filipinomad: from the land of mines to the city of smiles

streets of bangkok

Whew! I'm finally in Bangkok after several rip-offs from a motobike rider in Cambodia, a crappy canteen stop over right after the vietnam border, some crazy elephant riding, taking lunch alone (bread omelette) in one of the Ankor Thom temples, offers from the Saigon street of a "Massah" (massage) and BoomBoom or BamBam (depends on what city), from having beers w/ a brit guy I met in Saigon who knew a considerable amount on my country and then leaving earlier than usual because of stomachaches and hyper-acidity haha, and the ever so many, abundant, several, super duper cases of mistaken identity... errr, nationality (i've been called japanese, korean, malaysian, singaporean, and even american, maybe all of SEA nationalities but not a filipino not even a kababayan I was with in a bus to cambo thought I was a flip... well, i have yet to write my cambodian not-so-so adventure after this...

Anyhoo, I got here last night from the second taxi we took (the first one didn't want to take us to Phra artit Rd and almost dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, and as with most of the cabs in asia--another nose bleed!)
...but What can i say; I still LOVE Bangkok inspite and despite of Khao San Rd. and the rip-off taxis that they have. I have to give it to that Rd though it is noisy and packed but it reveals so much of something about bangkok; it's like you love hating it and hate loving it! The Fil-Canadian mom and son tandem that I met in the Vietnam-Cambo border was estatic in seeing Khao San so alive and noisy. I guess that's because of the inevitable comparisson from the previous cities they've been to. BKK has definitely a lot more going than what Siem Reap or Saigon has to offer; party-wise.

I'm glad I took the train from Arayanphratet to Bangkok. It was 3 or more hours compared to riding the bus but the view of the countryside was well worth the little inconvenience including the butt-sore you get after 7 hours of uncomfy sleeping and waking while you fell the chug-chug of the old metal box. The friends I met along the way was an added bonus accompanying me on the train ride, I even call the mom tita now hehe, yeah we're close (waving the cross-finger sign :-o).

I stayed at the same Baang Sabai guesthouse I stayed in my last March visit... this is where Tita and her son also booked their room, she was thankful for the info and assistance I gave because she really found the cab drivers rude (I felt bad that she sort of experienced that since I was really telling her lots of beautiful stuff about BKK and how I was really looking forward to seeing Bangkok again); the first one was about to drop us off in the middle of nowhere after picking us up saying that "Khao San traffic and raining no good" so I really modulated my voice (i have a deep one by the way) and insisted that he take us back to the train station which he did--the nerve of that guy to just leave us out in the rain, and it was 8pm and again it was raining (this guy was asking B300 coz he knows that it would be difficult for us to get even a tuktuk because of the rain)... We went back to station and the taxis were all asking for 200B for that short ride. I somehow negotiated $6 (nosebleed again) since we still don't have Bahts yet and the exchange in the station was already closed. We were able to finally make it inspite of the pouring rain last night and was able to book a room right away...

I booked a solo fan room since I'm travelling alone this time, to which I found out last night that they charge you extra for blankets, towel and toilet paper. I just got the blanket since I already have two t. papers and 2 towelettes, so all is good.
...and I found this internet shop near my place on Rambuttri for 20 baht an hour (i think the timer's broken that's why; the sign outside says 30B for an hour haha)
...i'm, just keeping this blog updated, coz i know that with old age comes memory loss--and i get that all the time where i forget little things, so this morning i'm clicking my imaginary camera and crossing my fingers that I remember to write my reviews after my travels.