January 06, 2019

Day one. Saturday 5th Jan. Bangkok Central, Thailand.

I guess these blogs will overlap a bit as time of writing is likely the following day. Who knows-this is new to me…

Got here yesterday morning after two long flights and we grabbed a taxi from the airport. They have a snazzy ‘virtual queue’ system which confused us (well.. me!) as there was a long line of taxis and very few customers ..odd. 

Almost an hour to our hotel cost £12 or so. Had trouble finding it as it’s buried behind a throng of cafes, massage parlours and electric cables. ! Feeling slightly unsure of our choice at this stage..

It was only 9.30am with a check in time of 2pm but they put our cases in the back room and we stepped out into the Khao San Road and returned by 11 and got our room. First impression was not great but clean, tidy and a huge comfy bed. 

Can’t bore everyone with the detail but this is our experience of Thailand/Bangkok/Khao San Rd after one day. 

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Our first outing at 9.30 whilst awaiting our room left us disappointed. The streets were dull, dirty and quite empty. Immediately hassled by street vendors wanting to sell us bus tickets, tours, massages, burgers and more. But wait…..after a power nap, shower and change, by 4pm the Khao San Rd had transformed with stalls set up along the street, much busier and many more tourists. Much more lively. Lunch was had at a bar on the street so we watched the place develop. And then by 8pm the transformation was complete. The whole block of streets had become a buzzing, exciting throng of lights, smells, colour and amazing sights. There are street food stalls everywhere, people with carts selling fried scorpions on sticks and tuk tuks passing through. There is music coming from many of the outlets giving it an almost carnival atmosphere.

Temperature about 24 degrees and overcast. Very comfy for t-shirt, shorts (lightweight short dress for my esteemed wife) and filip filops.. No horns blasting, no chaos but just busy and full..AND no mosquitos, flies, bugs….just a permanent stream of street traders trying to sell junk to you. We eventually found that a gentle shake of the head (or two!) would move them on. Bit of a pain but otherwise bloody brilliant. 

As newbies in the area we were alert to any thieving, pickpocketing rogue sort of folk but I have to say that we felt less vulnerable here than a Saturday evening in Bristol, Leeds, London… 

Bring on Sunday.