One night in Bangkok

After making the trip to the Grand Palace with the safety and security of Oh and Roy, I was fairly confident that Loren and I could make the trip on our own. I boarded the city bus and headed to Ayutthaya, completely opposite the direction of Bangkok, but that was ok. With the use of cell phones, Loren was able to hop on the same bus 20 min later. After the bus, we found the air con vans headed to Bangkok. For 60 baht ($1.50) each, we had a comfortable ride into Bangkok. One hour and a cab ride later, we were on Khao San Road, the main farang district of Bangkok.

We were set to meet a true friend of a friend. We went to the Sawasdee Guest House where Loren's friend Kate's friend Chris was staying. Our only info was that he looked like Jesus. As we went to leave a note on Chris' door, I spotted a man in the bathroom and loudly exclaimed "he looks like Jesus!' Loren and I laughed and ran up the stairs. Sure enough as we were posting the note, we learned the man was indeed Chris. We made quite the team, me from America, Loren from New Zealand and Chris from England. We ate lunch and plotted our day.

Our first adventure was the Tuk-tuk ride. We chose a jolly driver and haggled him down to 120 baht ($3) for a reasonably long drive. He wove in and out of traffic and raced another tuk-tuk. The farang in the other tuk-tuk captured the race on video. We lost.

Our first stop was the Jim Thompson house. He is a man that is given credit for personally revamping the silk industry in the late 1950s. Back then, Americans were allowed to buy land in Thailand. He bought six Thai houses and set up a nice estate. We toured his old home and learned that he mysteriously disappeared in the 1960s.

This is when the true adventure began. Instead of taking the $3 meter-taxi ride to China Town, we opted to walk. After asking for directions three times, we made it. We wove through the shops, Loren ate a grub! And got some dinner. The layout was similar to most of Thailand, but the items for sale were noticeably Chinese.

From a distance we saw and interesting building that just had to have a bar on top. We became determined to get up there. We found ourselves at the Grand China Princess. It indeed had a restaurant on the 25th floor.

From the top we had a great view of downtown Bangkok. It was a rotating restaurant, so by the time our drinks were gone, we had seen most of the city.

I had a fruity drink in a Tuk-tuk. It was so cute I had to buy it for $3. Just a bit more than I paid for the original drink.

After the long walk to China town, I insisted on a Motor Taxi ride back to Khao San Road. Chris takes giant steps and my legs were getting tired!

Back in Khao San, we heard a great metal band on the street. They are just debuting, but are quite good. Chris swears we should keep our eyes out for CyberSin in the next few years. Sadly the closed up shop after just a few songs.

We then headed up to Bird Eye View on the top floor of a building. Hence the name. There was a great Sa band playing, but they were done after just two songs. As they were packing up their instruments, we jokingly begged for more. To my surprise the trumpets and trombones emerged again. The bonus songs weren’t as lovely as the Thai songs, but who can hate “Hotel California” and “Sell Out.”

From there we joined a farang and his Thai girl to a bar called The Unicorn. The ceiling was blue with fluffy white clouds painted on, the furniture was plush and girly. The atmosphere made me smile. Sadly the DJ again closed down shop after just a few songs. I was beginning to notice a theme. It was 2am, but we just weren’t ready for bed.

Our last stop of the night had no live music, so it couldn’t follow the trend. Actually it didn’t even have furniture. We sat on woven mats the size of picnic blankets right out on the sidewalk. The bartender had a little stand, but he would bring our beer out to us. When a cockroach crawled up Loren’s back and into her hair, we met the Spanish man on the mat next to us as he flicked it out and smashed it with a shoe.

His name is Luis Miguel. He is from Spain, but he is working on a doctorate in chemistry at a university on England, so his English was great. The four of us sat up talking until 5am.

This is Loren, Chris and I on our mat.

Editors note: Because of some technical difficulties in Thailand, my totally awesome, strikingly hansome boyfriend Andy has been updating this blog for me.