I know, I know, I am completely original. No one else would have ever thought to reference this song title on a blog post when spending one night in Bangkok. Truth be told we didn't even spend one night here, we spent two; the world did certainly not become my oyster, and I still don't know the rest of the lyrics to this Chess classic. Hell, I don't even know what chess is about. The musical that is, not the game. I used to play chess as a child, but my dad always beat me (not with a stick or anything, just at chess), and I'm a sore loser, so I gave it up and started to play the French horn instead, which looked huge on a 10 year old and made the most dreadful pharp sound, so I settled for the piano, much to the relief of my parents. Then one day.....
Sorry, Bangkok. I have never been to Bangkok before. What an incredible, chaotic, beautiful, if not slightly crazy place. And so big. I think you could spend six months here and never see all its pavements. We stayed where all like-minded backpackers bed down in Bangkok (although I'm not sure why): just off the good ol' koh San road. Which really is as horrible as had been described to me. Yes, you can buy rip-off anything at dirt cheap prices, and yes you can buy deep-fried skewered scorpions for your mates and take hilarious photos of them trying to eat said scorpion; you can dance on the tables until 5 am in the morning and you can get many crap massages. But do you really want to when surrounded by the types of tourists who think this is the 'real Asia' and whose highlight is to see ping pongs projectiled from shaven female oriphoses into their ever-warming Changs? Just say no kids! I have never felt so ashamed to be British and Australian in such a short space of time. Just call me old...
Thanks guys...!
So, unsurprisingly we did not linger, but instead took advantage of the numerous street-food stalls that lined the pretty streets either side of koh San. Unbeknownst (such a cool word, it should be used more often) to me it was vegetarian food month in Bangkok with numerous stalls stringing up red and yellow flags to denote their 'meat-free status'. Suddenly I was a kid in a very large candy store. So many options opened up, I didn't have to spend hours looking at each cart weighing up if the contents of their dishes contained meat, fish or tofu; there were no tentative bites into sandwiches wondering if it had been slathered in pâté. It was basically awesome! Mushrooms on sticks basted in butter, cooked over hot coals and then smothered in the fieriest green curry sauce I have possibly ever eaten (Simon, you would love it!), pad thais, tom yums, and of course, the classic roti pancake with chocolate and banana. Such was my enthusiasm for seeking out these stalls that we spent most of the second day wandering around Chinatown trying weird and wonderful mock meat creations that resembled anything from meatballs to crispy duck, and not an animal in sight. Now, I'm not usually a fan of faux meat, and I definitely didn't like everything that went in my mouth, but it was incredible to be able to sample absolutely everything. How I would cope if I was a carnivore, I do not know.
Money exchanged for delicious pancake no. 1. Shame about miss grumpy in the background; she ruined my photo!
So good!
Delicious pancake no. 2 (I can see a pattern emerging here, and it's not one that's favourable for my waistline....)
Our only other daytime excursion was to see the reclining Buddha and annoyingly miss out on the emerald Buddha because the tuk tuk drivers told us it was closed, when of course it wasn't. Welcome back to Asia! I forget how savvy you have to be and remember to always suss things out for yourself when it involves someone trying to make money out of you. At least the scam comes with a smile...
He's a big Buddha.
After filling our tummies for the umpteenth time it was early to bed for a 3.30 am taxi to the airport and our flight to Hanoi. Bangkok, we will be back!
P.S, I have no access to a desktop, so picture quality will be rubbish, apologies!
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