My last day in Bangkok, Thailand

I guess I overdid the drink and the dvd as I did not wake up until around 11am which was just in time to get the free breakfast voucher, which for some reason they had not told me about or given me before on any of the previous days.

However when I sat down for the breakfast I was mildly dissapointd as it was so small that it was hardly worth the free voucher and it did once again remind me that although Thailand is cheap sometimes cheap is not always good as I could easily have eaten twice what I was given and still had room left over for some munchies as I went walkabouts.


Getting a bus in Bangkok is a great experience and its so cheap that anyone who wants to be frugal should learn the routes and the numbers that they need as it is only around 7 baht to get a bus into the heart of the city centre when it was more like 60 baht by going the same distance, more if you dont insist on them putting on their meters and instead ask for a fixed price.

I had half a desire to visit the floating market, but with a two hour bus ride there and the same back as it was already past midday I felt that I would not have time to get there and back in time not to miss meeting my friend M' who had texted me and arranged to meet me in MBK shopping mall around 5pm.

Whiling away the afternoon I took a stroll to find a working internet place where I did a little research on how to get across the border easily and what else where was to do in Siem Reap but both my tour book and the internet was so flooded with stuff about Ankor Wat that it was almost as if there was nothing else to do at all, which may or may not be true.

With maybe a little more than an hour I went to the bus stop to get another bus into the town centre and with good timing and better traffic the journey was little more than twenty minutes which left me plenty of time to go shopping and browse for some more dvd's and such in the mall before meeting up with M'.

It was almost a good thing that M' was delayed a little through a last minute emergency as it took my dvd seller almost an hour to get me the films that I wanted and in that time I had a bit of time to reflect upon a curious phenomenon. In my travels around the rest of the world I had noticed a few good looking locals wherever I went, and here in Thailand it was no exception, but I have to admit spending more time looking at the other female travellers and backpackers more than the Thai women.

I am not sure why but when outnumbered and surrounded by Thai women most of the female backpackers seemed to look more attractive and desireable, which is something I find very odd as normaly I would say that I go for asian and latin women, but here this clearly argues against the case.

Anyway, I met up with M' and immediately made a faux pax by trying to greet her like a friend from anywhere else, only to find that she was a very traditional woman and withdrew from my attempted greeting like I was a vampire or something. It puzzled me more so when I found out that she had travelled to other countries and so was not entirely unfamiliar with how europeans met each other, but then this isnt europe so perhaps I should have let her greet me and then responded in kind.

Together we went to a great little restaurant that she knew, that she said was one of the oldest original Thai style houses in Bangkok, and over a two course me we chatted and thought that perhaps we could go watch a show.

I had not seem much advertising for shows in my hostel or around the place, but she informed me that the large hotels are the place to go as they either host a big show themselves or have a booking desk where you can find out about where and what time shows are being performed around the rest of the city.

This seemed like a good idea and so we went to the Asia hotel to ask about their cabaret only to find that it was 600 baht for locals and 1200 baht for foreign tourists, and this double price fixing for an outside seemed so unfair to both of us that instead we gave up and watched a movie in the local cinema for a tenth of that price before saying goodnight and myself catching a bus back into Khao San road.

It was great to have met both S' and M' in one trip, but I am still a little surprised about my other Thai friends in Bangkok not making more of an effort to meet up, especially as I had known them for quite some time, longer than many of my other international friends.

Back in my hotel I crashed and went to sleep for a bit, debating on whether I would travel to Pratchin Buri for a stop over of a night or to skip there and just head on over directly into Cambodia.

My second to last day in Bangkok, Thailand

I didnt really do a blog entry for yesterday as I was trying to remain positive but it has become increasingly difficult because of my main bank.

Because they dont have any branches abroad, they are only open normal office hours UK time, they wont transfer money from a credit card and they have wiped my online details for "security reasons" I have been severly financially handicapped and limited on what I can still do.

I have been phoning them up trying to sort it out, but being kept on hold while paying premium rate from overseas has racked up a huge phone bill that is paid by direct debit from the same account and as they wont refund the charges from their error things are just getting from bad to worse.

Thus, in an effort to try and step the flow of cash from my main account and stop anything else from bouncing I called up my phone people to pay the bill by my credit card directly and then withdrawing money from the ATM also from my credit card to then bank into my HSBC account and then transfer funds over to my main account.

