We arrived in Bangkok at 6.00am so it was another disorientating early fumble off the bus and gathering our stuff. I had hardly slept a wink if any at all as the seats hardly reclined and when we got off the bus it seemed like we’d been dropped off in the middle of a busy main road junction. We looked in the map and had a few taxi drivers trying to take us places but after about 15 mins we decided we walk off the junction to a road where we had seen some other backpackers go, sit down somewhere and figure out where we were. As we crossed the junction and onto this road we realized that we were actually a 5 minute walk away from where we wanted to be near to – Kho San Road. It had been the perfect drop off in fact. A girl in Changmai told us there was cheap accommodation on a road nearby Kho San so we headed there. Even at 6.30am it’s steamy in Bangkok – soooo hot. We walked around a couple of places and were once again surprised at just how much costs go up when you get into a big city, but eventually Tymon found a room which was real basic – a bed and a fan with shared bathroom but it was the best deal around as we later found out! So we settled in our little sauna of a room and had a nap for a couple of hours before heading to the immigration office to apply for a 30 day tourist visa/extension.
The area where we were staying was right in the middle of the hustle and bustle. The street was lined with cafes and restaurants and market stalls selling clothes and I immediately knew that I would be spending some money here! :0) There was a really great vibe going on and not a sign of trouble. Luckily the Red Shirts had moved away from the Kho San area a couple of weeks earlier and there was really no sign that Bangkok was in a crisis!
We haggled a taxi to take us to the immigration office as it was quite away away and thank goodness we did as it was miles away!! Anyway to cut a long and boring story short – we went all the way to the office only to find out that if you enter the country overland and receive your 15 day visa you are only allowed a 7 day extension! If you want to have another 15 days you have to do a border run to either Burma, Laos or Cambodia! We were gutted and the worst thing was they completely stung us for the one week visa and we had to pay EUR45 – EUR45!!! I don’t know what Thailand’s problem is and why they are making it so hard. They have 1000’s of backpackers all the time and with this new rule they are actually driving people out of the country. They say they don’t want as many tourists and I tell you if they keep this rule – they won’t. They’ll drive all the backpackers away as a border run is soooo impractical. It’s such a drain of time and money it’s ridiculous. So we left pretty pissed off and finding ourselves having to completely rethink our route and plans for Thailand, made even more tricky as Barry and Arthur had just booked their flights out to visit us for 3 weeks. Which meant we would have to drag them along on the border runs and which didn’t even work out as from the islands down south the only place to go is Malaysia which is miles away from the northern islands which is where would be beginning! Nightmare!
So after a lot of umming and arring we decided the best thing to do would be to look for a cheap flight out of Thailand and fly back in so we would get our free automatic 30 day visa! We looked at Manila, Philippines and Taipei, Taiwan but the place we really wanted to go was Hong Kong – the missing link to our trip in the first place due to time & cost. It was also luckily the cheapest flight we could find so by the end of that day we had a return flight to Hong Kong booked for 5 days! We were sooooooooooo excited. I’ve always wanted to go & it was such a bonus that we were adding it to this trip. A holiday from a holiday! It was going to cost us and we knew HK isn’t cheap so we would be using a big chunk out of budget, but it was worth it compared to having to do 2 border runs!
So we had a week before our flight to explore Bangkok and around. That evening we went for a wander around the streets including Kho San and had a beer to celebrate. I was taking a mental note of all the things I wanted to buy – the market stalls are awesome & sooooo cheap!
