our respective hostels. It was sad to say goodbye to Stephen again and it had been nice to meet Breanne. I don’t think it will be as long as five years before I see him again though.

The next day I mostly chilled in the pool before catching the overnight train north to my next destination, Chiang Mai.