I thought this was a good idea and would solve the problem, at least until I get back to the UK, but I was unexpecting the hassle from the Thai banking rules and staff.

The first problem was finding a HSBC branch as although I have seen one I have not seen many and in the end I had to get a bus into the centre of the banking district and then get directions, and after being misled into trying the big shopping malls and complexes I finally spotted the one I had seen days before and so that is where I headed.

The next hurdle was that as my account is not a Thai account and HSBC is not a Thai bank in order to comply with strict regulation I have to prove where I got the thai funds from in the first place as in, proof of a letter of employment or wage slip. Of course, neither of these I had, having been withdrawing it from the ATM machines all over town in an irregular pattern so at to not seem a mark fro anyone watching but all in all I had collected over 50,000 baht and this was way too much for a single ATM transaction.

So, despite having a HSBC debit card, a HSBC credit card, my passport and going into a HSBC branch I was unable to put Thai bahts into my account. They suggested that the only way that it could be done was to change it into pound sterling at a money changers ( and pay the relevant commission charge ! ) but this was not possible from any of the other banks because none of them kept nearly £1,000 of pounds sterling in their branches.

Barely able to keep from strangling the bank clerk, but failing to prevent the anger from creeping into my voice and manner, I said that I had already been walking all over the bloody city and I need to put the money in my bank today. Their convoluted system was to send off from pound sterling from their holding branch, give it to me, convert it and then let me pay that into my account.

After almost two hours of waiting the money arrived, however I never actually got to hold it, they just had to have it on the premises long enough for me to buy it with the Thai baht's I had on me, then fill in the form saying that it was going into my bank account and then they sent the money back again.

Such insane time wasting and financial red tape is one of the very reasons that I hated being an accountant in the first place, as it is full of meaningless grud like that and if my bank cards and passport are not enough to put my own money into my own account in a branch of my own bank then what is the world coming to?

After trapsing all around the city centre, following red herrings, trying to find first a HSBC bank and then some other banks with pound sterling by the time I gave up, went back to the branch and waited the two hours for them to send for my money I had wasted all of the daytime and it was almot dark by the time I got out.

So I bought a fe dvd's from the mall nearby, went for a massage at a parour nearby before jumping back on a bus back to my hotel where I then bought some drink and sweets to quench my sugar craving and reduce my stress level even further before watching the dvd I had bought.

I was temped to using the internet but sadly the system wetn down both here and the surrounding neighbourhood so I gave up that idea also and just watched movies before crashing and going to sleep.

River views around Ayutthaya, Thailand

The river cruise was not on one of the bigger boats purely because our intimate little tour was only four people large, three tourists and our guide, so instead we all jumped in one of the long power canoes and sped off along the river, taking photos and watching the sun sink lower and lower on the horizon.

I have to give credit to the boat captain as well, as whenever we passed something of special interest he would cut the engine, or ease off the throttle if we didnt seem to be in a hurry to take a photograph, and gently lift the propellor blades out of the water plenty long enough for us to calmly cruise past and take some great photos due to the stillness of the water, before resubmerging the blades once more and powering up again.

Doing a complete loop of the centre of the city was wonderful as we got to see plenty of different sights, including local folk swimming, fishing, washing or just waving to us as we passed, and although the sun was setting which made certain shots less practical it made others far more glorious and I would not have preferred to travel another time and I always feel there is something a little extra magical about sunsets over a river or ocean view.

I was not the only one that was a little camrea happy today, and in fact one of the Czech ladies had a very nice looking powerful camera complete with several detachable lenses and once we returned to the dock and made our way up to the restaurant she told us that in only two days she had taken over 800 photos here in Bangkok.

The meal was a nice little thai meal, not at all spicey although there were dishes of spices for if anyone felt lik being brave, and the only thing that dissapointed me a little was that all the drinks, even soft drinks, were not included in the price and we had to pay for them at the end.

Ayutthaya, Thailand by night

Around 6:30 the sun was just setting and it was now that the final part of our guided tour took place, back at a couple of the stops we mae earlier in the day but then time with the buildings and structures lit by powerful lights that made things look either a eerie yellowey orange colour, or a deeper red if you caught it just right.

