Temple of love

Tuesday, 16/10/2012 – 124 A.D.

No matter how many of those bed bugs I kill during the day, they always come out and get me out night! I try my hardest to keep my arms inside my sleep sheet, but in the name of comfort they always slip out and that's when gourmet a-la-Gray goes on the insects' menu. Never mind, they're nowhere near as bad as ant bites. 

Breakfast was okay this morning, but again I felt a bit sicky-wicky, and this really ain't like me. Now it really is time to start blaming the anti-malarial and I vowed that in future I would always take them after morning toast and onion-stuffed-omelette. And I soon came around once we got moving, through the semi-red light district (pink light district?) that surrounds our hotel. With it being our last day in Bangkok, we'd be hitting a couple of the tourist attractions that you'd normally hit at the start of your visit. First up, the Grand Palace. This is a huge complex of buildings, built in 1782, where the kings of Siam traditionally hung out until 1925. It is still used for official events, but when there are none taking place then it's full of tourists like us. And to our great annoyance, we discovered (too late) that it's where all of the government-sponsored tuk-tuks hang out. 

The Grand Palace isn't a single structure, rather it's made up of numerous, halls, pavilions  temples, all set around open lawns and courtyards. It looks astounding, but its hard to make sense of where you are and what you're looking at, despite the free map and informative guide that comes with your ticket. It also wasn't helped by the good old heat and humidity - enclosed within high walls, there was no breeze to keep us vaguely cool. And we could tell that wonderful rain was on it's way in the near future...

What stands out most in the complex is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. No cameras are allowed inside, which obviously means no photos, but suffice to say it was pretty spectacular. Unfortunately I did not have any great spiritual awakening during my time in the temple, but it was kinda hard to with all of the tourists shuffling and chattering throughout. And what is the Emerald Buddha? Well, that is one for wikipedia! However, I'm not sure why people were dipping some kind of plant into a font of water and rubbing them against their head before entering the temple, but I'll assume it was some kind of do-it-yourself purification ritual. I tried to purify myself with the holy water, but it burnt my skin.

So much for the Grand Palace (its always harder to write about these visits when they're a couple of days passed!) Our next stop was the other big draw in the area, namely the temple complex that houses the giant reclining Buddha. The statue is 43 metres long and 15 metres high and features Buddha at rest on his right side. We'd done our homework beforehand and knew it was considered a little disrespectful to wear shorts, but boy was it hot in trousers! Still, Buddhists aren't really into confrontation, so they don't kick up a fuss with blokes who have come dressed in short pants. Those women who'd not been so prepared were given bright green robes to wear and everyone carried their shoes around with them in bags that were provided. And for some reason we were allowed to take photos, so here they are...

Conveniently, we ducked inside the temple just as the daily rain began to fall. Inconveniently, it was still raining when we were ready to leave. After sitting down and trying to wait it out for about 20 minutes, and having a tranquil chill-out in the presence of the awesome Buddha, we realised it wasn't stopping any time soon and donned rain coats - familiar story, isn't it?! Besides, it was gone 14:00, let alone midday, and my stomach was ready to commit mutiny! After finding a nearby cafe, I realised that I am enjoying eating oriental cuisine every day without getting fed up of it. Sure so it could use a little more bacon here and there, but on the whole it's top nosh.

After lunch I took the above picture of the Temple of the Dawn that sits across the river. I noticed a guy sitting under a tree who'd been talking to a couple of Westerners before we arrived. He gave me that kind of look that suggested he was about to move in for conversation, and when he did, he simply asked me if I spoke English. I replied, "Not really," and Tim brushed him off as well. The guy looked a little disappointed and as we walked away. I felt a little rotten - maybe he wasn't actually on the hustle and simply wanted to practice his English with some native speakers? It's a real shame that since we've been here we've conditioned ourselves to expect a scam from every angle, but unfortunately that's pretty much how it is. 

