So it was a rather slow start to the day after dancing until dawn last night/this morning with new friends I will never see again… Anyway, it was all good fun and my knowledge of the Top 40 (do we still call it that) is growing fast. And talk about not being able to leave your work at home – in one bar I got chatting to what I thought was a nice guy – turned out to be a member of a Swedish white power movement. He showed me his tattoes and talked me through his views. I said I needed the toilet and made a polite escape… Maybe a case study when I’m home?… The gettaway led me into the arms of a group of gay guys from Australia who took me with them on their quest for a club with a pumping dance floor. Oh happy days.
A late breakfast followed (actually, it was more like a late lunch). And as I sat on the Khao Sarn Road, it struck me it’s sort of the Asian equivalent of Magaluf. Lots of tattoes (when I say lots….) and heaps of excessive daytime drinking. Maybe it’s just because I am here over the xmas period.
I took a stroll around Bangkok this afternoon and found myself a little park right by the river where I sat, thought a lot about anything and everything, and started reading George Orwell’s Burmese Days to get myself in the mood for the next 3 weeks. It’s had a promising start so far, but then I am already a huge Orwell fan. This was my view – nice.
Bangkok is truly a city of extremes. In just a short stroll this afternoon I saw everything from the backpacker excesses of the Khao Sarn road…
…to the gated house of one of the Thai princes…
…and a row of houses next to the river that might be a bit of de-cluttering…
I haven’t ventured into the central business district and smart areas of Bangkok yet, but will do that next time I’m here on my way home (deep breaths, supress those tears…).
And so to Burma! My flight is at silly-o-clock so it will be an early one for me tonight. The hostel is confirmed for Yangon (keep your fingers crossed readers), and I’m trying to line up a guide for some trekking between Kalaw and Inlake Lake. Very very muchly excited…
quartergapyear 