Day 24, Bangkok: Don't Know If Don't Try!

(Posted by Andrew about the events of Jan 4; Bangkok, Thailand.)

Last night I called the front desk to find out what time our tour was picking us up. When he said 7:45AM I thought I was hallucinating, and made him repeat it three times to be sure. We've only slept in past 6AM once or twice since leaving the UK.

The main stop on our half-day tour was the Grand Palace. Very impressive but we came to realize how different it was to be in a city that is used to dealing with tourists, as compared to the past week in the maturing country of Myanmar. Lots of tourists here and the Thai's are good at herding them along. Still, it's an impressive complex.

We were on our own before noon so got the shuttle to dump as at the labyrinthine Chatuchak Weekend Market. Again, we didn't need nor want anything so used it like the hedge maze in “The Shining”: challenged ourselves to find our way to the clock tower in the centre, then to find out way back out the other side.

It was hot and muggy today (34C) so we decide to retire to the hotel for a siesta before heading out to see Bangkok at night. Finding a bite to eat on the way home turned out to be a challenge since our stomachs were remembering our night in Busan and thus the food offered up by the street vendors didn't appeal, and I had my “I want to go home” moment as we gave up and had depressing Asian mall food next to our hotel where we couldn't even figure out how to pay. (I recovered after a recharge at the hotel, though.) We didn't fare much better for finding a good place for dinner and eventually stumbled across an Irish Pub which turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. After three weeks in Asian we're getting sick of noodles and rice; fish and chips were well received.

The main event for the evening was a visit to the famous Patpong red light district. (Kids, once again ask your parents. I really mean it this time... don't read any further until you ask your parents!) Who knew? We decided to just take it all in from the street, despite the barkers promising that "you no like, you no pay" and (in the case of one particularly... um... interesting offer) "don't know if don't try". (Too bad because I'm sure the cats playing table tennis would be an impressive show.) Even creepier than the famous "ladyboys" though, were the single white gentlemen sitting by themselves in the patio bars, clearly... um... recovering between encounters. (Shudder.)

No pictures of tonight though. There's enough of that stuff on the internet already.