Change of Plan

We arrived in Bangkok on the 4^th by bus, the ride felt much safer with my eyes shut. There were times on the bus coming from Kanchanaburi where I prayed for Go Go Gadget legs as I thought we were about to gain a 10 foot extension to the front end of the bus. Over here they have great trust in the brakes but I’ve seen the state of some of the cars and I don’t!!

On the way into to Bangkok it was surprising to see how bad the floods still are. Down the side streets they have adapted and made walkways above the flooded water. At times the water looked 3 foot deep. It was smelly and you could see on lampposts where the water had previously been. There was a slimy moss about 5/6 foot high.

 We found a nice guesthouse near Koh San Road (backpacker town) with Internet and food. It was an ideal base for a couple of hours until we headed to the boxing training camp we’d arranged for the next week. On the way to the boxing as we were getting nearer and nearer I could see miss Alex was not happy. I couldn’t blame her really as the taxi turned into what I can only describe as a scrap metal yard. It was pitch black with no lights and the taxi driver himself didn’t really know where we where. At one point the taxi driver jumped out of the taxi to go and look for the boxing gym and I must admit I thought we were going to get mugged or kidnapped. He jumped back in the taxi and took us further into the slum then suddenly pulled up and said “here we are!” Miss Alex hated me right now for booking this boxing course and it only got worse when we entered the boxing gym.

A 5 minute walk from the taxi with our bags still in the boot and unlocked! The punch bags in the gym were hanging from the ceiling that looked as if it was about to fall down, the ex world champion boxer we had been promised to train us looked more like Rab C Nesbit slouched on a bench in the corner and the bedrooms had …………. A bed. Nothing else, no lamp or bed sheets or bed table. The whole place had a bad feel about it. I think miss Alex wanted to do a couple of rounds in the boxing ring with me there an then!! She would have killed me.

We made an excuse about no one else being there and I said we’d be back next week, fully knowing I had no intentions of stepping foot in the place ever again. There was still the challenge of getting out of the slum and back to Koh San Road hoping our bags were still in the boot of the taxi. We did get back to Koh San Road with all our bags and to be fair the taxi driver knew why we’d left the boxing gym, he’d seen the state it was in. He was thinking of other gyms we might like to go and see (for a very high taxi fair) Our new plan was to find a guesthouse for the night and have a strong drink after the nights episode. 

Miss Alex found a place called B&B guesthouse, clever name eh!! And the very  clever bit is they don’t serve food! But still the room was very nice.

The new plan was to look for a way of getting down to Koh Phi Phi for a week or 2. (near where the beach was filmed mum, google it)

Bangkok has been really busy because it’s the kings birthday, he was 84 yesterday. The celebrations last night where phenomenal and it felt like the whole city came to a stand still to join in with his celebrations. Young families, old grans, travellers and even cats and dogs headed to the park to soak up the atmosphere. The fireworks were spectacular and the sight of hundreds of floating lanterns in the sky was a picture that no camera could do justice.

I finally think I’ve learnt the trick to stop being hassled for suits. I told one guy “never” he replied “never?” and I said “never!!” and since then he must have spread the word to other shops and I’ve not been hassled.

Today miss Alex and I are homeless, we’ve checked out of B&B guesthouse and I have the littlest hobo theme stuck in my head. As I write this miss Alex has gone for a walk down the Koh San Road and I’m sat in another guesthouse (one that supplies food and drink) supping water. We have to wait until 6 tonight for our coach to Krabi where we get the ferry across to Koh Phi Phi in the morning around 6am. We are taking it in turns to watch over the bags.  I’m really looking forward to Koh Phi Phi and I hope it is the same as I have in my head.

Speak soon xxx