Post Bangkok

Easter in Bangkok - CS

Ooh, I've actually gotten around to post some Bangkok photos without letting three weeks pass first.
And yes, bangkok was recently bombed, but we were well out of town. No injuries at all by the way...
Three days of work after Bali and then heading off to thailand was indeed a short week. But oh so well needed. What I'd also need is a weekend of slacking and recovery...
Went straight to airport from office, and upon arrival to bangkok I had to wait at the airport to take the bus into town. This is thailand, so first an hour waiting before the bus came, and then 30min before heading off again. Not so fun. Bumped into an australian guy though, who ended up having dinner and clubbing with us later.
Our hotel (me, Chyka, Juana) was cheap cheap but quite good. at least our room was clean, not roaches, hot AND cold water in the shower and... yeah, that's pretty much it. Close to Khao San and Bee's place. Bee is a thaigirl (couchsurfer too) we met in singapore a few weeks ago who instantly invited us to her home. So the first night (after the bus epic) we had big dinner at her place together with a great bunch of other couchsurfer. Basically, everything we did from now on was together wih CS, so no need to mention, ok
We didn't make it home from the dinner until 3am which meant about 3 hrs of sleep. We wanted to escape the worst heat by getting up early (which we also did) and head to the Ancient City, Muang Boran. Shaped like the map of thailand it holds examples of building traditions and landmarks around the country. Pretty nice site where bike is the way to get around. Ppl like me (whites) payed an entrance fee of 300 baht while locals (as in anyone with asian features and slightly darker skin) payed about 100. Thanks, great being farang :-P

Straight after the history lesson (incl lunch, cheers to all "thai" friends) I headed to our BKK office branch to catch up with some collegues. As it turned out there was only one of them there (public holiday) so we walked for some coffee in the posh Tonglor area. Nice knowing whom I'm working with. Our office is tiny though, and I feel sorry for Steve who's the only philippino, the only guy, and the oldest. Rest of the crew are girls in their twenty something...

Bangkok nightlife is not at all what I thought it would be. I was expecting most places to close around sunrise but nah, 2am is bedtime. Did some clubhopping after chilling at the hotel before finishing at the one place closing at 4 (bribing the police....). Aahh, the smell of shisha...

Up next morning -not quite as early- for a visit at the Crand Palace. Surely the place is astonishing and beautiful but i just cant stand the tourist hoards. Guess who had to pay ticket again while the "thais" went in for free :P
The place is also extremely hot between tall buildings and no wind. We escaped quickly to the Chatuchak weekend market. The place is insanely huge, and very very full of everything (as in EVERYTHING!!!!). If you cant find what you're looking for, you haven't looked hard enough...
Next time Ill try to be more prepared and actually know what im looking for. Perhaps then I can find something to buy.

Seems like Im ending up at MBK shopping centre every time Im in bangkok. Ok it's hard to avoid since it's the biggest in town and well one of the larger in asia. Found a pair of shoes that i've been looking for in singapore and together with a pair of REAL NON FAKE (according to the sales guy) Calvin Klein jeans for 500 baht (real, right?) the visit turned out pretty good.

This night finished with a eat-as-much-as-u-want-for-99-baht dinner at the river side (20SEK + drinks) and more clubbing before crashing at the hotel a few hours before flying off early early on sunday morning. That's actually a good thing because I could spend my time on sunday afternoon doing absolutely nothing, which was more than needed after a blast in BKK.