Ferg & Jude\'s Thailand Adventure 2002

Sunday 17th November
The weary traveller arrive back into Bangkok

Our bus finally pulled into the Northern bus station at 4pm. We had decided to try the Merry V Guesthouse in Khao San Road area and picked up a cab to take us there. We encountered heavy traffic and it took us 1 ½ hours from the bus station. The Merry V was a big disappointment. We opted for a fan room on the 2nd floor instead of the air con rooms on the 4th floor as there were no lifts and the stairs were a killer. The room was horrible, two single hard beds and the hot water didn't work.

We dumped our gear and headed out to discover Khao San Road. The Thais around here are very unfriendly, probably sick of all the Farangs. KSR is like a zoo, full of all types of animals. We were tired, hungry and not happy vegemites (Aussies will understand!). Found a café, food expensive and service non-existent. Back at the Merry V we got on the internet to find a better hotel. Picked some names and numbers and managed to negotiate the local phone box. Eventually made a booking at the Sathorn Inn near the Chong Nonsi Skytrain station for our last four nights in Bangkok (900bt/day).

Monday 18th November
Wats and Markets

We awoke at 7am, packed our bags and grabbed a taxi to the Sathorn Inn. We couldn't get out of there fast enough. The taxi took awhile to get through the Monday morning traffic and we finally arrived at 8.30am. I checked the room and it was heaven. It had a big soft bed, TV, fridge, hot water and air con. We checked in and they allowed us to go straight into the room even though check in wasn't til 12 noon.

After we had settled in we headed off to Chong Nonsi station, a two minute walk from the hotel. We bought a 3 day tourist pass for the skytrain (280bt each) and headed for the Chao Phraya River. We caught the express river ferry back up to Banglamphu and walked through the markets. We got stopped by a Thai Uni student who told us about the days special significance due to the Loi Krothong Festival. All the Wats were "free" today and he was able to get us a tuk-tuk to take us to several Wats for only 20bt. Off course it was a scam but we thought what the hell if we can go where we want then a couple of gem stores is ok for 20bt. The gem stores weren't pushy and we only stayed a couple of minutes in each and didn't buy anything. We saw several different Wats and the standing Buddha then he dropped us back at the markets.

We then spent several hours wandering around the markets and bought a large suitcase to take all our purchase back home to OZ. After awhile the claustrophobic atmosphere of the markets got to us and we dropped into the Svensens icecream shop for a mango sundae and coffee. We headed back to the hotel on the ferry and skytrain. We spent a couple of hours chilling out in the air con before going out again at 4pm.

We once again took skytrain and ferry up to Banglamphu and got a tuk-tuk to the Golden Mount. Due to the festival there was a carnival and vendors set up all around the base. There was one selling incredible coloured sweets shaped as fruit and vegetables. We eventually found the 400 odd stairs leading up to the mount. Phew! We were treated to a spectacular view of Bangkok at night. We wandered through the markets for a while longer then walked down the road to the Democracy Monument.

We picked up a taxi to National Stadium station and took the skytrain to Sala Daeng station. We had decided to check out Patpong. What a conglomeration of stalls and bars. We kept being approached to go into the bars. The prices at the Patpong market are a lot higher and we had to bargain hard. We grabbed the next skytrain back to Chong Nonsi and home to bed.