Bangkok, a familiar face -27th and 28th April

We’re back!! I took my laptop to a repair shop. Went to show the guy the issue, pressed the power button and it just sprang back to life as good as new. Woo!

Leaving Nepal it was time to return to the familiar city of Bangkok. 

A huge city of very 20 million people – boasting fantastic infrastructure and bustling neighbourhoods. A ‘characterful’ city for sure.

The adventure so far has introduced some travelling companions, friends made on the road, drinking buddies and other nefarious characters… However, it’s in Bangkok I get to see the first familiar face I’d seen in over three months. A friend of many years, and far too many beers, its Steven!! [audience goes wild] Or to give him his previous Bangkok moniker, Pretty Boy. 

I arrived the day before Steve and returned to the airport to pick him up. I was like a kid before Christmas on the skyrail there. And it was absolutely lovely to see a proper friend, someone I really know and trust. No doubts or worries of hidden agendas etc.

Of course initially, Steve was in a fair period of shock at the new look Hugo. Messy hair, cargo shorts and boots. And he hadn’t even seen the hat yet!

Steve is joining me while on holiday for 2.5 weeks from work. “Why come all the way to Thailand for two and a half weeks?” people asked, his response was “well it beats spain.” No other reason Steven? None at all??

Steve joining the trip meant a couple of things for me, firstly a change of pace. Moving from my slow and steady no time restraint travelling; to packing as much into a couple of weeks as possible. And secondly, I no longer had to plan my every move. Instead of steering and sailing the ship, I’m just a passenger on Steve’s adventure. Or perhaps, generously, a deckhand. This was a real treat, to sit back and just enjoy – he should have charged a travel agent fee really.

Steve also brought with him a much needed resupply from home, including: a packet of chocolate digestives (these lasted maybe 2 hours), a portable speaker, some stationary, and a set of boot bananas. Thank god for the boot bananas! Things were getting desperate. Desperate and dire.

Steve and I didn’t really have a plan for our trip beyond “maybe Cambodia and Laos??” And before we got a chance to flush out the details of the plan, we may have started on the beers on Khao San Road – a famous hub for backpackers and nightlife. The bars there seem to try to compete on both price and who can play the loudest music into the street. The whole road, well and surrounding roads, are just filled with people getting wasted. Mostly foreigners of course. It was fun to spot which countries people were from. I don’t remember a huge amount more of this night, or perhaps I’m just saying that… 

Of course, being on holiday schedule there was no time for a hangover day, so on with the activities. First port of call, National Museum of Bangkok. One exhibit was a 4 sided animated movie (being projected onto the floor, the sides and in front) where they had scanned in traditional paintings and brought it to life through animation. Almost like a puppet show played with the painting’s characters and background. Really spooning the culture down your throat, but in a good way.

After that we headed to the famous Wat Pho temples, you’ll see the photos of the huge Budha. Surprisingly by no means the largest Budha in the world (or even Thailand), but this huge one was also completely golden. A very impressive sight. The Budha chilled reclining on his side, and sat within a huge opensided temple.  The pillars of his supporting shelter tightly imprisoned the Buddh on all sides. 

Steve remarked, ‘can you imagine if they built this building and then the Buddha didn’t fit?’

The rest of the complex was filled with beautiful, ornate temples, stupas and you guessed it, even more golden buddhas.

On our final night in Bangkok we had three things to do: get some US dollars for our visas needed tomorrow, get some dinner, and have a drink. We were hungry so we started with dinner. Steve’s research led us to Bangkok’s very lively and fairly chaotic Chinatown. Steve’s dinner was a special one, a whole fish in a sizzling herby broth – incredibly tender. Of course we may have also enjoyed a couple of beers. Having such a good time we decided to continue the fun, we headed to a rooftop bar to take in the Bangkok skyline. The bar did have a spectacular view but some questionable music including a daradude sandstorm remix. After our beers we realised it was getting late and we needed to get cash changed at now nearing midnight… Whoops.

We thought an elegant solution would be a nice-ish hotel, no luck there as we weren’t guests but they told us to go to cowboy street. Happy days! A lead to follow. We whacked that in google maps and a 10 minute walk later we arrived at the end of the street. Instantly we realised where we’d been sent. Neon signs illuminated the street and establishments in dark reds, through pinks to blues. It should have been obvious where we were going. After all, really where else would you find a cash exchange open at midnight?

The dollars were obtained successfully and we headed to beds (alone) for our early morning bus.

Another fun stop in Bangkok.