Off we go!
Hi Guys,
well I'm basically putting in what I wrote in emails into this blog. Of course, after that I will try and add to this blog with anything significant or even the mundane ;-)
21/07/2005
I am having a good time in Bangkok believe it or not! Actually, yesterday, my first full day in Bangkok wasn't so great. It was alright but the things that really stuck out were the traffic and pollution and people geared to trying to rip off the tourists! And the whole bargaining thing; you have to talk and talk and see where you get, there is not cutting to the chase at all so that annoys me no end. I think I have been ripped off plenty but when you convert it to Aussie dollars it doesn't sound so bad. I guess I just dislike being ripped off in principle!
Anyway, it seemed like a really long flight to get to Bangkok as I had a 7:30am flight out of Melb and it was 9.5 hours to Hong Kong and then another 2 and a bit to Bangkok. Felt like all I was doing was sitting, watching TVand eating meal after meal with very little exercise. Cathay Pacific aren't bad but the plane was not as good as Emirates. They had the TV consoles but only the equivalent of what I would say is Foxtel or some sort of pay TV thing so no new release movies or anything like that. I watched Hitch (again, as I had already seen it at the cinema) and Assault on Precinct 13, plus a host of documentaries, dramas, comedies, etc. The interesting thing on the plane was that they had the Street's mini magnum in one of the meals but it wasn't called Street's but Wall's. I thought maybe in Bangkok it would be called Bridge's or something but found out it wasn't. Yeah, simple things amuse me :)
When I finally arrived in Bangkok and got to the Hotel (Asia Hotel Bangkok, thanks Jess) I went for a brief walk around the place and then crashed for the night. The next day got up somewhat early (not deliberately) and had another walk around. Most of the shops weren't open and it always amazes me in Asian countries how such disparity between wealth and poverty exists so closely side by side. My hotel is pretty well furnished but there are a lot of, err, less aesthetically pleasing establishments around as well. I went down one of the small streets by accident and came to the end which was a canal and the water was absolutely putrid. I reckon if you feel in that water or even had it splash on you, you'd be stuck with about a dozen diseases! There were ferry boats going along this canal as well transporting people. Again, visiting poor Asian countries makes me a bit sad and thankful at the same time because of all the poverty around and thankful that God has blessed me with so much.
After that little hike around the area I thought I would explore the public transport system. The most modern is called the BTS skytrain which is privately owned. It's not a very complex system to master as there's basically only two lines with one changeover station. It only looked complex because they give it different names after the changeover stations so it seems like 4 lines. It's a very good system for getting around and air-conditioned as well. Definitely needed for this 37C heat! You can get around to most of the places you want to see using the skytrain and since I had a free daily ticket from the hotel (100Bhat ~ $3AUD) that was exactly what I did! Managed to find a tailor and got taken around to jewellers and souvenir shops where I honed my bargaining skills for practice (I couldn't buy anything as I was already pushing 25kg in luggage. Also, as some of you may know I don't like trinkets and things that people buy just for the sake of buying something). I did find a good tailor and ordered a suit from him which I will pick up before I leave.
The Thai people are very polite and whilst perhaps not the 'Land of Smiles' as the tourism board promotes it to be, is nevertheless very friendly and polite.There is no pushing or shoving on the trains and no rowdy school kids either.Traffic is pretty bad as mentioned earlier but people here actually obey traffic rules although they do push the boundaries of those rules with a lot of squeezing in! However, the key to not causing accidents appears to be to do it rather slowly and have your indicators on - other cars generally let you in. Compared to say the Philippines it is very orderly.
Oh, yeah, same as the Philippines people here think that I am Thai. I mean, in the Phils they thought I was Philippino and spoke to me in Tagalog and here they think I look Thai and speak to me in Thai! Don't know what's going on with that! I guess at least it is closer to Cambodia where I do come from. Thought I would use this misperception to my advantage and just point at things I want (like food) and hand over money and not be ripped off! I think that strategy worked as I was paying 5 Baht for food which is like 17 cents! That was food from the street stalls which I bought and said grace for asking that it would be a blessing and not a curse to the body! Praise God I am not sick yet!
One more thing before I go. If you come to Thailand and go for a massage do not go for the for the traditional Thai massage as it really hurts!! It's like going for two hours of torture! You're stretched, contorted and bent like anything! I think it employs principles from deep tissue massage. I know because I've had deep tissue massage where the masseuse is using her elbow and that's what these Thai masseuses do! And when people use their elbows to move muscle around, it causes a bit of hurt! Of course I had deep tissue massage for 10 minutes and this was two hours! Came out of it feeling like I'd run a marathon or something!
