So here we are in Bangkok and it's absolutely bloody freezing! I don't know what went wrong, we arrived amidst intense heat and humidity and then on our first night we got caught out in a giant thunderstorm and now the temperature seems to have dropped about a million degrees. It's like a freak chill is settling over Bangkok! (Ok - it's not icy or snowing or anything, but I have had to fish out my wooly hat and live off hot soup to survive!) Brett meanwhile is cowering away in bed, apparently feeling ill but I know the truth is that he can't cope with anything under 20 degrees.
The thunderstorm made for a dramatic first night - When it rains here it really rains! We just ventured out for some food and before we knew it, we were running for cover, shin deep in water and soaked to the bone. After the rain stopped, there was a bizarre "calm after the storm" atmosphere with all of these soggy people emerging back onto the streets and the vendors gingerly unwrapping their soaked carts. A group of us staying at the guest house did the only thing we could in the circumstances and went to the nearest cafe for food and beers.
Yesterday, Brett and I began what was meant to be a cultural day and went quickly downhill. We caught the bus across town to go to a big art gallery. This had not only fantastic art but also the best toilets I've found to date in Thailand! We then thought we'd have a quick look at the giant shopping centre known as MBK as we were so close. There we seemed to digress in years and spent a while playing on the network of escalators before enjoying a wholesome lunch of chocolate donuts and coffee.
I got my hair cut, which was a necessary evil as it had started to form dreadlocks, but was still a less than enjoyable experience. It all started out fine, I confirmed the price of a cut and blow dry and went to have my hair washed. Before she started to cut my hair, the hairdresser spent a good while trying to convince me that I really need highlights and my hair would look much better for a bit of bleach for just 2000 baht. I managed to decline long enough for her to give up, until half way through cutting it was apparently essential that I spend just 800 baht on a special hair treatment "very nice for me and very good price." By the time I'd declined that and then also the special hair shine for just 200 baht, I think the hair dresser quite genuinely hated me and if she could have just yanked my hair right out of my head she would have! Still, I'm happy to say I now have less split ends and a semi-reputable hair cut.
To help me recover from my trauma and round off our cultural day in Bangkok, we took a spontaneous trip to watch Rango the cartoon at the cinema. The tickets were a fraction of what we'd pay at home and I'm sure the popcorn tasted better (probably full of highly illegal preservatives). We had to stand to pay tribute to the king before the film started, making it a cultural experience after all. After waiting over an hour to get the bus in the morning, when we saw our bus standing there to go home, we did a dramatic jump over the fence to jump on board. In this burst of fence-jumping activity, I managed to pull my skirt right down over my bum in front of the busy road. The least said about that the better, I prefer to treat the matter with my characteristic quiet dignity (and at least I was wearing good knickers!) We finished our day in Bangkok going to a little local street restaurant for cheap food and beer and free magic tricks - this creates a really nice atmosphere as everybody joins in and has a laugh and can generally eat, drink and be merry.
Now, me and Brett are trying to work out where we might fancy venturing after Thailand and where our budget and time will let us go next. Vietnam or Cambodia?
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