Arrival I arrived this morning at 05.40 Thailand time after a 10 hour flight in Bangkok. I've had quite a few adventures so far. Bangkok is a very interesting city but also quite hectic, I can understand the travellers who want to get out of Bangkok as soon as possible or don't stay here at all. I'll stay 2 days before continuing North to Ayuttayah. So far I've visited Wat Pho, with the famous reclining Buddha, and the King's Palace. The weather was nice until 4pm when it started to rain quite heavily, and just stopped an hour ago, now I know why it's called the rainy season ;-). Before I found my way back in the evening I was wandering a little lost through Bangkok, no Taxi or Tuk-Tuk Driver knew where the 'International Youth Hostel' is (that's where I'm staying), I finally managed to get 'home' by using a detour through Khaosan Road. Tomorrow I plan to visit Bangkok's Chinatown and Radio City, scince Prisca insisted that I shouldn't miss it ;-). That's it for now because I'm very tired, didn't sleep much during the flight... to be continued.

at the Movies

On Friday I spent my day wandering through Chinatowns Markets. I was amazed at what you can buy there. There were dozens of shops right next to each other selling shoes and nothing but shoes...
After a nice Indian Dinner I continued to Siam Square, the main (luxury) shopping district of Bangkok, unfortunately I didn't realise that it was Rush-Hour...
On the 6 floor in the Siam Discovery Center (a 6-storey shopping centre) was a cinema. Since I had a few hours to spare I decided to watch 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. I loved this movie. Since I liked the cinema and it was only eleven o'clock I decided to watch another movie. So I saw 'Bad Boys II', another good movie, but not as great as 'Pirates'.
An interesting fact is, that before the movie is shown, the Thai National Anthem is played and everyone stands up.
This time I had no problems finding a cab back, because I carried the address of the Hostel in Thai-script with me.

Shopping Frenzy

I took a commuter train back to Bangkok the next morning, where I first arranged for my onwards journey south.
First I visited the Chatujak Weekend Market, which is huge! You can find anything there (clothing, 2nd hand books, souvenirs, live animals (snakes, dogs, squirrels, chickens and mostly fish), Music, Movies, Food, Antiquities, Plants, Food and so forth), I spent almost 4 hours wandering through the different parts, and I haven't seen half of the stalls.
Next I went to Phantip Plaza where dozens of stalls/shops sold DVD's, MP3-CD's, Computers, Games and Software. After every purchase I had to wait between 5 and 20 minutes. Because the police did some rigorous raids lately, the merchandise is kept safe away from the shopping complex, and only what was sold is brought by a messenger.
My next stop was Patpong, where I found Radio City after a 15 min search. Since the band hadn't started yet I strolled through the various stalls. At the end of the day I had spent quite a bit of money on T-Shirts, Movies and Music...
Returning to Radio City around 9 thirtyish, I stayed there for a couple of hours. The band was very good, they played New and Old Pop- and Rock-Hits.

@ the Movies - Part II

After a slow morning I visited Bangkoks World Trade Center which is actually a huge shopping arcade with an ice-skating rink, a bowling center and a cinema complex. After browsing through the various shops I watched 'The Medallion', the newest Jackie Chan movie, in the cinema. It was a good movie even though it left some questions unanswered.
With difficulty I managed to get through the traffic jam back to the Travel Agency where I was picked up at 7pm to catch my bus. After 11 hours in the bus we finally arrived in Surat Thani, from where we took the boat to Koh Phangan, where I relaxed a bit. Swimming turned out to be quite difficult, the beach was so flat that after 15min of walking into the sea it was still not deep enough!

Departure

I relaxed a bit during my last two days in Bangkok. On the first day I visited the Zoo and later spent some time shopping at Banglamphu Market and in Khao San Road.
I've spent the last day reading a book and writing postcards, before I took an early bus to the airport.

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