Lost in Bangkok

Bangkok Part 3

On our second day staying at Khao San we walked along (in scorching heat) to the Grand Palace temple. Upon arrival we were approached by a very lovely man who explained to us that unfortunately the Grand Palace was closed for the next 2 hours until 1:30pm. He suggested that we could go and look at the other temples in the area and began to circle on our map the different places that we could visit (how friendly we thought). He then said that we could do all of this for 40 Baht in a tuk-tuk (hmmm) and on our trip around the temples we could go and look at the Thai factory for cheap clothes. At this point we also began to notice the amount of people leaving and entering the Grand Palace (which was strange for somewhere that was closed) and decided that we would take our chances at the front door. The Grand Palace was extremely busy and in order to enter you had to have most of your body covered, which meant that Jane had to wear a lovely light pink shirt which she affectionately now refers to as the “lesbian shirt”.

After leaving the Grand Palace we wandered around a local market and sampled some beautiful street food, in the form of Pad Thai. We then decided to try out the local riverboat service and were ushered onto a boat which we were told would take us where we wanted to go (Which we asked several times). It didn’t and in fact it was headed for the complete opposite direction, which we soon realised after a few stops along the way. Thankfully, we were able to get off the boat at the next stop and eventually found our way back – via a second boat and a very helpful tuk-tuk driver.

Later that evening we met up with a friend of Jane’s – Jimmy and his family – who were on holiday in Thailand. We had a lovely evening drinking and hearing all about their experiences in Cambodia, which we still have to experience, and even got to watch in amusement as Jimmy’s dad ate a scorpion despite my advice telling him not to. I have to say that despite the fact that they are mackems, they are extremely lovely people and I hope to see them all again soon.

The following day Jane and I were due to leave Bangkok later in the evening via the night train and so, feeling a little tired from the night before (more screaming from the child), we checked out of the hostel and made our way to the MBK shopping centre and decided to go and watch Interstellar at the cinema. Now, this led to one of the strangest experiences of my life and is definitely something that will live for me for the rest of it. Just after the trailers, right before the beginning of the movie, a message came on the screen telling everyone to stand and be respectful for the royal anthem whilst showing images of the King. Beautiful propaganda. Being respectful, we did and whilst I appreciate the sentiment it was certainly a completely new experience for us.

In looking back at Bangkok it was definitely an experience; from the craziness of the roads, to the persistence of the touts and tuk-tuk drivers on Khao San Road and everywhere else for that matter and of course the experience of the cinema, it will be a place that I will certainly remember for the rest of my life.