Wednesday 21st May – Bangkok
The journey from the Cambodian border to Bangkok was a long one but it was relatively comfortable, once in the minibus at least. We stopped in Pattaya en route and, when I was informed by my fellow travelers that it was one of the sex capitals of Bangkok, I was pleased that I had decided to bypass it. They were harsh actually labelling all the men (and it was only men) who got out of the minibus as sex tourists. Two of the guys in the minibus were Israeli and one of them was a guy called Elisha whom I had met at the Garden Village guesthouse in Siem Reap. When we drove into Pattaya there was one redeeming factor for the place…..it had McDonalds! For some reason this was -really- exciting to me and I contemplating asking the driver if he could take a detour. It was okay though as I was reliably informed that there were also McDonalds restaurants in Bangkok. I know it sounds ridiculous but when I saw that glowing M my eyes lit up. I think that I may have been craving the salt and sugar after being ill but boy did I want to get my chops round a tasty filet of fish!
When we approached Bangkok I was playing cards with the two Israeli guys and then suddenly looked up to see this most amazing illuminated city scape. I love cities at night but Bangkok is one of the most amazing and beautiful I have seen. It was truly amazing and a sight I will never forget.
Eventually we got to the centre and walked towards the Khao San Road area of the city. Khao San Road itself was insane. It was actually busier when we arrived than I have ever seen it since which was typical as people kept bouncing off of our bags. I’m actually talking literally here. Khao San Road has a bar about every centimetre and you see some very strange things and people there.
After dropping our bags off Elisha took me to a Jewish centre in the city which had free internet access amongst other things. Prior to going in I asked him if I could go in as a non-Jew. He seemed to think it would be fine. So we go in and he wanders off to talk to someone he knew. I went to the toilet and when I came out some Rabbi dude comes over to me and starts talking to me in Hebrew. In my slightly tired state I said, “Shalom, I’m with him” and kind of pointed in the vague direction of Elisha. Needless to say no other Rabbis troubles me that evening!
Whilst perhaps not completely comparable to the night city scape but almost as exciting to me at the time was the prospect of my McDonalds. I found one and boy, that filet of fish was about the best thing I had ever tasted. Ooooh they also do double filet of fish here which, as the more astute of you may have figured out, is like a normal filet of fish but with two fish filets. They also still do Super Size meals here and I had so forgotten how damn mahusive they are.
After all that excitement we headed back to the guesthouse and I slept like a baby. What is with that saying anyway? I mean, I didn’t wake up screaming my lungs out every few hours. Neither did I soil my nappy, suck a dummy or get transfixed by a Noddy mobile. Although actually the latter sounds like it could be fun!