I have never been too happy with my cameras ability to take photos at night, even when the subject was lit by floodlights, but today as the tour guide was making a special effort and it was part of the organised trip to do so, I felt almost obliged to get out and snap away despite not having much faith in any of them coming out too good.

Thankfully however, the lights were very powerful, the time was not so late that it was pitch black and having brought along my tripod, I was able to take a few that I thougtht were passable by setting up using a timer delay to further reduce camera movement thus allowing a longer exposure shot to still be reasonably clear and not all fuzzy as hell.

This worked a few times but with the dark came a host of mosquitoes that were not out and biting during the day and before long we were all diving for the safety of the minivan, not really caring if the next place we passed was lit up like a football pitch or as dark as an underwater cave.

All in all it was a grand half day out and I am glad that I chose it as now I feel that visiting Ankor Wat is no longer a make or break part of my trip and should anything force me to skip or cut short my time in Cambodia or the far east I can still feel and say in all honesty that I saw plenty of ancient remains from the Khmer empire, even some that although it less large overall still slightly predates the main attraction by a few years.

Fed, tired and in darkness we all sat peacefully, wrapped up in our own little worlds til we arrived back at our hotel around 8:30pm, where I just had enough time to upload and sort out the photos plus do todays blog entries before I went to sleep at around 2am ... how time flies when you are sorting out photos !?!

Ayutthaya, Thailand by day

I must have been more tired than I thought as I woke up after ten and by the time I had had breakfast, sorted out myself for the day ahead the morning was already over and I had only the afternoon and evening left to occupy before I could check my mail and find out what time I should be meeting my other Thai friend C' tomorrow.

I had heard a lot of stories about the floating market at Damnoen Saduak, and so when I passed the hotels tour desk and saw that they did a day tour being a trip to the market and a trip to Ayutthaya in the same day I thought that this would be a good thing to book for tomorrow, however when I asked about it the clerk was a little hesitant to book for tomorrow as they were still taking trips for this afternoon and as I was travelling single they might not be able to book a trip solely for me.

Debating to just walk away or not I asked what trips they were still taking for today only to find it was the same trip I had asked about except without the floating market, which was only an hours shopping trip anyway and it took longer to get there or get back than I would be spending there, so although I still wanted to go I thought I could split it up and go myself another time to the market.

Ayutthaya is just north of Bangkok and was a place of worship and former capital of Siam before being beseiged, looted and finally burned by the Bermese a few hundred years ago, never really recovering and instead became a sort of abandoned shrine of the past but with plenty of architecture and buildings that are of the Khmer origin.

In fact it is like a very mini Ankor Wat, which does not come as a surprise once I found out that indeed it was the same race of people who built them both and it was only through the later intervention of the French occupation and final shifted of the national borders which meant that Ankor Wat itself is not still inside Thailand.

Unlike the gleaming renovated red, blue and gold of the big temples in modern Bangkok this area seems far older, as it is full of plane stone sculptures, large open brick faced temples and trees growing up all through and around the courtyard, making it look vastly more naturally beautiful to my eyes.

When the Burmese ransacked the city they did not leave much standing in tact, but what to my mind was far worse was when modern day trophy hunters came and decapitated most of the buddha statues, selling off the heads to wealthy collectors or for general sale in blackmarket auctions to the highest bidder. Such was its fate that now it is foridden to enter beyond the outer walls after dark, despite much of the taller structures being lit by colourful floodlights between the dusk hours of 7pm to 9pm.

Thus, despite not including the floating market, this trip appealed very much to me and so for 1,500 baht I eagerly signed up and was not a moment too soon as my air conditioned minivan arrived to collect me no more than five minutes later before meeting up with two sweet Czech ladies who were just on a minor holiday together away from their hunbands and kids who currently were living and working in Shanghai.

The trip out to Ayutthaya was around an little over an hour and I was very glad to see that our guide did not try and take us to any factory or market place en route to the old city, but instead just let us talk between ourselves for the most part and then every once in awhile he would turn round and drop a little more history and culture into the conversation.

What was even more of a relief was that despite there being plenty of modern Bangkok style temples in the area that they could have tried to send up to, he listened to the fact that all of us were all 'templed out' and were only interested in the oldest ruined areas of the city and it was these that he took us to and gave only once did he rush us from one to the next before allowing us to settle in and set out own time schedule of how long each stop would last.

