Doug and Kerry Hudson in Bangkok, Thailand, South East Asia

World Trip >> Asia >> Thailand >> Bangkok

Didn't Mel Brooks once say, 'It's great to be King!' ?

He was absolutely right of course, especially if you are the King of Thailand.

When we flew into Bangkok from Singapore, we were immediately struck by the contrasts around us. There was poverty everywhere, workers welding on the pavement, ramshackle homes piled haphazardly on top of each other, held together by masking tape. The air was thick with fumes from the traffic. The airline pilot had told us, "The visibility in Bangkok is poor today due to pollution"! We've never heard that one before!

On the other side of the coin, you have never seen such splendour as we saw the Grand Palace and another royal abode at Vimanmek. Vast columns soar up, coated in mosaics, coloured glass and gold leaf, to support beautifully tiled rooves in red, green and gold. We had to kneel and bow before the image of the King. This reveals the utmost reverence in which the Thais hold their royalty. You can see images of the King everywhere - in taxis, in homes, in shops and even on huge billboards at the roadside. Not even David Beckham has so many posters here, although he is very popular and well-known here. The taxi-drivers always ask Doug if he knows him.

Even the nation's flag revolves around the King. It features five horizontal bands, with the central band thicker than the others. The outer bands are red, and represent the Thai people. The next bands are white, and represent Buddhism. The thick inner band is blue, representing the King.

Bangkok is a crazy place. Especially when you arrive from Singapore as we did. We spent three nights in Singapore and then three nights in Bangkok and we can honestly say that they are poles apart! Singapore is very modern, clean, well-organised, lush and user-friendly. Bangkok is chaotic, crowded, tree-less, and polluted. Saying that, we did find Bangkok to be charming and exciting as well. Touts approached us constantly, but a firm 'No thanks' always did the trick and they soon gave up.

Driving in Bangkok is a nightmare. Bangkok is home to twenty million people and ten million cars. We are so glad we didn't have to drive anywhere, but we did have quite a few white-knuckle rides as passengers! We have come to the conclusion that to drive there, you need the reflexes of a cat, nerves of steel and the situational awareness of a fighter pilot! Miraculously, despite the weaving tuk-tuks, mopeds and taxis switching and swopping lanes, competing to get ahead, there are no collisions! It is really something to see! Sometimes you see a whole family all on a single moped, mum, dad and baby all minus helmets happily swerving this way and that between the cars.

We visited the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, one of the famous Buddhist temples. We took the boat up-river from the hotel. Doug nearly got left behind, and had to jump across the widening gap as the boat pulled away. It was interesting to observe how the pilot communicates with the captain at the wheel by means of different whistles, when we pulled into the piers to take passengers on board. It was a very hot day, 36'°C and 80% humidity. By the time we had walked around the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, Doug was so sweaty he looked like he'd just come off the court after an hour of basketball!

One highlight of Bangkok was a visit to the Gems Company. Thailand mines sapphires and rubies and these were show-cased in the largest jewellery store in the world at ridiculously cheap prices, too! It was too good to be true and Doug pointed out that it was probably neither good nor true. Nevertheless, Kerry was entranced by the magnificence of the jewels sparkling all around them.

Another highlight was a visit to the MBK Shopping Mall. Kerry bought some Gucci sunglasses for a neat THB199, or in other words a whole 3 quid! This mall has five storeys and is a firm favourite amoungst the Thais and tourists as the prices are cheap and there is huge variety. It was bizarre because although there were shops there were also fleamarket-type stalls too! The whole of the 4th floor was devoted to mobile phones and accessories. You have never seen anything like it. Even more bizarre was the fact that there were massage parlours everywhere. So, we decided to take advantage. Doug had an all over Thai massage and Kerry had a Thai foot massage. Doug described his massage as, "Sore! She used her thumbs, knuckles, elbows and even her knees. She popped all my joints and I feel like I have been pummelled!" Doug had obviously amused the massage ladies somehow, as there was a lot of giggling going on.

Kerry described her massage as being heavenly and well worth the 300 Thai Baht, or five quid.

We couldn't take much more of this craziness, so it was with some relief that we set off for our next adventure in the north of Thailand, in Sukhothai.

World Trip >> Asia >> Thailand >> Bangkok

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006