Part 28: Hello Bangkok.....*
My flight was probably one of the smoothest and most comfortable I have had since I began my travels, and those extra seats, all to myself made so much difference believe me.
I noticed a few cramped passengers looking on, thinking, lucky so and so. One tall guy in particular, with his knees almost by his ears, squashed in his seat, appeared to be giving me a few discontented looks, but hey come on, It was just the luck of the draw right?
In no way did I hide how comfortable It was for me either, making full use of my extra space, laying across the seats, all stretched out like a Sultan.
Anyway the bright orange Cebu pacific plane landed precisely on time in Bangkok's pristine yet wonderfully traditional, and über modern Suvarnabhumi International airport.
I arranged to meet my good friend Yvonne from Singapore for the first few days of my tour here. She landed in Bangkok just before and was waiting for me in the arrival lounge, greeting me with a big smile.
We discussed the best way to reach our hostel across the city in Siam Square from the airport, that and of course how we would explore the flea markets.
There were busses and metro trains heading to Siam, but we got lazy and both decided on taking the expensive taxi option.
We discovered soon as we left the airport, making our way to the taxi rank, that the humidity and heat was of a whole new level, more intense then anything I'd felt before, so our decision was definitely the correct one, even if it did cost 8 times as much. Yvonne agreed a fee with the cabbie of 400 baht and the drive took around 45 mins.
On the way there in the traffic, I still couldn't help thinking of how Bangkok would compare to Manila, It was hard to tell from the road, but so far it seemed far more modern in comparison, and no where near as insane or congested, but I guess time will tell.
Although Yvonne, who had been to Bangkok several times previously, was quick to remind me I hadn't seen nothing yet.
The Hostel I booked was getting rave reviews on line, particularly by the Guardian who labelled it Bangkok's 'hippest hostel, slap bang in the heart of the city and a real slick flash-packer's haven'. That was quite an accolade, well we would find out soon enough how true it was though.
The cab pulled up right outside our highly acclaimed hostel which was named 'Lub d'. This translates as 'sleep well' in Thai, and indeed it did look very hip in comparison to the other hostel's I'd stayed at, with its brightly coloured mural on the high wall outside, and backpackers chilling on the benches out the front, I liked it straightaway.
The reception area was ice cold with several large comfy sofas, computers, lightning fast wifi, a super cool glass movie room, stacks of DVD's and awesome giant bean bags to lounge in.
There was also a ready made tour counter to advise anyone on the many excursions and sights that Bangkok had to offer, and the staff were all really friendly too, my first impressions were definitely good ones.
This place seemed to have everything that travellers needed, more than living up to its hype and billing from the Guardian.
It was too early to check into our dorm, so without wasting any time, we left our bags with the cheerful staff, and opted to take a look around the city.
Rather conveniently situated just opposite, was the sky-train station, and a further 5 minutes down the same road, was the jewel in Bangkok's shopping crown, MBK. (More on that later).
Right next to the Hostel was a 7-11 quick stop, complete with cash machine, and finally the buzzing Siam Square, which apart from holding the the claim of being the most expensive place to rent land in Bangkok, was the place to be seen for the city's young hipsters.
After taking all that in, we couldn't wait to visit Chatuchak, the worlds biggest weekend hippy market, so we jumped in a tuk tuk and headed there
right away.
The driver, as is always the case, was chirpy and talkative, he proceeded to explain that he knew the perfect shopping place, for ivory of all things ?? and said he would drop us off there on en route. My friends back home warned me of this happening all the time. Basically, the way it works is that shops and wholesalers have agreements with the tuk tuk drivers. If any of their passengers spend money in theses specific shops, then they get their petrol paid for.
So hence the reason he kept recommending us this ivory and jewellery shop.
Me and my friend politely smiled and before we knew it, were literally dumped off just outside this shop, that in all honesty, neither of us had any interest in.
Still, we had a quick look around this huge wholesalers for about 20 mins or so before making our way back out the front, were our previously talkative, and very friendly driver, did not utter another single word, after learning we did not buy any ivory, so consequently sulked all the way to the market. We were trying desperately hard not to laugh in the back, but not doing a very good job. Once we payed the moping driver, we both made our way towards the market.
I was amazed how huge this place was, and literally did not know where to even begin. They had everything you could possibly imagine here and more, from
vintage wear, accessories, handicrafts, ceramics, furniture, accessories, trinkets, old books, bags, antiques, collectibles and clothing, and for me it had that really cool, bohemian hippy atmosphere that is now so painfully lacking from London's Camden that it lost many years ago. This was far superior in every sense.
The day turned out to get even hotter as we rummaged, meandered and explored deeper into this market that seemed to go on for an eternity.
With its hundreds of stalls in the sometimes claustrophobic narrow walk ways, we inevitably ended up losing our bearings and getting lost, just when I thought we'd reached the end, another section popped up.
The food and drink stalls were equally plentiful, as we occasionally stopped for the odd delicious snack.
Although busy, It wasn't hectic or frantic, just a really chilled atmosphere which we both thoroughly enjoyed. I was expecting to be absolutely pounced on by every single stall, literally pulling my arms out of my sockets, desperately trying everything in their power to make me part with my money, which was certainly not the case so far, quite the opposite in fact.
I would hear the familiar words of 'kap-kun-kap' which meant 'thank you very much' as we left each of the stalls, even though we were not buying anything. They were really very polite indeed.
And It definitely did not lack in the character department either, as there were dozens of weirdly dressed and wonderfully tattooed shop stall assistants and trendy locals mingling, and nonchalantly strutting around.
This was the first place in Asia I'd been to that I wasn't stared at as often, which was quite nice for change.
A few hours quickly passed by before we began to flag somewhat, with the heat and the early morning flights clearly getting the better of us, draining our already depleting energy levels. We thought it wise to head to the hostel.
Although initially with a great deal of difficulty in locating the way out of this gargantuan market, we finally found our way to where we were dropped off, and jumped in a tuk tuk back to the hostel, luckily this time with no unwelcome pit stops at any wholesale shops.
The dorm was ready for us when we reached, and not a moment to soon either before the pair of us crashed out for a much needed, and late afternoon nap in our bunks.
The sleep fully recharged our batteries before I took a proper look around the hostel. There were laundry facilities, and the shower room was immaculately clean, as was the entire hostel, set up much like a prison of all things, which only added to the quirkiness of the place.
After a quick shower and freshen up we wandered towards The multi-storey MBK, Bangkok's most legendary and popular shopping mall.
Eight floors packed with endless shops that offer a mind boggling collaboration of range of goods, everything from international flag ship designer shops to independent traders.
Not necessarily that upmarket or hugely stylish, but spread over 89,000 square metres, its a shopaholics paradise looking for cheap bargains, especially for people, unlike me, who like to barter.
I read online that its referred to as ‘the battleground of the malls’ and after exploring further you can see exactly why, as countless people were bargaining and bartering for the best prices.
Me and Yvonne kind of got the hang of it in the end but in truth we both sucked, I think we made a bit of a saving but our first battle with the independent traders was lost.
It was a long day, and as it approached 10pm we were really hungry and all shopped out.
Yvonne commented on how the prices had vastly increased since her last visit, with it certainly not being as cheap, we were both cautious to not over spend, however tempting it might have been.
Anyway after some Japanese ramen noodle soup, we decided on calling it a night and take the short walk back to our subzero hostel to Lub d...or to sleep well.
Next stop: the floating market....