Anyway, my time at the internet cafe is up. So until next time, God bless.
well I'm basically putting in what I wrote in emails into this blog. Of course, after that I will try and add to this blog with anything significant or even the mundane ;-)
21/07/2005
I am having a good time in Bangkok believe it or not! Actually, yesterday, my first full day in Bangkok wasn't so great. It was alright but the things that really stuck out were the traffic and pollution and people geared to trying to rip off the tourists! And the whole bargaining thing; you have to talk and talk and see where you get, there is not cutting to the chase at all so that annoys me no end. I think I have been ripped off plenty but when you convert it to Aussie dollars it doesn't sound so bad. I guess I just dislike being ripped off in principle!
Anyway, it seemed like a really long flight to get to Bangkok as I had a 7:30am flight out of Melb and it was 9.5 hours to Hong Kong and then another 2 and a bit to Bangkok. Felt like all I was doing was sitting, watching TVand eating meal after meal with very little exercise. Cathay Pacific aren't bad but the plane was not as good as Emirates. They had the TV consoles but only the equivalent of what I would say is Foxtel or some sort of pay TV thing so no new release movies or anything like that. I watched Hitch (again, as I had already seen it at the cinema) and Assault on Precinct 13, plus a host of documentaries, dramas, comedies, etc. The interesting thing on the plane was that they had the Street's mini magnum in one of the meals but it wasn't called Street's but Wall's. I thought maybe in Bangkok it would be called Bridge's or something but found out it wasn't. Yeah, simple things amuse me :)
When I finally arrived in Bangkok and got to the Hotel (Asia Hotel Bangkok, thanks Jess) I went for a brief walk around the place and then crashed for the night. The next day got up somewhat early (not deliberately) and had another walk around. Most of the shops weren't open and it always amazes me in Asian countries how such disparity between wealth and poverty exists so closely side by side. My hotel is pretty well furnished but there are a lot of, err, less aesthetically pleasing establishments around as well. I went down one of the small streets by accident and came to the end which was a canal and the water was absolutely putrid. I reckon if you feel in that water or even had it splash on you, you'd be stuck with about a dozen diseases! There were ferry boats going along this canal as well transporting people. Again, visiting poor Asian countries makes me a bit sad and thankful at the same time because of all the poverty around and thankful that God has blessed me with so much.
After that little hike around the area I thought I would explore the public transport system. The most modern is called the BTS skytrain which is privately owned. It's not a very complex system to master as there's basically only two lines with one changeover station. It only looked complex because they give it different names after the changeover stations so it seems like 4 lines. It's a very good system for getting around and air-conditioned as well. Definitely needed for this 37C heat! You can get around to most of the places you want to see using the skytrain and since I had a free daily ticket from the hotel (100Bhat ~ $3AUD) that was exactly what I did! Managed to find a tailor and got taken around to jewellers and souvenir shops where I honed my bargaining skills for practice (I couldn't buy anything as I was already pushing 25kg in luggage. Also, as some of you may know I don't like trinkets and things that people buy just for the sake of buying something). I did find a good tailor and ordered a suit from him which I will pick up before I leave.
The Thai people are very polite and whilst perhaps not the 'Land of Smiles' as the tourism board promotes it to be, is nevertheless very friendly and polite.There is no pushing or shoving on the trains and no rowdy school kids either.Traffic is pretty bad as mentioned earlier but people here actually obey traffic rules although they do push the boundaries of those rules with a lot of squeezing in! However, the key to not causing accidents appears to be to do it rather slowly and have your indicators on - other cars generally let you in. Compared to say the Philippines it is very orderly.
Oh, yeah, same as the Philippines people here think that I am Thai. I mean, in the Phils they thought I was Philippino and spoke to me in Tagalog and here they think I look Thai and speak to me in Thai! Don't know what's going on with that! I guess at least it is closer to Cambodia where I do come from. Thought I would use this misperception to my advantage and just point at things I want (like food) and hand over money and not be ripped off! I think that strategy worked as I was paying 5 Baht for food which is like 17 cents! That was food from the street stalls which I bought and said grace for asking that it would be a blessing and not a curse to the body! Praise God I am not sick yet!
One more thing before I go. If you come to Thailand and go for a massage do not go for the for the traditional Thai massage as it really hurts!! It's like going for two hours of torture! You're stretched, contorted and bent like anything! I think it employs principles from deep tissue massage. I know because I've had deep tissue massage where the masseuse is using her elbow and that's what these Thai masseuses do! And when people use their elbows to move muscle around, it causes a bit of hurt! Of course I had deep tissue massage for 10 minutes and this was two hours! Came out of it feeling like I'd run a marathon or something!
Anyway, my time at the internet cafe is up. So until next time, God bless.
posted by boarderbob at
11:18 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home