Thailand

Sorry it's been a while. Been busy! Anyway, I went to visit Josh in Thailand for Christmas and stayed with him for about 10 days. There are lots of pictures in my Picasa web album (link on the right hand side of this page). Throughout the holiday, I kept a brief log, which I shall now transcribe for your delectation. I'll add explanatory comments in italics.

22nd: Arrived. Slept.

23rd:

am - Chatuchak w/end market [This place was absolutely massive, and densely packed with hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of crazy stuff.]

pm - Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaeo [the most famous temple in the country. Spectacular] and Wat Pho [famous for its absolutely massive, golden, reclining buddha statue. I forget how big it was, so let's say 500m]

eve - Night bazaar, towers of Chang w/ Phil, Rob and Ben [friends of Josh. Chang is a drink to be feared. All Thai beer is very strong, but this is the strongest (7%) and, worryingly, the cheapest. Drink just one and you'll feel strangely suicidal the next day. Not a hangover, something different that I've never experienced before. A Thai person told me it was because Chang contains formaldehyde. During the holiday the phrases 'Chang fiend', 'Chang frenzy' and 'Chang attack' were coined.]


24th - Went to Ko Samet [a tiny tropical island where we spent a couple of days on the beach]. Pimms + Chang! First ever backpacker [Backpacker was a fiendishly complicated travel-based card game that Josh got for Christmas. I never won a single game. It was the Ashes of card games]. Met Reilly [In our villa we found an amazing book called 'Area 7' by Matthew Reilly, an author who describes his own work as 'airport fiction'. Possibly the worst book I've ever read, but rip-roaring stuff indeed. On my last day I managed to find the prequel, 'Ice Station', and am looking forward to reading it.]


25th - Beach, explore, kayak. Chang!

26th - Came home. Met Thai people. Went to Snop [some bar]. Listened to awful pop-rock, destroyed myself on 100 Pipers whisky.


27th - Failed to go to Ayutthaya. Boat trip. Yummy lunch. Chinatown. Walked until half-dead. Japanese food for dinner. Backpacker.


28th - Almost failed again to get to Ayutthaya. Spent 2 hours looking for bus station. AA map misleading. Got to Ayutthaya in time for lunch. Visited millions of temples. When we got back to Bangkok, literally tens of thousands of crazed Thais were swarming toward bus terminal. No idea why. [Still don't know why. No, it wasn't anything to do with those bombs, as it was 3 days before that happened.] Huge burger for dinner.

29th - Went to Kanchanaburi [where the bridge on the River Kwai is]. JEATH museum - harrowing. Lunch - less harrowing. Chinese cemetery, then the British one. Museum. Soul-destroying forced march to, and across, the bridge. From there, 10 mile trek to bus station. Pizza Hut for dinner.

30th - Nice lie-in, then gift-shopping at Chupachup (Chatuchak) Market. A stroll around Lumphini park, then a tour of Jim Thompson's house [he was some guy who made stuff out of silk]. Bought Ice Station! Depressing pint at the Robin Hood [an English pub full of middle-aged western men taking their hookers for a pint for some reason], then a fancy meal at Lemongrass. Finished with Tower of Chang! Oh, and ferris wheel.