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Starting
in the noisy, crowded, huge metropolis of Bangkok. Although it can alarm with its chaos
and its scale, it also charms with its energy and cultural treasures that the steamy soupy
diesel mixture which passes for air in this city is more than forgiven. I was only here for a short time so checked out the world famous Patpong red light district in the safety of the early afternoon...the number of times I was asked if I wanted a massage; 147! I made my way south to the very quiet island of Ko Chang. They are just building a road around this Island which is still covered with virgin jungle. There are no big hotels just small resorts of beach huts around the perimeter of the island. Here you can see provisions arriving by boat as the sun sets over the Gulf of Thailand. My beach hut was in a superb location, right on White Sands Beach. The sea water was so crystal clear and very warm. There were very few people around and the place reminded me of those Bounty adverts on TV. When I first got into my hut I noticed on the floor under the dressing table a torn out page of a magazine with a half slice of bread placed on it. around the edge of the piece of paper was a brown gluey substance. I assumed it was to trap insects. That night I was woken at about 2am by a flapping sound coming from the floor, I assumed that the piece of paper had got caught in the down draught from the fan and was flapping in the breeze. At 4am I awoke again, the noise of the flapping was still going on more furious than ever. I turned on the light and saw the cause of the disturbance. A large rat had got stuck to the paper.. I guess the brown substance was poison which was now all over the rats body. The rat was nearly dead by now but continued to thrash about keeping me awake .... Aaaaaargh. From Ko Chang I travelled by ferry and bus to Pattaya. Although next to the sea, it was hardly a sea sports centre, surely it was the the sex capital of the world. Wherever you looked there were open air bars with girls, girls and more girls calling to you. After getting used to all the attention it was quite fun returning the banter (keeping ones sense of humour). It was one of the busiest times of year and I walked from hotel to hotel trying to find a room. Eventually a hotel right in the centre of town offered me a deluxe room for a mere £8.50 per night. I was so surprised at the size of the room that I took a photo but no photograph ever gives a good idea of size! Saw a cabaret show (very good), eat some delicious Thai food (meal plus beer cost less than £1), saw the inside of a bar or two and saw some Thai kick boxing!! Returned to Bangkok, did some shopping (everything was just so cheap... bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label £5) did a trip on the river, saw some temples and cultural stuff....Number of times I was asked if I wanted a massage; 86! ... |
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