Monday 4 May 2009

Day #6 - Bangkok Baby

So we arrived in Bangkok and found ourselves a place to stay on Rhambuttri, just off the Koh San Road, which is pretty much where you head to if you're white, european, like getting corn rows on the street and drinking cheap beer. So its pretty much the Camden market of Bangkok on a saturday night minus the goths (too hot for crushed velvet and trenchcoats)

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Even Ronald is polite over here!

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This place does some amazing breakfasts, with pancakes, eggs, waffles and frothy coffee for Liane who was suffering on crappy coffee with no real milk. This is where i discovered the joy of lemon iced tea which became a staple diet for the rest of the trip, thank you Ricky's for making each morning awesome.

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Walking to the royal palaces through the crazy scooter infested streets, where no one stops and you just walk into the street and people will avoid you. It seems to work, i didn't see too many victims on our walks.

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The royal palaces where pretty amazing, apart from having to take clothes to cover up, even though it was scorching and i was dripping with sweat. We put jeans and jumpers on just to go in, then stripped them off to shorts & tees after we got out. I thought it was worth it to see the crazy demons and buildings inside, much more insane than boring Buckingham Palace!

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There is a massive mix of Hindu into the majority Buddhist following, with lots of their gods used in the stories, co-opted for amazing visual value. I suppose there is only so many positions you can put Buddha in, which they have stretched to its max, reclining is my favourite, looks like me on the sofa after a good feed.

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Above is the Thai Alfred, on his way back to his Batcave, not before he rips of some gullible tourist.

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We took a short ferry ride to the amazing Forensic Science museum which is in the middle of the Bangkok public Hospital. This was a highlight of the trip but we couldnt take any pictures, maybe if you look online you'll find some but here are the best things we saw
- recently mummified remains of murderers and rapist in glass cases, with the doors on held together by sellotape
- two headed babies in a jar
- pictures of dead bodies and explanations
- a massive elephantitus infected testicle about 3 x the size of my head!
- multiple jars of brains, livers, lungs etc
This ruled even more because though it was gross out, we were surrounded by visiting school kids and monks!

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