Friday, October 29, 2004 (Bangkok - Thailand)
The double-decker to the airport. A little white
lie turns out to be quite fortuitous. Did we need visas after all? The famous
Kao San Road and our first glimpse of Thailand - but is it really Thailand? When
haggling goes bad. Surveying the lay of the land. Sorting out some diving
options. A nice, oily, back rub to top off the day.
Day 235 (45). Sandy’s alarm went off at
around seven in the morning and we were out the door shortly before eight. We
went straight to the bus stop and stepped almost immediately onto the airport
express double-decker. We had to pay the HK$33 ($4,50) each using exact change
and I only had a HK$100 ($13,50) note with me but the next passenger was good
enough to pay his fare directly to me and the driver put my note into the money
box for the three of us. The ride to the airport lasted all of an hour and was
quite comfortable considering it was a
double-decker.
On the way, sandy
revealed that she had lied to me about the time she set the alarm for and we
actually arrived at the airport at around eight o’clock instead of the
planned nine o’clock. I was good and ready to berate her for denying us
both the opportunity of another hour in bed until we checked in and realised
that the flight was going to be departing two hours earlier than we had thought
it would. Had we got up any later, we would certainly have missed the flight and
as it was, we would only just make it if we rushed through the terminal to the
far reached of the building where our departure gate was located. Missing this
flight would actually have been quite a major disaster not only for this leg of
the trip but also for each and every successive leg. By failing to make a given
flight on the round-the-world string of air tickets, the airlines would have
automatically cancelled all the confirmed flights left on the ticket. Even
though we rushed through the security checks and sped our way through the
terminal building to our gate, however, we managed to get there with a little
time to spare. The boarding call had not even been sounded yet and we had to
stand in line for a good ten minutes before it came. The flight was uneventful
and I used most of the two and a half hours in the air to finish writing up
yesterday’s
log.
Bangkok’s International
airport is much like any other. Not quite as new and modern as Chek Lap but
orderly and efficient nevertheless. On the way to collect our luggage, I saw a
‘Visas on arrival’ notice with a huge sign depicting the 1000 Baht
($24,50) cost of the visa. I was sure that I had read somewhere previously that
we wouldn’t need visas with our European passports and had to double check
this was the case. We only had the few hundred Baht with us that we bought from
the Kiwis in Chengdu and I didn’t much fancy the poor exchange rate at the
one and only change window we passed. Fortunately, I was right all along and we
passed through immigration without a hitch. We collected our luggage similarly
with no fuss and made our way through to the main arrivals lobby, where upon we
were immediately besieged by numerous uniformed ‘tourist assistants’
all too willing and eager to sell us a very expensive taxi ride to all the most
expensive hotels in Bangkok. We’re now clued into the fact that every
major airport has a cheap shuttle bus into town and it didn’t take us long
to find the one here. They were charging 700 Baht ($17) for the taxis but the
bus was no less comfortable at just 100 Baht ($2,45)
each.
Nearly all of the twenty or so
passengers in the bus were backpackers just like ourselves and we listened as
best we could to some of them that were telling of their trials and tribulations
in the region. Other backpackers are usually the very best source of local
information. Travel agents and other locals can often have an ulterior motive
when passing on information but backpackers tend to be both candid and frank
about their experiences, both good and
bad.
The bus delivered us through the
rush-hour traffic to the famous Kao San Road that I’ve heard so much of.
Pretty much every backpacker that passes through South East Asia and Thailand
ends up here sooner or later and indeed it is teething with backpackers and
travellers from all walks of life. There’s probably a higher concentration
of Western backpackers along this two hundred metre stretch of road than
anywhere else on the planet. It’s only about fifteen or twenty meters wide
but is densely packed with people and just about every single building on both
sides of the road, houses something that caters to the backpacking community.
There is a very high density of hotels, bars and massage parlours and there are
hundreds of densely packed market stalls up and down the road where the weary
backpacker can by CDs, T-shirts, backpacks, and a whole range of tacky trinkets
of various descriptions. The Kao San Road is also the place to go to get fake ID
cards such as student cards, education certificates, driving licenses and a
whole range of others besides. There must be a dozen or more of these little
outlets up and down the street and absolutely no attempt is made to hide the
fact that they are selling fake cards. Every few meters or so on either side of
the road there are curbside food stalls where you can pick and choose from the
various ingredients and it will be cooked for you right there on the spot. Many
of them look extremely tempting and they certainly do a very brisk trade.
Hawkers call out at you as you pass by but they aren’t really that
persistent and it isn’t anything like the degree of pestering you get in,
say, India. All in all, the atmosphere is very laid back and relaxed. People
either love or hate the Kao San Road and all that it stands for. On the one
hand, it is just as fake as the student ID cards that they sell here and there
can be little doubt that the place is practically devoid of any true culture. It
certainly isn’t reflective of Thailand of the region at large by any
stretch of the imagination. On the other hand, however, the high concentration
of backpackers and the resulting supporting infrastructure makes this the best
place to come to find out from others what it’s like in and around South
East Asia. Tours are organised here and pretty much any information you need on
Thailand and its neighbouring countries can be readily found here too.
