Bangkok - Hot brick to the face

After a couple of muggy days back in Kathmandu, we took an intriguing and entertaining flight back to Bangkok. Tara and I had the interesting experience of flying with a large group of Nepalese who had never flown on a plane before, or at least not a commercial airline. They were confused about almost every aspect of the flight, but definitely excited by it. Tara was in the window seat and I was in the middle, with one of the group beside me in the aisle seat. He buckled and unbuckled his seatbelt about a dozen times before we had even begun the taxi to the runway. Right as the captain was about to drop the clutch on the runway, he went to get up from his seat, but was quickly put in his place.

Once service started he was offered drinks but didn't take them, and chose the fish meal rather than chicken, which he tasted but hardly ate, except for the bread and butter. Tiramisu was the desert which he was also not a fan of, but then again neither am I. Not one to waste food, I still ate mine, but pulled a face upon the first bite, my neighbor laughed hard at my expression and we shared a giggle together. He was troubled by the hot towel idea, and when the hostess came to collect the spent towels, he almost grabbed the used ones out of the rubbish bag she was putting them in, she looked mortified.

Later in the flight he was trying to get the touch screen entertainment system going, but clearly had no idea how to operate it based on his rampant tapping and talking to the screen. I asked him what he wanted to watch in vain as he spoke no english, he just kept point at the screen wildly. So I selected something I thought might entertain him, the latest Die Hard film!! At one point I jumped up to go to the washroom and discovered that they are also somewhat unfamiliar with using a toilet. One of the airline staff was showing one of my friends colleagues how to flush the toilet, and how to lock the door once inside. Following this patron I entered the same washroom to discovered he had (or possibly someone before him) urinated all over the toilet and floor, almost everywhere except the bowl. Thankfully I wasn't planning on sitting.

At the end of the flight, my new mate neatly folded up his blanket (with no concept of personal space, spreading his arms wide, hands across my face) and placed it back in the plastic bag it came from. Despite the fascinating differences between the world these guys live in and the one with which we are so comfortable and familiar, these guys are the nicest people with kind hearts and warm smiles.

The heat and humidity of Bangkok hit us hard, if you have ever walked behind a bus on a hot day and felt the blast of hot air from its engine you may be able to imagine, or maybe possibly if you have already been to Bangkok! Even though we were happy to start our new chapter of the trip, and be in a more developed location after the mayhem of Nepal, our evening did not start well. Everything was perfect from landing to collecting luggage and making our way into the city on the smart and efficient rail system. Then, walking in the dark and rain, just 2 minutes from our hotel, Tara stepped in a shallow grave that was conveniently located in the middle of the footpath. With the weight of her bags, she lost balance and fell over completely, landing in a puddle of dirty rain water. Her grimace told me enough, and then I spied the hole she had stood in and knew that things were not good. We got her up and hobbled to the hotel, where the air conditioning and a bag of ice was a cool welcome.

We did not have big plans for doing a lot of exploring for the next few days, it was more about doing our sweat infused laundry from the trek, shipping back everything that we no longer needed along with some souvenirs, and taking care of a few other administrative tasks for the journey to come. However this new hurdle was probably going to hamper our ability to explore with any spare time we had.

We were based in the Sukhimvit Road area, which has most of anything you could want, and also plenty of that which we didn't. Walking down some of the side "Soi's" there were many bars and massage parlours, teaming with Thai women beckoning you in, and large numbers of middle aged white men being pampered by the hostesses and learing out from the open air bars. I saw one guy who had three women tending his every need, it was hard to tell if they were on the payroll or his "girlfriends". We saw a few lady boys, though they were very obviously transvestites and so not particularly glamourous in their appearance. There was even the older aged blokes with the young Thai boy in tow, one in particular looked in his 70's, with a flaming young guy at his heels. At times I found myself being quite disgusted by the overall seediness of the area, but came to realise that it is a big part of the way things are here.

Tara's ankle blew up like a balloon but she still seemed to be able to get around without to much hassle. Upon walking further through the neighbourhood we discovered that uneven pavement, holes, raised hazards, and various other things to trip and hurt yourself could be found at every turn, so watching where you were walking became a conscious effort. We sought out street meat and tried out several dishes including the revered Phad Thai (which as a western dish I find horrible) and several curry specials. Chang beer was a great pairing for our first local meal and was insanely refreshing in the 35c heat and humidity.

The following day it was my turn to come down with a debilitating ailment, it seemed that the curry had relentlessly ploughed its way through my innards and was teaming up with some other foreign bacteria down there to create a fresh batch of bum soup. After pissing out my arse for 24 hours, it was tough to stray far from the hotel and the safety of a toilet, while trying to take care of shipping things home and doing laundry.

After 48 Hours, I am improving, but still have some intense rumblings, not dissimilar to the thunder clouds overhead, and Tara's entire foot looks like she has elephantitus, her poor little sausage toes really need a break. We traveled several hours from Bangkok to the Island of Koh Chang, South-East of Bangkok towards the Cambodian border. It was pretty easy travelling, with air con, and bathroom on board. The island here is beautiful, still hot and muggy but its nice to have a pool and the beach nearby, and be out of the city. The birds are calling, gecko's are running around everywhere, and there are elephants and monkeys to be found if you wander the islands streets.

We hope to get a few days R/R here so that Tara's ankle can get better, with some luck we might catch a waterfall or two, go kayaking to explore more of the islands coves, and maybe even swim with some dolphins....

Not a lot of pictures from this short period, but did notice the extravagance in the shopping mall we wandered through for a break from the heat. The traffic is also very hap-hazard, crossing the road involves some element of guess work, and many savvy moto-riders jump the lights to escape the 10 minute waits at some of the major intersections.