The following day all I wanted to do was shop but we had to buy a camera! That was the most important thing as I was feeling completely at a loss relying on Tymon all the time and not being able to take holiday snaps. So we had a walk around the local area trying to the find the Fugifilm camera we wanted before in the end at the suggestion of one camera shop to go to a shopping mall. It was way out from where we were as Bangkok is a bit like London – HUGE! It has different areas and districts and Kho San is such a tiny part of what makes Bangkok. Kho San is a bit like Covent Garden, with its restaurants and bars and markets (albeit much cheaper and on a bigger scale) but as we took the taxi ride out we went through other districts. Over the flyovers we could see the business district although it didn’t look particularly impressive when you compare it to London for example, and other areas which look a bit like the outskirts of London like Wimbledon or Chiswick, just more run down. However once we arrived in the shopping district it was all change again as the huge malls appeared and shops.
We found the camera here very quickly and didn’t end up paying too much although it wasn’t really much cheaper than at home either! We had a mooch about which is just depressing as I couldn’t buy anything (and I all I wanted to do was to get back to Kho San so I could go shop on the market) but as we were leaving the mall we noticed a barricade across the streets.
Incase you’ve been under a rock or something for the last 2 months, Bangkok has been in turmoil. The Red Shirts (anti-government) have been staging protests and taken over parts of the city. People have died in the clashes between the Red Shirts and the police and as we speak things seem to be escalating according to the news and all the international press. A civil war has even been hinted at. Travel to the whole of Thailand has been vetoed which is absolutely ridiculous! The thing is – yes you don’t want to be around when they are out demonstrating and clashing with the police and army. And yes they are in Bangkok and have been moving around, but they haven’t captured the whole city, let alone the country! Although they easily could – our taxi driver to the mall was a Red Shirt. He proudly showed us his membership card and scarves and had red banners on his car. He also informed that there are 42,000 Red Shirts in Thailand. If you’ve not been following the news here is a snippet I found:
‘What we have been seeing in Thailand since late 2005 is a growing class war between the poor majority and the old elites. It is of course not a pure class war. Due to a vacuum on the left in the past, millionaire and populist politicians like Thaksin Shinawatra have managed to provide leadership to the poor. The urban and rural poor, who form the majority of the electorate, are the “Red Shirts”. They want the right to choose their own democratically elected government. They started out as passive supporters of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai government. But they have now formed a brand new citizens’ movement, for what they call “real democracy”. For them, “real democracy” means an end to the long-accepted “quiet dictatorship” of the army generals and the royal palace. This situation allowed the generals, the king's advisors in the Privy Council and the conservative elites to act as though they were above the constitution. Ever since 2006, these elites have blatantly acted against election results by staging a military coup, using the courts to twice dissolve Taksin's party and by backing mob violence by the anti-democratic royalist “Yellow Shirts”. The present misnamed Democrat Party government led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was maneuvered into place by the army. The Yellow Shirts are conservative royalists. Some have fascist tendencies. Their guards carry and use firearms. They supported the 2006 coup, wrecked Government House and blocked the international airport last year. Behind them were the Thai army. That is why troops never shot at the Yellow Shirts. That is why the present, Oxford- and Eton-educated Thai Prime Minister has done nothing to punish the Yellow Shirts. After all, he appointed some to his cabinet.
The aims of the Yellow Shirts are to reduce the voting power of the electorate in order to protect the conservative elites and the “bad old ways” of running Thailand. They see increased citizen empowerment as a threat and propose a “New Order” dictatorship, where people are allowed to vote, but most MPs and public positions are not up for election. They are supported by the mainstream Thai media, most middle-class academics and even NGO leaders. The NGOs have disgraced themselves over the last few years by siding with the Yellows or remaining silent in the face of the general attack on democracy.’ Giles Ji Ungpakorn.
