One night in Bangkok and the world is your slimy sea food.

Bangkok is rather spectacular, I have to say. We’ve had the great luck to come in a few days before a national holiday and the birthday of the king, and whether it is because of that or unrelated it does mean we came in in the middle of a grand sale. Which also, in a great many stores, lasts till midnight. So good discounts AND easy shopping ability, certainly nothing to complain about. Not incredibly impressed with the offerings, however. Tafkab bought face wash. I bought nothing. I was going to buy a camera, but the one I want it not available in Thailand, so that will have to wait until Sidney. New camera or not, we do of course have pictures. Full pictures will be posted on our Facebook pages, but some highlights of the trip deserve picture coverage.


Here goes.

After spending the morning on the look-out for the camera, which we did not find, we went to the grand palace EXACTLY on time to be late for the morning opening hours. Luckily, we were intercepted by a tuk-tuk driver who was so incredibly generic we dubbed him TukTuk Bob.

 
Tafkab and TukTuk Bob. Not pictured: Mind numbing fear during TukTuk ride.

Bob suggested a route that he would drive us past a few sites of interest, a few stores as specified by both our needed products and what types of kickbacks he would get (not mentioned in the negotiations but we know how this works) and off we went.

And let me tells ya, TukTuks might be touristy, but they are also DAMN fun and scary as hell, especially with Bob enthusiastically talking to us, often while looking at us and moving straight into oncoming traffic.


First Stop: Really tall Buddha.

Sooo Yes, this was a tall Buddha.

What with it being a Buddha-based holiday the entry to this site was free, and well, it was a big, big Buddha. Not the biggest I’ve seen today but very nice still. It was across from the school where Bob’s daughter works, which adds a certain level of cool, if you know Bob. It was also the Buddha Bob said a little prayer at for our luck and safety, I can’t fault the man anything.

The complex the big Buddha was in was otherwise unremarkable, in that it was absolutely gorgeous just like all the other sites we visited. So unremarkably from a tourist standpoint, but definitely remarkable from a sheer beauty perspective.


Next stop(s) Shops, shops, shops.

Yeeeessss yes, we are tourists, we know how it works, they use a similar program everywhere. Between good tourist sites you are carted to a number of shops with local products and suchlike. Which is good, because we needed local products. And by local products, I mean suits. And by need, I mean wanted.

So we were fitted for a couple of suits and shirts, by quite a cute fellow, who will be delivering the suits to our hotel for final fitting tomorrow evening. Growing up Dutch the level of service and politeness here is stunning, but the incredible ease that almost everything happes in is really impressive.


Stop after that: Reclining Buddha

Ok, so I might not be the most cultured person in the world, but I did think the Reclining Buddha was elsewhere. And it isn’t, it’s very close to the Grand Palace. As it is, I was very much looking forward to this. Regardless of my slight topographical mishap, I always found this thing really cool, and seeing it up close and personal was even cooler.



Licking Reclining Buddha’s nipple. Not pictured: Outraged Buddhists and Security guards,



Next stop : The Grand Palace

I’m always a sucker for well-named things, and yes, this place was and is grand. Beautiful architecture, incredible decorations, impressive size, well kept gardens and Indian Water-lily type guardian giants as far as the eye can see. We tried to get into the Emerald Buddha temple, but this was regretfully closed. Might try again tomorrow, might not. I do know that the Grand Palace, though not necessarily designed for picture taking, does allow for gooood pictures. Strange.

While waiting to enter the Grand Palace there was some kind of palaver going on at the entry way. Having caught a glimpse of the King earlier in the day we were hoping to see him up close again, but either he was cleverly disguised as a fat admiral type, or it was just some other dignitary. Impressive lack of force and airtight security was used to ensure only the really willing assassins had a shot at the man, but they were all on holiday as well apparently.


Tafkab outside the Grand Palace being all Japanese-y
Kevin inside the Grand Palace also being all Japanese-y

Trying to fit in with the topiary in the Grand Palace

After clearly not fitting in, Kevin regretfully got into a topiary fist fight.

Neeeext stop: Boating on the river.

As a good close of the day, Bob brought us to the riverbank where we boarded a boat to take us on an hours trip through the cities waterways. With the risk of repeating myself, quite cool again. Being on the water is always nice, and it awarded some very good views. Also, it gaves us a chance to randomly buy some bread that we were told to throw into the water. Thinking we were feeding pigeons, we grumbled a bit, until it turned out we were feeding these:

Fish. Loads of them. Also some of the bread they did away with very swiftly.