It was a short walk to Khao San Road and by this point we were calculating how much baht we had left to spend, and what to spend it on. I bought another 100% cotton shirt, but black this time so the collar won't get quite so grubby so quickly like the white one I bought the other day. Plus I've somehow already managed to get blue ink stains on that white top - hopefully won't have to go the way of the bleach again just yet! Anyway, the guy wanted 250 baht for the black top, but I got him down to 190, which is 10 less than I paid for the last one - great success! Plus the hawker dealt with me via calculator, asking me to type in the amount I was willing to pay, rather than say it out loud in case any of his fellow traders heard the cheap price he was offering. I asked him if he liked the game of darts and typed in 180. He buzzed-off that, but still wouldn't go less than 190.

Here was the situation we were facing in order to leave Thailand tomorrow:

* Get up very early and catch the 05:55 train from Bangkok station (3rd class seating only (can't complain about the fare though - only £1)).

* Get off train five hours later (if it hasn't collided with livestock on the line) at the border town of Aranyaphrathet and take a tuk-tuk to the actual border.

* Mess about at the border with visa, etc.

* Take the free shuttle to the bus station at Poipet on the Cambodian side.

* Get a bus to Siam Reap, close to where the Angkor Watt temples are located.

The above involves a huge amount of farting around and risking all kinds of scams as we change vehicles. Therefore we had a prowl around the dodgy-looking travel firms on Khao San Road to see if they could give us a decent price all the way from Bangkok to Siem Reap. And of course they could, starting at 300 baht per person, then down to 250 baht, and finally 240 baht after some strong haggling from younger brother. The travel agent was a family set-up, with youngest sibling playing computer games, older brother not understanding us very well, mother sitting doing her knitting and agreeing our price, and father sorting out the paperwork and explaining the situation in better English. Although it seemed like a great deal, we both got the feeling that it was therefore too good to be true, despite quizzing the father thoroughly as he crossed the t's and dotted the lower case j's. But we took it anyway - who wants to get up for a train at 05:55 in the morning???

Come the evening, we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. We'd managed the spending of our last few baht and got what we thought was a much improved travel situation for the following day. All we wanted to do was go out and have a quiet meal and come back to the hotel and get packed, do the blog, etc. Upon leaving the hotel, I noticed a couple of Western lads at the front desk, who I'd seen checking in earlier, and I gave them a nod of greeting of fellow foreign guests, or whatever. Anyway, as we walked down to the road where the eateries were, the two lads caught us up and started talking, quite enthusiastically as it happens. They were German and it was their first night in Bangkok and they wanted to have fun and they wanted to learn about the city from us and have a drink somewhere nearby, if we fancied it. But we didn't! I hate to say it, but we made the worst excuse ever (so lame that my brain has already forgotten it) and made our exits stage left, the German lads no doubt perplexed and a little ticked-off. I felt bad for snubbing them, but sometimes you just want to take it easy and not spend the evening discussing everything you've done on your travels. Last night the French ladies, tonight the German lads...after all of the people we've met on our journey, have we finally become fed up of making new friends? Nyeargh, we'll probably never meet them again anyway.

We meet them again, in the 7-11 next to the hotel as it happens, while we were buying supplies for the journey tomorrow. Now I am forced to make a bit more effort than last time, but it's somewhat easier because I have a beer inside me and a full tum-tum. The German guys are a little guarded at first, as if we're going to run off again with an excuse such as we're off to measure the King of Thailand for a new suit. In the lift of the hotel we get out on the third floor and have one of those handshakes that means farewell, though as the doors close I realise that we may well meet them at breakfast tomorrow morning.

But leaving that aside, it's the end of our time in Thailand, and what a mad two weeks it's been! We've been here longer than we were in Singapore and Malaysia, but even if we hadn't, we still think it would have been the best Asian country we've been to. And if you're reading this with the wish to visit, but you're put off by the seedier elements, don't be. You don't have to see ping pong shows or mingle with ladyboys if you don't want to, there's plenty more of Thailand to enjoy without those elements being present.

And so, it's a final "choke dee" from old Siam!