Buzzing Bangkok

Arriving in Bangkok was actually very disorienting - largely because for the first time in our travelling career our bus arrived early. This was a shock in itself but to find ourselves in Bangkok at 3am, surrounded by taxi drivers, tuktuk drivers and guest house touts when you are still rubbing the sleep from your eyes is a surreal feeling. After strenuous haggling with the tuktuk driver we eventually arrived at a guest house recommended by Tasha and James, which was, typically, full. On the street and after wondering around with our backpacks for an hour, we settled in a backpacker lodge that was straight out of the 'Beach'. Basically, the walls were paper thin, cracks had posters over them, the sheets had never seen a washing machine let alone been inside one and the fan had the same effect as someone blowing on us. Fortunately we were too tired to care and moved to Kao San Rd, travellers centre, the next morning. It was extremely noisy at night but we didn't care as we just couldn't get enough of Bangkok - Kao San Road in particular. The atmosphere was crazy, chaotic and often oppressive with its heat and grime but it has far more character than, say, Kuala Lumpur and has much more on offer. We truly believed that you could buy and barter for anything in Kao San Road from fake passports to buddha heads, live locust stirfry to antibiotics. At night, the streets were filled with entertaining street acts which were illuminated under the lights of neon signs and the sweet smells of Thai paste from the food stalls lazily drifted over the street diners.

Without doubt, the saddest sight in Bangkok was the display of faces and names of missing people from the Tsunami exhibited at the end of the Kao San Road. Flowers framed photographs of children, adults and elderly people alike that the worried authorities and desperate relatives had posted in an effort to track them down. We prayed with all our might that some at least may be found alive although survivor stories from the dreadful event have become thin on the ground in recent weeks.

One day we took a boat taxi down the river and then the new skytrain with its air conditioning and sterile environment - a sharp contrast to the bustling city below - and travelled to Silom Road for the big shopping centres. At MBK centre we indulged in a retail frenzy of DVD and CD purchasing which saw Steve foaming at the mouth at the sight of all the electronic equipment on display. It took all Beth's strength to literally drag him from the candy shop and into Kao San Road where she replaced the entire contents of her backpack and the actual backpack (which had pretty much fallen apart after 8 months). The whole experience was made even more exciting when Steve discovered a skill for bartering. Standing back, Beth watched as Steve turned into a wheeler dealer, securing brilliant prices that drew admiring glances from many travellers and had Beth wondering whether she had married Del Boy.

Our evenings in Bangkok were spent lazily eating at street diners in Kao San Road absorbing the atmosphere over a couple of Chang beers and some of the most delicious Thai curries we have ever tasted. Our diet largely consisted of street food - very cheap, more than delicious and made in front of you: Pad Thai (noodles and beansprouts), bbq meat on sticks and succulent corn-on-the-cob. One evening we ventured into Pat Pong Street - the infamous light district in Bangkok. After a scary journey with a tuktuk driver harbouring ambitions to become a stunt double for Eddie Kid, we entered a club where the men and women danced on stage whilst managing to look both incredibly bored and very cross with the audience (as you would in that profession we suppose). An hour later, after we had witnessed women doing things with bananas, bottle tops, ping pong balls and razor blades that we feel too scarred (not literally fortunately) to talk about, we danced the night away at the Lava Club. After many Changs we wobbled out into the night when the club closed at 1am only for Steve to express a desire to eat a locust. Which he did much to Beth's disgust. We hasten to add that it was battered in sweet and sour sauce and from a food stall - not the gutter!

The following day we saw the Golden Palace - a complex covering a huge expanse of central Bangkok and full of huge golden temples (does what it says on the tin) housing such national treasures as the emerald Buddha. The sight, although gaudy at the least and ostentatious at the worst, was magnificent and sunglasses were definitely required to reduce the sparkle from the thousands of gems set into the temples. This to us captured the essence of Bangkok; larger than life, gaudy and bright but full of character and often surprisingly beautiful.