Well I have to admit that Bangkok is well behind me as we are on day 4 now in Koh Samui. My blogging has been slack as our days were full in Bangkok and..well....now in Koh Samui we have just been enjoying doing pretty much nothing for the first time in 3 months!
Rewinding, as you know we both loved Bangkok so we scheduled three more days there after Chiang Rai.
We ended up staying more centrally this time in a great place just off Sukhumvic.
It's owned by a British fellow and his breakfasts were scrumptious! First real
breakfast sausage I have had in three months! Everything else was just pan fried hot dogs! ( but when your in India where meat is scarce, a fried hot dog did the trick!)
We weren't sure if being more central would mean more touristy but the great thing about Bangkok is it's big enough and efficient enough that you can be anywhere and find exactly what you want!
I have to say we are enjoying the islands and loved Chiang Rai but Bangkok will always be my homeboy:)
Our first day there we decided to stay on the "quirky" themed travel trail( after Chiang Rai's awesome strange sites)
so we discovered this old market that had been converted to a haunted themed plaza(there is some story we heard about it having a graveyard history but the facts are a little shotty!)
I think Niki indulged you in the pleasure we had finding this little horror site(took 4 hours by metro and taxi and in the end we had the wrong address, I
blame google maps for this!)
However we did get there, it wasn't quite the quirky gem that Chiang Rai offered but we ended up having quite a good time drinking creepy looking martinis and being entertained by a Chris Angel style bartender! We also took in the best haunted house I have ever been in, it was almost 30 minutes walking through this 3 story mansion full of terrifying rooms you have to find your way out of, the theatrics were amazing with real actors and the set up was totally terrifying! Not one goofy thing about this haunt, it was all scare and not for the faint of heart!
Luckily we indulged in the drinks before the haunted house:)
The plaza was open air which was nice and was mostly local young hipsters hanging out and enjoying the weekend so it was fun to people watch and see a bit a regular Thai weekend life. There were a few Thai discos on site where most of the locals were hanging out but with our backpacker wear we definitely didn't have a chance as the dress code looked pretty strict.
The next day, our friendly hotel owner Kevin gave us the idea to hit the weekend market,J.J Market, which is the largest open air market in the world and it proved itself. It was a scurrying maze of everything you could ever need from clothing to housewares to animals. And of course the food was incredible.
We did end up buying a few items though I do notice we are not as wowed as easily by things as earlier on on the trip. Additionally, we have decided that for the last month in Asia we don't want to have to ship anymore
things home so we are a little pickier on what we buy.
Interestingly too, the Thai people (at this market particularly)aren't as eager to barter as in India which changed the dynamic of market shopping a little and as a whole, we found it much more expensive.
Nevertheless, it was a nice day, and the market was an impressive and fun site to see and while away the day. I would highly recommend it to visitors of Bangkok!
We then decided to put on our dirty pants and finally check out Soi Cowboy. The street(one of the many) that lend to Thailand's unfortunate stamp as the sex tourism capital of the world. We debated for a few days on whether to go but in the end decided we weren't seeing the real Thailand if we didn't check it out and ignoring it won't make it go away.
The street is what you would expect, glowing neon lights guiding your way and girls(or ladyboys, hard to tell the difference!) flaunting their bar as you wander. We weren't sure what the vibe would be like for a couple but there were many other couples meandering around to get a glimpse of the scene and of course,lots of men. And the go go girls were not as aggressive as I had imagined, they looked more bored than anything and for the most part seemed like props.
We found a place that had the least old men and some other couples and grabbed a seat. The people watching was fantastic, it's worth coming to Soi Cowboy just for that reason alone!
Watching tourists faces as they entered the street was amusing, particularly older couples(like in their 70's!) of which we saw many! I guess it's on their bucket list!
We had the unfortunate luck of getting into conversation with two Russian guys who were extremely drunk and getting more drunk by the minute. They seemed eager to talk and had they been more sober it may have been fine but they were becoming quite annoying and our patience was wearing thin so we decided to move on. We then had the good fortune of picking a bar with a super friendly waitress who sat with us and educated us on "the industry". She was a side liner, always been a server only and said with a few exceptions this red light district was now more about "the shows not the hoes" as she put it! :)
She said some of the girls ended up walking out with someone but for the most part they were all just showgirls.