After all this excitement, we went for the first fitting of our suits, and back to the hotel for some needed rest. We’ve not exactly run out of things to do here, but we did do everything that was on the list, and more, in the first day. Many thanks to Bob, without whom we’d’ve not been able to do all we did, and without whome’s guidance we’d’ve not even known they were there to do.

Tomorrow is going to be somewhat more relaxed. I for one want to test the hotel’s facilities (pool, sauna, good stuff) and have a bit of a tanning session.

Oh! I’ve not told you about the hotel. Suggested by my MBTC (My Best Thai Colleague) it is sooomewhat further from the centre than was suggested (How… MBTC wears heels… I already died in sneakers) but it is a very, very nice hotel. Empty, now, during the week, but the room is absolutely great. We found it easily yesterday evening, but for the rest of the stay it’s cabs and suchlike as far as I’m concerned.


Some random photo’s on the way:

Some weird fruit from this side of the world, and he’s hungry

Two drinks make you stand like a twelve year old.

Tafkab in the Grand Palace garden.

Emerald Buddha, not pictured: actual Buddha

This one is for MBTC and the Merc.

Mandatory Travel Complaints

On plane, euhm.. Sunday?

I have no idea how the timezones and shite work, as a goodly zenned traveler, I will see where I end up and more importantly, when.

Currently Tafkab and I are heading from Heathrow to Sum-something in Thailand. I will find out how the airport is spelled at some time in the near future, but since almost all the actually useful travel-papers (not counting passport and all that) are with Tafkab at the moment and there are several severely de and/or inclined seats between us, I really can’t be bothered.

Mostly because there is plenty of stuff bothering me anyways. Well… plenty, plenty… so far everything I’ve been rather fortunate when it comes to the travel. Dinner at Schiphol, easy flight from there to Heathrow, then a swift coffee for Tafkab and on to the next flight, which I am still on at this point in time.

So as nothing about the travel really annoys me, let’s talk about the people. Because there are some annoyances there, let me tell you about:

Freaky Headphone Guy. Well, he was freaky, and he was constantly wearing headphones. Nothing wrong with either, but there is something annoying about it if you stand SO CLOSE behind me in line that I have no choice but to smell the disgusting smell of disgusting disgustingness that wafts from you but that you think you have cleverly hidden under layers and layers of some hideously cheap scent that by the smell of it you picked up from some equally hideously cheap fling. This guy kept creeping closer and closer to me and Tafkab in any line that we might find ourselves in, clearly intent only n always being in some blind corner right behind us.


What is it with airplanes that ensures that you are always, ALWAYS, annoyed with the person sitting behin, next to or in front of you, without fail? As I have nobody behind me (row before the emergency exit) and nobody immediately next to me (there is a lady one place over, more about her later) there was no choice but to be annoyed by the guy in front of me. Not that I would merely be annoyed about somebody just because of their topographical position vis-à-vis myself, so I’m happy the twat has given me about thirteen hours of annoyance without anybody else having to help. Let me start.

Guy right in front of me likes reclining his seat, but not reclining IN his seat. Very shortly after take off there was an interesting, rather complex sound that those familiar with air-travel will likely recognize. The sound is best spelled *DuuSHHHSHRunnnnCRGKTJSSSiiiiiiieeeee*. In this complex sounds are interwoven at least four sounds. To wit:
-The *Duuuunnnn* sounds of the “fasten seatbelt” signs turning off.
-The *ShhhhhhhhRSH* of the seat in front of me swiftly travelling backwards. This happened so shortly, if not in tune, with the previous sound that I am sure Recline McGee was sitting ready ever since he boarded.
-The *CRGKTJS* sound my kneecap made as it came into unflattering contact with the bloody chair in full swing
And
-he soft, keening *iiiiieee* of a Kevin in pain. If desired, you may imagine a slight rocking motion of the upper body to accompany this, although that off course didn’t happen, as there was no space for it in the suddenly horridly enclosed space.

After this, the man in front of me leans forward. As he still is, a small twelve hours later. So, just so y’all have the situation perfectly in mind, the CHAIR in front of me is almost fully reclined, the MAN in the chair is leaning forward to almost the same angle. At no place do the man’s back and his chair actually meet. Well, I tell a lie, as soon as it was announced that we could see Mt Everest from our side of the plane, he touched his chair. He had to, as he was leaning over it to open MY window, so he could look out at the mountain. His own window he kept safely shut and unused. As such, I can proudly say we passed in sight of the highest mountain peak on the planet (though not the highest mountain, of course) and I have gloriously managed to miss it.


