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The SE
Asia tour This is a verbatim record of the emails I dispatched from
various internet cafes around SE Asia from April to June 2000. 24 April 2000: Bangkok
Sorry it's been so long
since I started writing from South East Asia. Anyway, Samantha and I are now
in Bangkok. It's very noisy, smelly and dirty and
full of traffic - all the time. Still, it's got a vibe. After arriving in Kuala
Lumpur, we spent 3 nights in the city, just wandering around. It's bloody hot
(about 30 degrees (85F) day and night) and humid - all the time. You wouldn't
miss anything, shopping-wise, if you were coming from London. They have it
all - Gucci, Armani shops; you name it. It's a pretty small city but you soon
run out of things to do. The night markets are fun. Very crowded and all the
fake designer stuff you want, including software. Windows 2000 on CD for 2
pounds anyone? We both bought Sarongs which have turned out to be very
useful. They can be used for everything from nightwear to towels to beach
mats to tablecloths (not yet tried). After that we took a
bus to Kuala Lipis in the centre. It's full of jungles and all that. We
couldn’t really be bothered in the end, so took a train to Kota Bahru on the
north east coast of (peninsular) Malaysia. From there we got a
slow (and noisy) boat ride to the Perhentian Islands, where we stayed in a
little chalet at a place called Mama's. Our 5 days there gave us a bit of
colour. The weather was mixed. We saw some pretty impressive electrical
storms though. After that we took an overnight bus to the old trading island
of Penang. We spent two days there just wandering around (again). The view
from the top of the hill (820 metres) was good. The Malaysians and the
Thais seem like nations of traders. Everything is negotiable and there are
little commissions and deals everywhere. Everything seems to be open until
midnight and it rarely stops. There are lots of excellent little hawkers food
stalls which sell fresh food (cooked for you) everywhere too. We kind of
wondered who was buying all this stuff as everyone seemed to be some kind of
small trader. Perhaps they just buy off each other in quiet moments. Kind of
reminded me of "Socialist Worker" sellers. From there we took the
train to KL again and flew out to Bangkok, which turned out to be even
hotter. I'm not complaining though. Bangkok is a huge city. We're staying
nearish to the (in)famous Khao San Road. It's way too much like Camden High
Road on a sunny Sunday afternoon though. Hardly any Thais. Everyone's got
tattoos and tie-died trousers and eats banana pancakes. Depressing really. We
came to get away from all that. Still we'll give the deep fried maggots and cockroaches
a miss. That's one type of 'farang' (a Westerner) you get here. The other is a very
seedy looking fat bloke with short hair and a moustache. No prizes for
guessing what they are here for. We've seen dozens of couples that consist of
a farang and a Thai woman, but not one single couple the other way around.
It's sad and makes me a little ashamed to be a Westerner. I'm not sure why
the Thai women do it. There's obviously a fair amount of dosh in Bangkok.
Plenty of Jags and Mercs and real designer shops around. Anyway, next is dealing
with the various embassies to try and get visas for Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia. Vietnam looks like fun. Usual Communist style helpfulness and
efficiency. Tonight we're off to the Oriental Hotel for drinks and maybe some
food as it's my 31st birthday. It's the Raffles Hotel of Bangkok. We're also
doing some river-boating and probably excursions to Kanchanaburi (Bridge over
the River Kwai) and Sukothai and Ayuthaya. It wasn't exactly Hemingway but
that's our adventures so far. Hope you are all well. This page hosted by |