She encouraged us to go to one and gave us recommendations on a few that we're pretty mild that her and her friends go to.
Well, since I have the coolest wife in the world, we did! And we both had a pretty good time! Niki was quite a hit once inside,the girls seemed to gravitate to her one after another and just visit and joke around with her out of respect and we both had the experience of speaking with them on a more human level. Our waitress also was friendly and I was able to ask her about the industry. She told us a pretty sad story about her sister who quit school and is 16 and dancing at the club. That was difficult to hear and I found myself telling our waitress over and over she needed to tell her sister to go back to school. Though we both have been wondering if that story was even true as later she was pretty aggressive about us buying her a coke, a very expensive coke that was added
to our bill,we have heard about these "preying on your pity" scams before happening all over Asia.However that being said we have since talked to a man who told us that many poorer Thai women do this as the money is so good. He said its very common for them to do this for 3 or 4 years and then they open business's. He said sadly its just a means to an end.
A tragic reality of this country but it was interesting to see and experience it first hand and the show itself was quite tame and more comical than anything. We ended up really enjoying our Soi Cowboy experience!
The next day we made our way to the Jim Thomson house, an American
entrepreneur who settled in Thailand after world war 2. He is single handedly responsible for globally introducing the world to Thai silk after realizing its quality and potential. He approached the editor of Vogue back in the 50's who absolutely loved the silk and a global industry was born. Tragically he went missing only 8 years after building his empire. The Thai
people respect him and consider him the key figure in changing the face of Thailand's economy. His house which is actually 6 houses on one massive lot are all traditional Thai houses from the 1700's that he had moved to his property and renovated with western touches. It is an impressive site and with artifacts he purchased along
the way including one of the oldest known Buddhas in the world.
An easy to get to and relaxing attraction that I recommend to anyone visiting Bangkok.
We then decided to enjoy some downtime and headed to the IMAX at Paragon Plaza and watched Skyfall,the new James Bond movie. A good day!
This is exactly why I adore Bangkok, it's a wonderful mix of old and new, fun and freaky,busy and calm.
Peace:)
Rewinding, as you know we both loved Bangkok so we scheduled three more days there after Chiang Rai.
We ended up staying more centrally this time in a great place just off Sukhumvic.
It's owned by a British fellow and his breakfasts were scrumptious! First real
breakfast sausage I have had in three months! Everything else was just pan fried hot dogs! ( but when your in India where meat is scarce, a fried hot dog did the trick!)
We weren't sure if being more central would mean more touristy but the great thing about Bangkok is it's big enough and efficient enough that you can be anywhere and find exactly what you want!
I have to say we are enjoying the islands and loved Chiang Rai but Bangkok will always be my homeboy:)
Our first day there we decided to stay on the "quirky" themed travel trail( after Chiang Rai's awesome strange sites)
so we discovered this old market that had been converted to a haunted themed plaza(there is some story we heard about it having a graveyard history but the facts are a little shotty!)
I think Niki indulged you in the pleasure we had finding this little horror site(took 4 hours by metro and taxi and in the end we had the wrong address, I
blame google maps for this!)
However we did get there, it wasn't quite the quirky gem that Chiang Rai offered but we ended up having quite a good time drinking creepy looking martinis and being entertained by a Chris Angel style bartender! We also took in the best haunted house I have ever been in, it was almost 30 minutes walking through this 3 story mansion full of terrifying rooms you have to find your way out of, the theatrics were amazing with real actors and the set up was totally terrifying! Not one goofy thing about this haunt, it was all scare and not for the faint of heart!
Luckily we indulged in the drinks before the haunted house:)
The plaza was open air which was nice and was mostly local young hipsters hanging out and enjoying the weekend so it was fun to people watch and see a bit a regular Thai weekend life. There were a few Thai discos on site where most of the locals were hanging out but with our backpacker wear we definitely didn't have a chance as the dress code looked pretty strict.
The next day, our friendly hotel owner Kevin gave us the idea to hit the weekend market,J.J Market, which is the largest open air market in the world and it proved itself. It was a scurrying maze of everything you could ever need from clothing to housewares to animals. And of course the food was incredible.
