More Bangkok Stuff

So far I still haven't seen a lot of Bangkok. Just what's near the train lines and shops. Haven't really been to see any of the non-shopping sites here yet.

Market food haul from the other day. Pork+rice+egg, fried chicken, and bbq'ed pork. $2

I was on Gmail the other day and saw that a friend from uni (Lets call him Jeff, because that's his name) had "BKK" in their status, I queried them about this, because I was also in Bangkok you see, it was odd. Turns out he's here for a few days before heading south, so we met up and wandered round the city for the day. Which inevitably turned into drinking.

Ending here:

Soi Cowboy

More Soi Cowboy

This is one of the many streets in Bangkok that has go-go bars. As you walk down the street there are girls out the front trying to get you inside. There were four of us so there was discussion over which bar everyone was happy with and we went in. Once we entered, we found lots of Thai girls sitting around and doing nothing, and us being the only customers in there. We were quickly made to order a drink, and then we sat there while a set of girls danced on stage, and another set sat in front of the stage, and then a third set sat around in bikinis and looked at themselves in the mirror. I might add that they were all looking at themselves in the mirror, not just the bikini girls. They'll rotate the girls through the bar, some of them stand outside and try to get people in, some dance, but we couldn't figure out what the girls in bikinis were supposed to do. They Just seemed to sit there and study themselves. Then after a while they got up on stage, and then took their bikini tops off. Now we know what they're there for!

After this brief introduction to Soi Cowboy I had to head off and organise shipping for my sprockets so they would get here by Thursday. Friends in Melbourne had managed to find some in stock after searching round a few places, all at very short notice from me. But they packaged them up with a few other items I needed that I'd left in Melbourne. They have been rewarded for their efforts!

DHL and UPS sites were both quoting over $250 to ship to Bangkok. After two hours of very very slow phone internet I managed to find another place (ship2anywhere.com.au) which booked through DHL anyway and charged half the price. Good to know for when I need tyres.

And then... The morning after that finally one of the places I'd emailed over the past week got back to me and said they could get them to me within a day for about $50... Just five hours too late. I still needed the other things sent because some of it was thermal underwear and I see it's still quite cold in Kathmandu.

The next night I was meant to meet up with Jeff to go to some rooftop bar they had mentioned the day before. After getting on the train to the building I thought they meant, I found out they meant the one that was in the Hangover 2 (which curiously the night before I met them they had to go through photos to see what they had actually done, which is the plot of the movie by the way, if you haven't seen it).

So stuck at the train station with fifteen minutes to the next train that would get me to the second train that I would need, which in turn would get me to the third train I'd need to catch to get to this bar. I decided to try and walk across to the other line, which would have been doable, but there was just too many people to try and walk through. I made very little progress before I told them I wouldn't make sunset at this bar, so instead I headed to the tallest building in Thailand which was where I was still near so I get get photos of Sunset.

Buildings.

Roads and buildings.

The sun disappearing through the layer of smog.

Wider view...

Clouds.

In the center left is the Victory monument.

Lit up roads.

More lit up roads.

Looking towards all the big shops, Siam Paragon, Discovery, Central World etc. Pantip plaza is in there too.

Roads.

More roads and buildings.

Then finally I started to head back to the hotel because some of that market food in that first picture may have had a slight impact on my digestive system.

From the railway station.

Same intersection, different view.

Today I got my bike cleaned because tomorrow it goes to the shipping place to have all the customs formalities worked out, and measurements taken for the crate. Tonight, meeting up with Jeff and crew again as they're heading off south tomorrow to start their Tuk Tuk race/drive thing through southern Thailand Malaysia and Indonesia. But there will be no grog tonight, it's a Buddhist holiday and all the shops have cardboard coverring the grog with signs up saying you can't buy it.

Maybe I forgot to mention but in Thailand restrict the sales of alcohol through the day between 11am and 2pm, and then 5pm to midnight. It's supposed to stop drink driving, so you stock up in those hours instead.