And then, the lady one seat over, in the isle seat on the row where I have the (useless for 85% of the trip) window. She is very nice, a sweetish, elderly lady that looks EXACTLY like somebody’s grandmother should look. The only problem is that she does. Not. Move. Which is ok, I am not a big traveler within plane, but every now and then you need to go to the bathroom, or beg Tafkab the use of his laptop to keep the folks at home updated. And in that situation, I need to climb over her. Over her. And, because the whole row has taken after Recline Mclean-Forward III in front of me, this is not easy. I’m sure I shattered her knee as effectively as the chair shattered mine on the first try, which means I am now kindly guided across her lap in a gesture that is meant both helpful and protective, but it might be misconstrued as some unembarrassed groping.


We are currently getting ready to fly into BKK, and then on to the hotel and to see how late the stores close, as I have selected my new to be purchased camera. So I’m signing off for now, and will be back in a few hours with updates on Bangkok. Contrary to previous information we will be there for three nights instead of the expected (by me) two, so time enough to experience the town.

K.

Almost there

Well, almost ready to leave for the airport, but almost at the point where you can say "and then the holiday started", which counts for something.

As usual, Tafkab has started a period of being slightly to heavily stressed, and I have gotten remarkably zen and laissez-faire about the whole thing (It doesn't matter, we'll buy a new arm on the airport, just relax) so as to not go on the plane stressed. Not that that is going to work.

Packing has been done, somewhere between 00.47 and 02.07 this morning. I suppose I have everything, by which I mean I have everything that I know I shouldn't forget. all the stuff that I am currently forgetting but am unaware about, I can deal with at a later stage.

Soooo, the last blog for a while from this side of the equator. I am hoping that despite the slightly bad weather we won't be delayed too much, and drop off in Bangkok in a good 20 hours. More from there.

Kevin

There we go.

Ok, right of the bat, some things become readily apparent. Ready as I am to go on this holiday, my first in well over 5 years that'll last longer than a few days, it appears I am not, in fact, as such, in so many words, ready to go on this holiday. And by this I mean: I can barely find my passport.

Tafkab, of course, is doing a lot better. Here is a hastily made photo of Tafkab's prep-work:

I think this is perfect. It even looks decorative, everything neatly laid out, ready to be suitcased up and taken away. 

This, on the other hand, is what I have to deal with

 

Beautiful isn't it? And yes, I know I should fold my laundry every now and then, but hey, I don't. What you can also tell from these hastily made photos is that I have NOT been able to find my camera. I'm currently heavily considering buying one at the airport tomorrow.

Yes, tomorrow. And as I am typing this it actually is already tomorrow. We fly in less than 18 hours, 8 of which I intend to spend sleeping. But, am I packed? Nooooo. No, I still have a LOT of packing to do. Which I could have done earlier. But I was distracted then. With computer games. Plants vs Zombies, to be precise.

And now I am allowing myself to be distracted by this blog, which I am rustily writing at 00.47 at night, regardless of what the time-stamp of the blog will say. Ah well, Tafkab's not here, so at least I can always pretend I did all the packing on time.

Oz-Bound!

So, there we are. Fresh one week after breaking up with Boyfriend, I am still going to go on holiday to the other end of the world with the man. And I am looking forward to this, who'd've thunk it.

By request of my mother, who is a good mother and therefor needs to know about everything I do, I have set up this blog, which I will strive to keep updated on a daily or bi-daily basis throughout my trip to Australia.

In this blog, I will give you impressions, anecdotes, observations and whatever crosses my mind as I am travelling with Tafkab (The Australian Formerly Known As Boyfriend) throughout his country, or at least those parts of it known as Sydney and Melbourne.  As the whole "What are you going to do over there" thing is currently a mystery to me as well as to everyone who is NOT Tafkab, this might prove remarkably interesting, or surprisingly, mind-numbingly boring. But no fear, there will not be a test at the end.

Happy reading.

Kevin

PS: Apart from my own name, all names in this blog will be fictionalised to protect both innocent and guilty. Tafkab's name is not reaaaallly Tafkab. Most people will get acronyms, some will get placeholder-names. All resemblance to any person living or dead will most likely be intentional. Sue me, I can use the exposure.