We did end up buying a few items though I do notice we are not as wowed as easily by things as earlier on on the trip. Additionally, we have decided that for the last month in Asia we don't want to have to ship anymore
things home so we are a little pickier on what we buy.
Interestingly too, the Thai people (at this market particularly)aren't as eager to barter as in India which changed the dynamic of market shopping a little and as a whole, we found it much more expensive.
Nevertheless, it was a nice day, and the market was an impressive and fun site to see and while away the day. I would highly recommend it to visitors of Bangkok!
We then decided to put on our dirty pants and finally check out Soi Cowboy. The street(one of the many) that lend to Thailand's unfortunate stamp as the sex tourism capital of the world. We debated for a few days on whether to go but in the end decided we weren't seeing the real Thailand if we didn't check it out and ignoring it won't make it go away.
The street is what you would expect, glowing neon lights guiding your way and girls(or ladyboys, hard to tell the difference!) flaunting their bar as you wander. We weren't sure what the vibe would be like for a couple but there were many other couples meandering around to get a glimpse of the scene and of course,lots of men. And the go go girls were not as aggressive as I had imagined, they looked more bored than anything and for the most part seemed like props.
We found a place that had the least old men and some other couples and grabbed a seat. The people watching was fantastic, it's worth coming to Soi Cowboy just for that reason alone!
Watching tourists faces as they entered the street was amusing, particularly older couples(like in their 70's!) of which we saw many! I guess it's on their bucket list!
We had the unfortunate luck of getting into conversation with two Russian guys who were extremely drunk and getting more drunk by the minute. They seemed eager to talk and had they been more sober it may have been fine but they were becoming quite annoying and our patience was wearing thin so we decided to move on. We then had the good fortune of picking a bar with a super friendly waitress who sat with us and educated us on "the industry". She was a side liner, always been a server only and said with a few exceptions this red light district was now more about "the shows not the hoes" as she put it! :)
She said some of the girls ended up walking out with someone but for the most part they were all just showgirls.
She encouraged us to go to one and gave us recommendations on a few that we're pretty mild that her and her friends go to.
Well, since I have the coolest wife in the world, we did! And we both had a pretty good time! Niki was quite a hit once inside,the girls seemed to gravitate to her one after another and just visit and joke around with her out of respect and we both had the experience of speaking with them on a more human level. Our waitress also was friendly and I was able to ask her about the industry. She told us a pretty sad story about her sister who quit school and is 16 and dancing at the club. That was difficult to hear and I found myself telling our waitress over and over she needed to tell her sister to go back to school. Though we both have been wondering if that story was even true as later she was pretty aggressive about us buying her a coke, a very expensive coke that was added
to our bill,we have heard about these "preying on your pity" scams before happening all over Asia.However that being said we have since talked to a man who told us that many poorer Thai women do this as the money is so good. He said its very common for them to do this for 3 or 4 years and then they open business's. He said sadly its just a means to an end.
A tragic reality of this country but it was interesting to see and experience it first hand and the show itself was quite tame and more comical than anything. We ended up really enjoying our Soi Cowboy experience!
The next day we made our way to the Jim Thomson house, an American
entrepreneur who settled in Thailand after world war 2. He is single handedly responsible for globally introducing the world to Thai silk after realizing its quality and potential. He approached the editor of Vogue back in the 50's who absolutely loved the silk and a global industry was born. Tragically he went missing only 8 years after building his empire. The Thai
people respect him and consider him the key figure in changing the face of Thailand's economy. His house which is actually 6 houses on one massive lot are all traditional Thai houses from the 1700's that he had moved to his property and renovated with western touches. It is an impressive site and with artifacts he purchased along
the way including one of the oldest known Buddhas in the world.
An easy to get to and relaxing attraction that I recommend to anyone visiting Bangkok.
We then decided to enjoy some downtime and headed to the IMAX at Paragon Plaza and watched Skyfall,the new James Bond movie. A good day!
This is exactly why I adore Bangkok, it's a wonderful mix of old and new, fun and freaky,busy and calm.
Peace:)
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