Experienced travellers in South East Asia might consider the Koa San Road a
necessary evil but for first time visitors such as ourselves, it is a great
starting point where we can relax and find our footings in a friendly and
welcoming atmosphere.
We got off the
bus and wandered into the Kao San Road. We went straight for the one hotel that
the kiwis in Chengdu had suggested and asked about their rates. Most of the
hotels here have the rates clearly posted on a sign on the reception desk and we
were specifically looking for a room with air-conditioning. We travelled a long
way South to find the good weather and it is well over thirty degrees Celsius
here and quite humid to boot, so a room with air-conditioning is something that
we won’t mind paying extra for. They did have a room with an A/C unit but
the bed was very hard and it was a little pricey at 600 Baht ($15),
comparatively speaking. We decided to look around a bit further to get a better
feel for the place before committing ourselves to the first place we saw and
left our luggage in the luggage room whilst we set off to explore some of the
other hotels some more. We spent the better part of the next hour wandering into
the various other hotels up and down the road and we did see a few other
possibilities. Even though there were endless hotels to choose from, the problem
was finding one that had air-conditioning, an en-suite bathroom and, in cases
where there was no lift, had an available room close to the ground floor but not
too close to the thumping noise of one of the many bars pumping out loud
music.
We ultimately decided to try
to see if we could shave a bit off the rate offered by the first place we tried
but the haggling was hard going. I kept up the pressure as best I could but I
think we probably over did it, as the hotel supervisor suddenly lost patience
with us and refused to take us on as guests at all. What started out as a simple
round of haggling deteriorated into the supervisor and us getting quite irate
with each other and we ended up grabbing our luggage and just leaving
altogether. Plenty more fish in the sea here, however, and so we went back to
one of our other choices just a few yards farther. We were soon set up in a very
nice room with A/C, an en-suite bathroom and no problems with noise. It was a
little more pricey at 650 Baht ($15,85) but acceptable for our first night. The
staff here are all women, full of smiles and very friendly and there may yet be
a cheaper room for us from tomorrow but whether we will bother to change or not
remains to be seen.
We showered and
went back out into the Kao San Road to soak up the atmosphere now that our first
night’s accommodation was all sorted and we were more relaxed. We wandered
aimlessly through all the market stalls and did our best to survey the area. I
tried my luck at haggling for some fresh melon slices but it’s starting to
look like haggling is not really the done thing here, although this might be
more a specifically Kao San Road oddity rather that a reflection of Thailand as
a whole. We’ll just have to figure this out as we
go.
We stopped in at one of the many
travel booths and asked about the various day trip tours that are arranged from
here in Bangkok. The friendly guy behind his desk was nice enough and presented
us with several options for half day and full day tours and we will ponder these
over the next couple of days. I was really after some information on diving but
the only prices he could give me were from some extremely expensive diver
operators that were seemingly charging through the nose. We left with at least a
bit of information to compare against at the next travel
booth.
We were well into the
afternoon by now and we decided to get a quick bite to eat. We were looking for
something instantly gratifying and neither of us were ready to dive head on into
Thai food just yet. We will save that for tomorrow. We found a place just
outside of the Kao San Road and enjoyed a small meal. Sandy spotted a dive
operator in a nearby shop and we decided to take a closer look. This time there
was plenty of information about the diving possibilities in Thailand and we
spoke at length with a chap from Kent in England about what we could do and
where we could go. He seemed like a trustworthy character and we went over all
our options in quite some detail. Before we left the shop, we had arranged our
trip by overnight train and then boat out to one of the better islands for
diving on the South East coast, a refresher course for the two of us whilst
there, two day’s worth of diving also on that island and a three day
live-aboard over on the South West coast too. All the travelling around is quite
cheap but we spent probably a bit more than I had originally planned for diving
in Thailand at around $980 for the entire package. The live-aboard was
responsible for the lion’s share of that but it’s something
we’ve always wanted to do and I’m sure we will have a fantastic time
on the boat. I’m not that concerned about going slightly over budget on
the diving as it’s already starting to look like Thailand and South East
Asia in general will be quite a bit cheaper than were both India and China.
Another quick trip to the ATM was necessary to pay for the deposit and some of
the travel arrangements and we will pay the remainder for the live-aboard when
we get there. Apparently there is a five percent discount for paying the
remainder in cash but we may have to wait until next week before the ATM will be
that kind to us again. If necessary, I still have a load of traveller’s
checks and some other hard currency with which we can make the final payment. At
least we now have much of the next couple of weeks mapped out so we can relax a
bit already.
After dropping off some
of the paperwork that we had accumulated at the dive shop back at the hotel, we
went back out onto the Kao San Road to find a nice massage parlour and a
relaxing back run for the two of us. It took us all of a minute or two to find
one we liked the look of and we singed up for a Swedish oil massage for myself
and a herbal massage for Sandy. It was an hour of absolute bliss and probably
the very best massage that I’ve had ever. I can see a couple of additional
trips back there in my not too distant future.
Posted: Fri - October 29, 2004 at 11:38 PM