Bangkok - Thailand

I decided that upon leaving Surat Thani, I was to leave behind my frustration with the Thai disorganisation and embrace whatever the Capital had to offer. After the short flight from ST, we landed around 9:30pm and jumped straight into a taxi outside the airport. We had had the foresight to book the hostel in advance using our iPad whilst in Koh Phangan. We had read great reviews of this new hostel so were expecting good things. We weren't disappointed. We arrived as Saphaipae Hostel and were immediately impressed. It was new, clean, open and modern. I\'d be happy to recommend actually, if you\'re thinking of staying in Bangkok, consider Saphaipae. We were given our keys and wifi passwords then went to the room to shower. Cindy had contacted her friend from Bangkok so we went to meet her, grabbing a kebab on the way. This turned out to be an excellent end to the day as we met Tappy and her Italian friend Marco and chatted away, drinking coffee and having fruit shisha until 2am.

The next morning, feeling back in our carpe the diem mood, we woke early and caught the ferry down the river to The Grand Palace. Outside the huge white walls, we were told that we had to cover up, out of respect. I had prepared and took out my jeans from my bag, and immediately started to boil. Roger was already dying in his 'pants' (trousers) and Winnie and Cindy had to rent clothes to cover themselves up. I told them that this was a consequence of dressing like a hussy..... haha. It seemed this provided a money-making opportunity for some people, who were suggesting we hired their clothes instead of hiring those from the Grand Palace.

Inside were many wonderfully ornate and masterful examples of architecture. Many golden temples, stone statues and giant ornaments. I could easily have used up my camera\'s memory if I had taken a picture of everything I wanted to remember. I was very impressed with this place. The Grand Palace took around 2-3 hours to walk around, as we found ourselves discovering temple, after building after buddha. After we all became Buddha'd out, we left the palace (Winnie and Cindy gave back their clothes) and went for some noodles. We'd arranged to meet Sam and Mina outside Wat Pho at 1pm. Their journey had unfortunately taken them much longer than they'd anticipated so we carried on without them around 2:45. Inside Wat Pho, were many other temples. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I said that I'd seen enough 'wats' for one day and wanted to only see Wat Pho's main attraction, the laying Buddha. 







The others actually with me and we all went to see the massive, horizontal, golden Buddha. I was very impressed with it's size and detail. Although surrounded by tourists, I was actually feeling like I was experiencing the Thailand that I'd come in search for. After, we were somewhat 'watted-out', so we wanted to sleep. We returned to the Hostel for a shower and a good long nap. It was obvious that the heat and humidity was getting to us. We slept for 2-3 hours and only woke to enjoy the nightlife.

We had caught a taxi home from Wat Pho and met Kai, who was to become our very own tour guide. We'd arranged for him to pick us up from the hostel and take us to see Mambo, a Ladyboy cabaret show. This was an experience. There were many surprisingly beautiful and demure 'women' in the show, along with some not-so-demure. Winnie couldn't stop chuckling at one of them that looked like Jean Claude van Dam in a bikini! The show was full of lights, dancing, mimed music and a sprinkle of comedy. 
Kai had waited for us, and offered t take us to a ping-pong show. We were in Bangkok, we were curious, we SURELY couldn't be scarred.... could we?! He took us to a place he knew, stopping for dim-sum on the way. He came in and ate with us, which was nice. 

After arriving at the dark, seedy looking backstreet, we were unsure about getting out of the cab. I thought we'd either be mugged or killed, or both. Kai led us through a door where we handed over some money and were led into a dark square room, filled with people sitting around a square stage. We were shown to some seats for the show.

For the next 20 minutes or so, we were to see various Thai women take the stage, dance like they'd rather be anywhere else than here, take of their underwear and do various things with their organs. This included the opening of a beer bottle, shooting pins to burst balloons and pulling flags/bunting out of themselves. We were then 'treated' to the ping-pong lady followed by some live sex, which we had definitely not expected. What made this experience memorable was not the spectacle of viewing these women's 'talents', but it was the feeling of shame and sorrow I (we) felt. These women were, so to speak, dead behind the eyes. They either seemed under the influence of drugs, or experiencing such a low point in their lives that they have given up hope. They have no confidence, no self worth, nothing to show for themselves but some sordid party trick that earn the men looking after them a decent wage. I felt incredibly sorry for them and felt a pang of guilt to myself. I have since explained to Roger that I feel like I had contributed to some sex trafficking or circle of abuse. He agrees with this completely. I am glad I have seen it, so I know now that it is something I do not want to see again. It was very different to how I'd imagined a show to be.

After the 'entertainment' we went back to the hostel as it was close by. I think the intention was to freshen up a little and head out to some bars... eight hours later, we woke up! :P

We woke after passing out the night before and made our way on the river taxi to Wat Arun - The Temple of the Rising Dawn. This was very impressive and we joked that it looked like something from Mortal Kombat. Hence the Adam vs Roger fight photos and the 'Goro' photo. After managing to climb up and down the steep steps without a broken neck, we made our way to China-town and had some more dim sum for lunch. If you know me well enough, you'll know how grumpy/miserable I get when I am hungry. So I was getting quite annoyed at the surprising lack of restaurants in China-town. But once I'd had my fill of dim-sum I was smiling again. Cindy headed back to the hostel to sleep as she was feeling a little under the weather so Roger, Winnie and I went to find some authentic Thai shops. We only found a massive shopping mall though.

We decided enough was enough and that we deserved some TLC. After raving about the Thai massage in Koh Phangan, we decided to have another massage. We found a massage place and each opted for the oil massage. We we then taken upstairs. As I was climbing, I remember a friend's voice saying 'never go upstairs', but this seemed okay at the time. We were each taken to a small dark room and left there. The walls didn't touch the ceiling so we could talk to each-other. Winnie and Roger were next to each-other, I was miles away. I stripped to my boxers and waited for the lady to come back. I laid on the bed and she told me to take off my boxer shorts. I said I did\'t want anything 'special' just a massage, but she made me take them off anyway...gulp! The massage was average and she took great pleasure in tickling my feet and making my laugh like a 4 year old girl. Winnie and Roger heard this and found it hilarious. What I didn't find hilarious was that 3 times during the least-relaxing massage ever, the lady left the room to blow her nose, loudly, then returned... was that REALLY oil on my back?! Afterwards I showered and left as soon as I could. Whilst waiting for Roger and Winnie, I was given a complimentary cup of tea... and a little note asking for a tip. sigh. Thankfully, Winnie and Roger returned 2-3 minutes after me and we left.

After looking around, we walked back, finding a street market on the way (which is what we'd been looking for), bought some magnets, souvenirs, phone case etc then got back to the hostel. Cindy went back out with Tappy to shop round Khaosan Road, Roger crashed in the room and me and Winnie met Sam and Mina, who had come from their hotel to our hostel, and went to Soi Cowboy, the bar/red light area. This was full of bars, lights, women, pretend women, and foreigners looking for a 'happy ending' to their Bangkok stay. We found that unfortunately, the restaurant Cabbage and Condoms where we wanted to eat, was closed. So we found a nice Italian place and ate there, returning home after.

At 4am that morning, we were picked up by Kai, our new best friend, and taken to the Airport to catch our flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the last stage of the EPIK journey!