Thialand: Bangkok

Well, Bangkok is crazy. I mean crazy. Outrageous amounts of people flooded with tourism left and right. Anyways, the first day I arrived in Bangkok I walked past customs (which is a huge joke, I walked right by everyone, didn't even get asked how long I was staying for or anything) walked past all the limousine cars, past the taxis and straight towards the bus. I knew of one place that I was going to go to in Bangkok and that was Th Khao San road. This area is known for backpackers so I thought that would fit perfect for me. The bus ride from the airport to Bangkok is around a 45 minute drive but the traffic was insane. It took us about 2 1/2 hours just to get into the city. We were stopped at this traffic light for at least 45 minutes. It was ridiculous. This girl I met from Finland and I decided to jump off the bus and walk to Th Khao San road. We didn't even know where it was but the bus would not move so we had no choice. So we walked, asked people and got pointed in the right direction. The roads are like highways but the width of a hamburger. Meaning there really wide and full of cars and tuk tuks. In the middle has statues, billboards and shrines of the king of Thailand. This guy is the real deal and everyone loves him. He is everywhere and all the pictures taking of him looks like he is depressed and in a serious daydream session. Regardless, the people love this guy...Okay off track. We crossed the streets and found the road we were looking for. This place was picture perfect from the movie "The Beach." Drunken people everywhere, Tuk Tuks weaving in and out of people, street food left and right and little kids selling you crappy jewelry. I actually really enjoyed this place. So, we walked down the strip looking for a room to stay in. We asked maybe 4 places and then picked a room. Super cheap, low budget room with a fan in the middle and that's it. Which is fine with me. We both wanted to explore and you never hang out in the room anyways.

That night we walked around, got some of the best pad Thai I have ever had from the street market and grabbed some beers at a bar. Its funny because the bars advertise "strong drinks" "we don't check ID" "coolest beer in Thailand" etc. So you get sucked into these places and buy drinks. Worst part is or maybe the best part are these little Thai kids who come in and try and sell you jewelry. They speak perfect English, German, french, you name it. All for the cause of business and selling there gear. This girl would give you a flower and you have to rock, paper, scissor for it. If you win, you get to keep it, but the girl is a damn cheater I tell you and won every time, so you would have to pay or just push her off like I did. You kinda kick em and say scram and they leave for a couple of minutes and then they come back. Little rug rats who have game that's for sure.

Next day we decided to explore different temples. So we asked around and was told to find a yellow tuk tuk (a tuk tuk is just a scooter that has a wagon attached to the back side). We easily found one and started to negotiate a price for what we wanted. 20 baht for 2 hours. We headed off but each place he took us to was closed and each time we stopped he brought us to either a jewelry shop or a suit store to buy stuff. We straight up got scammed. We told him to take us to the buss station but instead he dropped us off exactly where we started. Its bullonie I tell you but whatever.

This is where things got interesting. We went to the bus stop where all the locals go to get transportation. Every five minutes or so you would see a bus slowly make a California stop and then skitter off once again to the next stop. In that spit second where the bus slows down is when 10 or so people rush and jump on the bus before it runs them over. It was quite a site I must say. We asked around to know which number bus we needed to get on to go to Siame Square. Soon enough we saw the number and got in position to run and jump on the bus. Within seconds we got on the bus almost getting trampled over like roadkill. Inside the bus was jam packed. I was neck to neck with people and each stop people would pin pong in and out of people to jump out of the bus. Problem is for us we didn't even know when to get off! Finally someone knew English and they would show us the way. At this point we are smack down in the middle of Bangkok city. Everywhere you look is a skyscraper with cars honking left and right, pollution everywhere and lots and lots of food.

We found Siame Square (huge malls, hot items, and any electronic device or accessory you can think of for dirt cheap) The malls here are massive. All at least 7 stories tall and take up the size of a casino in Las Vegas. This was the one place in Bangkok that was actually really clean inside and out. Movie theaters inside, car dealerships, you name it. The rest of the day we just walked around looking at stuff. After that we got on the bus again and went to China town. This place was even more packed than anywhere else yet. It was the day before the Chinese new year and things were hectic. Hung out there for a bit and headed home. Great first day in Bangkok: got scammed, jumped on the local bus and saw more useful and useless things in one area ever. Awesome.

Next day I headed off to the grand palace. I didn't realize if but I walked in there with shorts on and you have to wear pants to enter, so I rented some gear and went inside. The temples here were amazing. All gold, hand painted narrative stories, incredible architecture and detail. Every piece was detailed down to the bone. There was one section where you could go inside but no photography. First thing I did was take a picture and i got a great shot of the security guard pointing right at the camera. I hung out at the grand palace for a couple of hours and then headed back to my room to pack things up. That night I had to catch a night train down to Chumpon to later on catch a ferry to the island Koh Tao. Bangkok was cool, but way too jam packed for me. I need something else. Goodbye Bangkok, here I come Koh Tao and paradise beaches.

Peace, sorry for the late blog folks