One Night in Bangkok…
Friday, July 13th, 2007
A hip thrust…
And a twirl…
“It’s raining men!”
Transvestite Caberet, DJ Station, Bangkok
Sa-wat-dii kha!
We are currently in Bangkok and I am continuing my now established pattern of writing a post the day after a night of revelry. Last night we hit Patpong, Bangkok’s famous red light district, a place where everything is for sale: the market extends beyond the many street stalls selling fake gucci everything and into go-go bars complete with ping-pong shows. We went to Patpong with the intention of seeing a transvestite caberet show and after some difficulty (the doorman asserted that my thongs didn’t offer enough arch support and wouldn’ t let me into the club- a pair of white heels for 99 baht [Aus $3.50ish] off the street ’solved’ that problem) we saw a fabulous rendition of ‘I will survive’ and ‘It’s raining men’ and began a long night of grinning like idiots (the mug sized tequila shot helped with this) and dancing like lunatics.
Despite Thailand’s reputation for partying, this has certainly been the wildest night we have had here, the rest of the time we have been diligently persuing that ever illusive good nights sleep (and believe me, between rooms that smell like cat piss and pillows as hard as rocks, it has been challenging). Not that we have done anything strenuous… I truelly believe that we have become the epitome of the lazy backpakker. At the suggestion of visiting Wats in Chaing Mai, Rachel and I merely murmured a ‘meh’ and ordered another pot of tea. On the proposal of a trek in the northern mountains, we decided it was time for another muffin.
We did get around to visiting an elephant sanctuary (pictures below) and completing a Thai cooking course, which produced memorable toffeed pineapple and excellent spring rolls… (the course, that is, not the elephants). And in Beautiful Pai we eventually dragged ourselves away from the bakery to a hilltop Wat.
When we arrived at Pak Chong, gateway to Khao Yai National Park stinginess prevented further lounging: we refused the expensive guided tour, straightened our backs, puffed up our chests and declared (with much pride) “I’m an independent traveller”.
Ahem.
An inaccurate prediction of both the size of the park and the availablity of transport within, saw us hitchhiking on day one and putt-putting up hellish hills on a 110cc bike on day two (sorry Lisa). It was well worth it, not only for the spectacular jungle scenery, but also for spotting ‘bonus animals’ (Wild monkey’s and Deer!)
As stressful as the thought of being stranded in a National Park filled with Tigers was, it was not nearly as frightening as the two hours where I lost Rachel in Pak Chong town… we had not predicted two sawngthaew (pick up bus) stations, so for at least an hour I thought (in order)…
1. Rachel had crashed the bike she was returning to the shop and was either dead or seriously injured
2. Rachel was having breakfast
3. Rachel thought I meant to meet her at the bus station
4. Rachel has a serious bout of dioreahh and couldn’t drag herself away from the toilet to meet me
5. Rachel had been mugged/kidnapped
6. Rachel had gone to Bangkok without me
Needless to say, when I eventually found Rachel I was glad to hear that she was uninjured, hungry and in full control of her bowel movements.
Back to Bangkok… the Thai ‘city of angels’; go-go bars, shopping complexes, wats and westerners. We are meeting friends tomorrow, and fly to Delhi the day after: Goodbye ‘fried vegetable noddle’, hello Paneer Tikka Masala!!
Buddhist Icon
Hilltop Wat, Pai
Selt-timer attempt #1
Khao Yai National Park
Papa Monkey
Khao Yai National Park
