still in Bangkok

Two nights of sleep later, I hardly notice my jetlag, except for the nights... The first night I woke up, really awake, hearing all kind of noices, tuk-tuks outside, and thought it was the beginning of a brand new Bangkok day. Looking at my watch, it seemed that I just had 2 hours of sleep and could go on for another 8 hours, haha! One hour later I was awake again, decided to plug in my earplugs and suddenly everything was quiet... :-)
The next morning we went for breakfast in our hotel. The smell of warm food and the sight of all those noodles, rice, meat and vegetables was no good for my appetite... Also this morning my breakfast was quit european, yoghurt with fruits...

After checking in in our back-to-basic hostal, which you can also see as a minimalistic one and so design ;-), we thought it would be a wise idea to first go for our train tickets to the train station. We wanted to leave Bangkok in the next few days and founded out that this was not so simple.
Tina and Robin had bad luck... Within the next week no seats available to the south. In the end they booked a bus and are leaving tonight. For me it started not so well either. Due to a flower exhibition (of course dutch) in Chiang Mai all the sleeping trains to the north were fully booked until the end of January. She didn't gave any options, so it seemed like I could trust her. Dissapointed I went outside, wanted to think about what I would do; or taking a 3rd class ticket on the train which would mean sitting for 12 hours on a wooden bench during the night, taking a long-long bus ride, searching for flights or simply go somewhere else. Robin advised me to go inside the trainstation one more time. So I did, did the same ritual but then with other persons and suddenly it was no problem at all...
This is something typical for here. Never think that a 'no' is a 'no', always try another time, negotiate about everything! Wise lesson I learned, thanks to Robin.

To go to the station we took a tuk-tuk. In short, very adventureous, but also lot's of smoke, noisy and warm. It was a big negotiation to get one for 50 Baht (about 1 euro...) and in the end he didn't had change and so easy we just had to pay 40 Baht... ;-)
So this price we know for the next time, haha! Next to the tuk-tuk we took as well the ferry boat. This is a big word for a way too small boat with too many people on it. Great view of the skyline of Bangkok and a nice way of transportation. Although you're stuck with too many people on the boat, you see a lot and get some fresh air, as the smog here is terrible! By buying our tickets they tried to fool us as well! It's all about the money here and we play the game as well. In the end if you calculate to euro's it is foolish how keen we are on decreasing the prices with 10 Baht (= about 20 eurocents).
We went into China Town for a short while, but way too busy, too small streets, too many people, too hot, too tired... Lots of Hello Kitty stuff and fabrics. It drove me crazy and by the way, they opened my pocket in my trousers, trying to steal my money.

Yesterday eve we met the people whom I met by the forum of this weblog, Jeroen, Jacco and Eline. Tonight I will see them again, to talk about what to do with New Years eve. One thing is clear, I don't want to celebrate it on Khao San Road. It is too commercial for me here during the nights. Eline might even come with me and travel to Ayutthaya and Chiang Mai, we'll see.

Today we did a wat tour.... what? ;-)
We visited some wat's, temples for buddha's. First the National Palace with the emerald buddha in Wat Phra Kaew, very impressive! But also very crowded. Afterwards we went to Wat Pho, the biggest Buddha of Thailand. This wat was not so glamerous, but I thought the buddha was much more impressive than the small green one...

For tomorrow I will try to book a day trip to River Kwai and Kanchanaburi. Then big party in the evening in Bangkok, and the next morning I will try to catch a train to Ayutthaya, which was not possible to book in advance (or at least they told me, but I start to doubt this now as well). In Ayutthaya I will stay for 2 days and then in the evening I will catch the train to Chiang Mai.

These were the first 2 days until now... I'm having a great time, but also for a big deal because of Tina and Robin. We have lot's of fun! If you see one of us you can be sure that the other 2 are within 5 meters :-D


Big hug from BKK! Think that the next message will be from Ayutthaya!


PS1: Fabienne - D&D Inn was occupied...
PS2: Carina - Wild Orchid Villa was occupied as well, but we stayed there already for drinks and food. So nice and relaxed... I didn't realized that it was the same guesthouse as your advice, until I took my lovely pink diary with all my advices inside. I will try to get a room there on my way back in Bangkok