Thursday, November 29, 2012

10 Hours in Bangkok


Generally speaking you expect to arrive at your destination with all your bags functioning properly. Sadly, this was not the case for me and by the time we got to Bangkok I was precariously hugging my backpack, trying not to let any of the contents fall out, as we went through border control and security checks. Not a great start, but a travelling hurdle that we were able to resolve pretty quickly, as the lively Khao San Road in Bangkok is a 24 hour backpacking Mecca, with plenty of shops still open. We had our first Thai meal at Max the magician’s little restaurant, where the Pad Thai was pretty great (as expected)!

Back at the hostel Reggae music from a nearby bar ‘lulled’ us to sleep and we managed to get a few hours in before getting up at 5am for our train destined for Cambodia. Slightly frantic re-packing in the morning (my backpack, jeans and handbag were rejected from my belongings) meant we were slightly worried about making the train, but in the end it was a pretty smooth process and we made it onto the train in good time. The view was quite spectacular, especially as it is my first time in Asia. The fields were luscious and it rained, quite heavily at some points, as we went along, so quite a good day for train travel.

View from the train


Some notable sights were; the numerous herons in the rice paddies, the vibrant cockerels, the large Manchester Football Club advert on the side of a high-rise building, the bananas and coconuts in the trees and the lady going up and down the train with baskets of ever changing random Thai food stuffs which I cannot, as yet, identify.