Day 29
Our lift to the airport is arriving at 10am so we sneak in a quick breakfast with the holy grail marmalade again and do a rapid pack up. I'm still very burnt and spend every 20 minutes it seems reapplying the Aloe Vera so I don't turn from a lobster to a salamander. It's only about 30 minutes to the air port, and it goes in a flash as I look out of the window to see pick up trucks full of people whizz past and cockerel sales on the side of the road.
We aren't in the tiny airport for long before the usual mad rush to get on the plane, an hour flight and then we land in the stuffiness of Bangkok once more. It actually feels a little more pleasant this time so hopefully we are getting used to the heat. Taxi drivers in the city are very different to the ones in London, no knowledge is needed to become one here and no Sat Navs are used either, they just seem to hit and hope or call up the hostel to get directions from them. This driver is no different and we only find the guesthouse as a Ben spots a sign and gets him to stop.
It's brilliant though, more like a home stay than anything else and the owner Joy is so lovely and really helpful. We drop our bags and get shower as I get ready to face the perils of Bangkok once more. The Sky Train, which is an elevated tube like train, is only a short walk from the guest house and we hop on. With food on our brains, we stop off at a the Siam mall to grab a quick bite to eat. Our eyes are drawn to a resturant with vintage radios and TV in the windows and it's even cooler inside. It's set up like an Asian street with each food area in different "stalls". You can order from any by using a swipe card and we go for a mix of American style burgers and fries, dim sum and sugary desserts. The drinks are also amazing, with a list of about 30 odd hot and cold drinks and I go for a hot strawberry milk which is just like runny angel delight and it's amazing. But it's warming, milky effects are almost instant and my eyes are drooping as we go to pay, I even have to sit down for 5 minutes to work out where I am, I need some of this nectar at home.
I strangely perk up when I realise there is a market just starting in front of the mall, and I weave us down so we can get caught up in it all. It's brilliant, full of fashion imitations, quirky jewelery, knock off shoes and music blaring out across the street. I pick up a pair of high waisted black pedal pushers and Ben a tee as we wander up and down the mile long stretch. After an hour or so we jump on the Sky Train again and make our way across to Nana Plaza, the adult entertainment area we were looking for on our first trip. I'm curious to how I'll feel this time, after my new found prudish understanding.
It's tucked a little away from the Main Street but you know you're coming close to it by the sound and the increase of over 50's men. The whole area is in a court yard off the strip with a horse shoe shaped building around it, with three floors each getting more perverted as you climb. We stroll around, taking it all in before grabbing a drink in the bar in the middle and I feel weirdly relaxed. Gone are the uptight, creeped out feelings of last time, now all I can think is how silly these men look or how well done some of the ladies are. A bit of a turn around but I like to think this won't be the only value I test of mine on this trip.
We don't stay for long as we spent all our cash tonight on food and market stall purchases. The hot milk effect has also started to creep back in so we jump on the still packed train home and I fall into our bed.
Day 30
We are leaving Bangkok again but without the same desperation of last time. Our adventures are taking us to Ayutthaya as we begin our trip up north and we are going to start by sampling the Thai railways. Joy, the owner, comes through again by saving us a hot and sticky walk and train ride which would have cost twice as much as a taxi. His driver seems to know where he's going (you'd hope as we are going to main train station) but insist on keeping up the weird taxi driver tradition by plucking his non existent beard with tweezer everytime we get to a set of traffic lights.
Avoiding that sight is a prioity but I have no problem in doing that today as the city outside my window has caught my attention fully for the first time since India. The streets we drive though are buzzing with markets and shops I want to explore, the pavements are bustling with people and I suddenly realise I want to be bustling along with them. I finally get what all this traveling malarkey is about. For the past 30 days I've felt like a bit of a fraud, wanting to be carrying on with my life whilst being here and not really getting what all the fuss is about but today it has clicked. It's about discovering something new and seeing something different and that passion for "what's down there? Or "I wonder what that tastes like?" has been ignited. That might sound a little intence and a little weird to some of you but it's such a nice feeling to have it all slot into place.
We arrive at the train station, where we buy our tickets for a train that we told is meant to leave in 2 minutes, ahh! So we run to the platform only to remember when we see no train, we're in Thailand, nothing's on time here. A few waffles and half an hour later the train arrives and we get onto the 3rd class carriage. It's not much different to the ones at home, except you can open the windows a little wider and it's not as cramped. It also only cost us 40p each, okay so many a little different.
The train pulls into Ayutthaya, 2 hot and sticky hours later, I've loved the journey as I've got a bit of a thing for trains. Ben however, did not enjoy the ride. I think he would describe it as being in a microwave so was pretty glad to get off. Thai train stations don't have raised platforms and no bridges across the tracks, you just walk them. So once our train was out of the station, we wander across, going completely against all my train safety rules. Shudder.
To get to the main city from the train station you have to cross the river, they have handily set up a river taxi service with takes 45 seconds and costs you 10p each. The directions the hotel have given us are rubbish and we mistakenly ask a driver for the way to go. "I take you, it 2km" He quotes us £1.20 and then takes us in a circle about 3/4 the way around to make the cost justify to him, but at least we didn't have to walk in this heat with our bags, urg.
Our room isn't ready until 2pm so we leave our bags and wander off to get some food. Second translation mishap, we go to a nearby street seller and both ask for vegetarian rice and noodles with a coca cola and the both come out with chicken and no drinks. Ben's happy though and eats it all up and I just nibble around the rice. Once we are in and unpacked we fancy doing some exploring but get put off a little by a sign warning of rabid dogs which among other things, suggested taking an umbrella out with us to beat them off, urm no thanks.
We wander in a circle from our hotel, with one eye out of the dogs, towards the main strip in the town. It has a buzzing market which we immerse our selves in, checking out the strange foods on offer and the valentines gifts they are trying to flog. I'm obviously a bit peckish at this point so we turn off to find something to eat but all we are faced with as we get closer to the stalls is rats, and lots of them. Now you can say we shouldn't have been surprised as we're in Asia and we are lucky to have not seen any already but, Ah they really creep me out and with the warning of the dogs still in our minds we go quickly back to the hotel, popping into an ice cream parlour nearby for fries and sundaes to take our minds off it all.
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