Backpacking in Thailand - 28 Dec 09

Day 10 - Bangkok (Wat Suthat, Golden Mount, shopping and night clubs)

We got the 2nd class aircon seats on the train to Bangkok (sleepers were sold out). It is more comfortable and I was able to catch some sleep on the train. We arrived in Bangkok at 9am.

From the Hua Long Pong railway station we took a tutuk to Wat Chanasongkran (just next to Khaosan road) for 40B each (the first tutuk wanted 100B each!). We had not booked a room yet and we just walked around the Banglamphu area looking for a guesthouse. The popular ones were fully booked. We finally found Sidthi guesthouse and got an triple aircon room for 500B.

We our breakfast in a roadside stall in the Wat Chanasongkran compound. This was the same stall that I ate at a few years ago on my first Thailand trip. The food was really good and cheap. And the cook is a pretty girl (what's with all the pretty boys and girls working as chef?) who looked like she could be pretty popular if she choose to work in a bar or night club.

After lunch, we took a boat ride down the river and got off near the Royal Palace. We walked to Wat Suthat. Around Wat Suthat, there are many shops selling Buddhist statues and religious goods. Years ago, I had bought a wooden stupa here. However, I had donated that away for a temple's fund raising and I am trying to get another one now. Unfortunately, I could not find any. Finally, I came across a shop which owner could speak Teochew. She told me that they just don't make the wooden stupas any more. That was a pity as I was looking forward to adding the Thai stupa to my collection. Well, I guess I should not be attached to it.

We took a rest in Wat Suthat, sitting in the main hall to escape from the hot sun. Among the various temples in Bangkok, Wat Suthat is my favourite. I simply like the peaceful and restful atmosphere of the temple and the impressive Buddha statue enshrined in the main hall with interesting murals.

Sheung and I had already been to the Golden Mount before. But Willy had not, so we brought him there. Sheung and I had more interests in old temples and ruins, but Willy was more interested in living temples.

From Golden Mount, we head to MBK for a meal. What's good about MBK is that the food court has a vegetarian stall. We split our ways here. Sheung met up with the girls for a massage, while I shopped with Willy in MBK. I bought a couple of t-shirts and DVDs. There were stalls selling pirated DVDs. But I bought the copy-righted ones that come in box sets from a DVD shop. They were really cheap. Most of the old titles were going for less than 100B (less than SGD5), the newer titles ranging from 200B to 300B each. I came across the DVD set for the BBC series The Planet Earth. It was going for 600B. I remember this was my favourite documentary during my secondary school days. I found the DVD for the Japanese movie Departures. Unfortunately, it only had Thai subtitles. Another interest find was The Dark Crystal, another memorable movie from my secondary school days. I bought it for 88B.

We meet Sheung, Eileena and Yvonne at the Central next to the Saladeng MRT station. They had ran into another Singaporean Steve. We ate at the Banana Leaf restaurant at the basement. The restaurant offers a vegetarian menu and the food was great. Of course the price is a lot higher than the street food but you would have to pay a lot more to get the same food in Singapore. The other thing interesting was that there appear to be quite a large gay cliente. Later I found that that it was because we were next to the gay district in Silom.

The gang wanted to go to a gay bar and so we ended up in Telephone. The bar used to have telephones at each table which people could call the other tables if they see some one they are interested in. But the phones are not there any more. I found it quite boring. Most of the people there were aged caucasians with their Thai boys and there weren't very much to see.

There was a bear Karaoke bar opposite Telephone. As Willy was into bears, we brought him there. The bar was less intimidating the streets below and the atmosphere were more relaxed. There were 2 Taiwanese "bears" who were singing Chinese songs.

We originally planned to visit the wholesale flower market (which starts about 12am), but in the end we were too tired and decided to head back to the guesthouse instead.