Don't worry, I haven't been incarcerated in the notorious prison, it's merely a clever title fusing the name of the city I was in with my own last name.
I didn't like Bangkok last time, as many of you may have read. Perhaps time has mellowed the man (about 15 days), because I liked it a lot more this time. After the torture of the night train journey to Bangkok from Chiang Mai (its a long story, but the essence is that we had to get off the comfy sleeper two hours into the 14 hour journey and get onto a train with seats only. One hour of sleep just isn't enough), we decided to ditch our original plan of visiting the Khao Yai National Park, north of the capital, in favour of spending a bit more time having a look round the city and recouperating from our ordeal.
The first day was a bit of a write-off, perhaps unsurprising considering our sleep deprivation, but we did manage to visit a temple that contains a giant reclining gold Buddha. Very impressive, if difficult to photograph in one go.
Earlier that afternoon we attempted to visit the Royal palace. I say attempted, as my attire of shorts and flip-flops (or thongs, as our Australian counterparts call them) was frowned upon, and I had to borrow a large pair of overtrousers from the official trouser-borrowing centre near the entrance. Must be a common faux pas judging by the set up. After overcoming this hurdle we immediately decided, now I was dressed in clown's polyester pantaloons, not to go in after all. The entrance fee was more than our night's lodging.
So after aborting the tourist activities on the first day, we managed to have a much better second day after sleep had been caught up on. The hotel we were staying in (not on the Khao San Road, but just round the corner) had a swimming pool on the roof, and this was just the ticket for starting the day well.
After the swim we wandered around town some more, and took in three fantastic examples of Bangkok's public transport system. Firstly, a superb ferry along the river, secondly, an even more superb trip on the skytrain (the overhead railway system that is even better than Hong Kongs metro system) and finally, an equally-superb-as-the-second trip back to our part of town on a local bus. You really see a lot of a place and get the wind in your hair on these things.
After a lazy final day (Vicky and I were flying to Phuket that evening and Graham and Carly had gone to the aforementioned National Park) in which I did a bit of shopping and spent an hour or two shooting the breeze with a Tranmere fan, I had reformed my opinion of Bangkok.
In fact, I'll no doubt be back sometime. Next stop, Phuket, on the start of my 10-day island hopping solo jaunt.
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