Just when I was beginning to get a little peckish I found out that we were about to take an hour long boat ride all around the ring of rivers, which pretty much made an island out of central Ayutthaya, and that immediately afterwards we would be having lunch overlooking the riverbanks.

Thai Kick Boxing at Rajadmnern Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand

Having decided what to do with the rest of my afternoon and evening I followed the sign as best I could, over a bridge and down a corner to where my map said it should be, but once again the map and reality were a little out of synch.

I have no idea why everything in Bangkok seemed to be spelled differently everywhere you look, I have no idea why some maps totally ignore key tourist attractions while highlighting minor obscurities or why a lot of maps miss out entire roads so navigating by the stars becomes easier than using maps here, but there you go.

I finally arrived, after asking directions from a few locals using the map as a name reference only, to find that I was still too early for the start of the nights entertainment and then I was quoted three prices ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 baht, the first for the standing room at the back to ring side seats, also being front row seats as I was the first there to get them.

As I debated with myself if it would be better to be up close to the action or back with the locals, the ticket seller tried to swing the deal by telling me that up at the back it gets very crowded with lots of shouting and gambling by locals, while up at the front the thai's dont like, which I am sure was only half right but I rationed that as this was likely to be my only chance I didn't want it to be from such a distance away that the action looked like it was between two matchstick men.

Front row seats meant that I had the place to myself for the first few fights, the warm ups so to speak, but well before the main event I was joined by a Danish ex fighter in his early forties who was enjoying his grog a little too much, and a French ex fighter a few years younger than me who decided to switch disciplins to body building instead.

Although no actual money was mentioned or changed hands we always offered each other our thoughts and wagered we knew who would win each fight.

I had heard that the best way to pick a fighter before it all started was to see how well they performed their warm up dance, while the Dane thought that he could tell by looking into the fighters eyes to see which had the most killer instinct and finally the Frenchy went with whoever his girlfriend liked the look of most, which crazy as it sounded worked out as the best system.

Each fight would start with the two fighers climbing over the top rope into the ring wearing their robes, head band and kit on. Then they would have their coach remove the ceremonial garb before each would perform a religious / artistic prayer dance, before finally bowing one last time and then going at each other.

Like normal boxing, there was a referee, time keeper and three scoring judges all at ring side, plus a few musicians a bit further back in the crowd who would start playing their drum and cymbals in an ever incresing tempo til the clockrun out on that round, when the two combatants would go back to their corner, often assisted from the middle of the ring by their coach/  manager to them be doused with cold water and given a thirty second muscle massage.

All in all there were 9 thai boxing fights, with two preliminary fights with normal boxers that had no real crowd or outcome, but by the time that the main event took place around 9:30 there was a thick throng of thais in the grandstands, with plenty of yellow shirted touts or bet takers.

Watching the rounds there must be a scoring system that makes no sense to me, as often I thought that the most aggresive, ring dominant fighter was winning and the ones who slipped, fell or somehow ended up on the floor more than once were losing yet time and time again when the three judges decisions came in I had somehow been missing the points and had been backing the loser.

I say there must be a system though, as in each fight even before the judges verdict were announced one of the fighter would already be claiming victory and accepting praise while the other would have quickly bowed graciously in defeat and began to make his way out of the ring, heading back to his dressing room.

It was a great experience to watch, even though all of the fights were a little too ground and pound for me, and what I really would have loved was to see some Hong Kong movie style fights where they do spinning reverse punches, flying knees to the face and all manner of little deft moves that catch their opponent flat footed, however of course this was real life and not carefully choreographed to loook good in front of a camera.

The last fight finished by 10:15, but by then most of the locals had left the second the main event had finished, and from the matches I had seen three bust up cuts and two knock outs, one serious enough to require a stretcher but as the fighers were only around eleven or twelve years of age I think it was more from shock of going down hard than anything else.

Both knock outs were from punchs and not kicks, elbows or knees which was a relief as those kind of blows come from unpadded sources and if undefended against can split skin and break bone far too easily.

Being so close to my hotel I decided not to bother getting a taxi or tuk tuk back, instead preferring just to walk, catch some fresh air and then get an early nights sleep for tomorrow.