So there’s a lot going on- & let’s face it, I barely understand British politics, let alone Thai – so I won’t get too caught up in the details but rest assured – the whole of Bangkok is not in meltdown and is perfectly safe to be in. Ideally it’s not a good idea to go looking for them, especially as at this moment it all seems to have escalated somewhat – but that’s exactly what we did. We walked up to the barricade expecting it to be all blocked off but it wasn’t. It was made out of tyres and bamboo with flags in them. They have taken over two wide long roads under a by pass that runs down to a main shopping area. At the side of the road are make shift camps where some are sleeping others are sitting with friends, some are cooking. They have shelters and beds and it’s amazing how well they have ‘settled in’ considering it’s a moving group. The entire road and shopping mall area surrounding has been closed off and we walked all the way to the end of the road where we finally came upon the action. There had been massive speakers lined up all the way along the road playing the talks and I thought at first that it was perhaps a recording, but when we got to the end we realized the rally was live and in full swing. There was a huge stage set up and the talks we being broadcast for news and TV as well. There were 1000’s of red shirts! And you know what – they were so friendly. They were pushing us through to the front so we could get a better view & better pictures, they were telling us what was going on and how they feel about the press and news coverage. It was so interesting, if not a little intimidating to be there. Not at one point at all though did we feel threatened. That’s not what they are about. Unfortunately violence happens in the retaliations with the police and army but at this time it was all peaceful. We only saw one or two other tourists, everyone was definitely staying clear. After a couple of hours we headed back to the bus station to get back to the hostel. I am glad we went, as it’s always good to see first hand what these people are fighting for. Although sadly that night some grenades were thrown & 2 people killed, although again depending on which report you read, the grenades vary from being fire crackers to gun shots! It’s so misreported!
The following day I did some shopping in Kho San road and we went to Chatuchak market which is massive. I’ve never been to such a big market. But found some great bargains and was so happy to have some new stuff to wear! After 7 months wearing the same thing it’s get a bit boring. A girl needs choice now! But that meant that I couldn’t actually fit everything into my bag!! Thank goodness Barry was arriving soon so he could take some stuff back for me!
The following day we caught the bus to Kanachaburi, famous for the River Kwai. It’s only a couple of hours ride away so it was the perfect place to spend some time. We met some people on the bus so on arrival as usually I sat at a hostel while Tymon and the girls checked out the area. He came back with a very nice place with a swimming pool – SOOOO exciting! Luxury or what!? As we walked to the hostel we noticed that there were a lot of ‘older people’ men in particular sitting in all the bars. It was rammed which seemed a bit odd. Our hotel as well, but after a while we asked someone and we found out that it was ANZAC day – the Australian/New Zealand commemoration day for the Second World War. Kanachaburi is where the POW’s where brought and made to build the railway (known as death railway as more than 100,000 men died building it) from Kanachaburi through to Burma. That afternoon we chilled around the pool which was super nice and into the early evening. We brought some drinks from 7 11 (which is huge over here & did you know despite the name is actually open 24 hours?) and sat above the rooms on a veranda chatting and listening to music. The views were gorgeous overlooking the hills and the river.
Our first day we wanted to hire a scooter and go out and about to the bridge and cemeteries and hellfire pass and a waterfall, but true to form, we’d had a late night, Tymon more so as he went out with some guys, so we decided to have a pool day. Oh the hardship eh! ;0) It was soooo hot, even too hot for me to sit out for a long time, and the pool was of no real comfort as it was like getting into a hot bath! But it was still nice to be able to sit by the pool and top up the fast diminishing tan.
We didn’t really do much in Kanachaburi apart from drink and sunbathe! On our last day we did hire a scooter but we were too late to go out to the waterfall and hellfire’s pass so we just did the bridge and museum and the local cemetery. Which as always with these war cemeteries is very humbling. It was very fitting as well as it was one dedicated to the British and Dutch troops specifically. One thing did strike me – all the British gravestones had a little message from family as well as the dates, but the Dutch stones only have the name and dates. It’s the messages that get me and the ages. They were all sooo young. It’s so sad.
And then it was back to the sweat box that it Bangkok – honestly I have never been in a city so frigging hot! I feel as if I should have lost half my body weight with all the sweating! (But helaas no!) Thankfully it was only one day we had to spend there as the following day we would depart for Hong Kong!! Whoo Hoo!!
China here we come!
x
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