Bangkok

Bangkok. What can I say? Fantastic city of contradictions and a combination of the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, genuine friendliness, fantastic cultural heritage, sleaziness and the just plain bizarre!

There is a relatively new and efficient overhead sky train, so travelling around is very easy (and very cheap), connecting to more traditional river taxis, which ply regularly along the Chao Phraya River in much the same way as boats have done for centuries. Along the waterfront, modern skyscrapers sit next to old colonial buildings, which push against rickety wooden houses on stilts that continue to defy age, gravity and their own poor construction (or so it seems), to balance precariously above the waves of the river as the many boats pass in front of them. Ancient markets continue to trade, selling amazingly bright flowers and goodness knows what kinds of food, mainly fish, which, dried and salted, look as old as the markets themselves. The city is very busy and very noisy, but in the old part it is mainly the human voice that is heard, advertising, selling, talking, and laughing. People are very friendly and everybody smiles, which is slightly disconcerting at first (having been in India, I was initially suspicious), but the smiles are genuine and it is really nice. I am determined to smile more often. Scary thought, I know.

The heat and humidity is intense, adding a physical denseness to the wide variety of rich and intoxicating, sometimes not quite horrible but intriguing smells and reassuringly, even the locals drip with sweat, so as a farang (foreigner), I’m not out of place, on that score, at least. I share a certain age too with a large number of other foreigners as well, which is less comforting. It is very strange, seeing lots of older European or American men  (50s and a lot older), who are overweight, balding, unshaven and sweating profusely, walking hand in hand with some of the most beautiful young women, probably in their early 20s, that I have ever seen in my life. The contrast is striking, perhaps slightly repulsive and I do feel pity towards the girls, but the true nature of the relationships is not always particularly clear. Of course, initially it seems it is a purely financial arrangement and so it probably is, but who is the exploiter and who is being exploited is not always as clear as one might think. Often, so I am told, the girl will spend a few weeks with a man who will fall in love with them and then send money on a regular basis back to their girlfriend. The girl may have more than one boyfriend, so the regular income can be significant. Or they may fall in love and marry and the man may move to Thailand, where farang are not allowed to own land, but they can pay for property to be built, which they do, but if the relationship fails, foreigners have no claim on that property. I’m not suggesting that all relationships are of this exploitative type. I met men with women their own age and younger who are married or are partners and it seems an equal match. I guess there are a variety of subtleties, nuances and graduations, as there are in all relationships, but the ones I’ve focused on are the most striking and the most disparate and, to my eyes anyway, just a bit strange. Having said that, it is still flattering to be propositioned by very attractive women!

Prostitution is endemic in some areas of the city and yet an Australian I met couldn’t bring up a pornographic website on his phone as it is banned by the state, even though we were in the middle of the Red Light district. There are pictures of the Royal Family everywhere, even in the remotest villages and outside all government buildings, where the size of the pictures reminded me of the Old Soviet Union. Criticism of the Royals is a criminal offence and the Royals manage the Military, The Government and The Press, pretty much everything. In downtown Bangkok, girls really do strange things with ping-pong balls, whilst in What Po and the Grand Palace there are the most incredible, beautiful Siamese palaces, serene yet vibrant and colourful Buddhist temples and exquisite, intricately worked artefacts. Bangkok is a baffling, bewildering, friendly and thought provoking city.

Shrine in the middle of the market

Wat Pho Temple complex - Houses over 1000 images of Buddha

The Reclining Buddha - 5 Tons, gold plated, 46m long and 15m high

Cask containing Buddha relics

The Grand Palace

Grand palace Entrance

Thailand trials new space rocket

India Inventory

To make calculations easier, I have used an exchange rate of roughly 100 rupees to the pound. In reality the exchange rate has been around 92 or 93/£ so add about 7%, (except if marked with an asterix, which is actual price paid from my bank account). All local taxes included. These can seriously bump up the bill, as prices are generally quoted excluding these and can add up to 17% to the final amount, so always best to ask the price with tax. That applies to everything (hotel, food, drinks) but does not apply to black economy merchandise! No idea why anyone would be interested. It just seemed like a good idea. Might be useful to you, Charley?

Old Delhi

Hotel Arina - £24/night* – pretty average, shoddy, faded, grubby, non-edible breakfast, no hot water. Why did I do that?

Food, Karim’s, Old Delhi, Chadni Chowk, right in the middle of the old bazaar area. Average £3-£4 for main course, side dish and sweet lassi. More like a works canteen, with bare plastic tables and chairs. No alcohol (Muslim run and about 200 metres from the main Mosque), fantastic food and the best food I ate in India, apart from Goa.

Hotel Sterling – just terrible, dirty, only hotel I stayed at in India with accompanying roaches. Wore a scarf to cover nose and ears - waking up with a waxy, squashed roach between your head and the pillow is not very fetching. £25/night*. Definitely got ripped on that one!

New Delhi

Beer, Kingfisher Strong Red Top, 650ml bottle (No more than 8% alcohol – they obviously can’t be more precise) £3

Delhi Airport

I fancied a bit of Western luxury for a night before flying to Goa, and it certainly was that, with thick white towels, fantastic shower, loads of soft toilet paper, a pool, restaurant and bar! Luverly! Careful though, one guy wanted to charge me the equivalent of £29 to take me from the airport to the hotel, about 3km away. What? In the end I begrudgingly paid £5 to another driver. Even that was a bit over the top, but I was knackered after the day/overnight train (22 hours) from Varanasi. Hotel £95 after meal, beer and ‘luxury taxes’ of about £15. Beer 330ml bottle £3.

 Rajasthan

Hotels were between £13-£20 including breakfast, a bit on the pricey side for outside of Delhi, but really very nice, particularly Sajjan Haveli in Jaipur, The Royal Hotel, Jaisalmer and Hotel New Park in Pushkar. Could easly have got hotels for £5-10. Beer, when you can get it, around £2.20-£2.50 for Kingfisher Strong Red Top 650ml bottle.

 Approx. 3-4 hour Tiger Safari – Ranthambore - £7.50

Auto-rickshaw, I agreed £9 for all day in Jaipur, but paid £15 in the end, which I thought was well worth it for over 12 hours of sightseeing. In Delhi I paid £20, not worth it. Top tip, insist on no shopping. Otherwise the driver will take you to look at various really boring touristy emporiums where they get commission both for taking you and on anything you may spend!

Agra – Taj Mahal - £7.50

Other main sites around £3-£4, although many smaller sites are £0.10 or free. Foreigners pay considerably more than locals.

Masala Chai – variable – 5p to 60p. Best I had was at the Kuku Café in Jaisalmer, run by two brothers. They claimed it was made on the premises from 70-80 different spices. Well, yeah, Ok, but it was just fantastic, so I’d like to believe them. I drank gallons of the sweet, hot fiery stuff! Brilliant.

Goa

Hotel Hawaii Comforts, Dona Paula, £15.42/night*, including really great breakfast (Poha = sweet rice, lots of finely chopped green chillies, raisins and fried peanuts, luverly). Fantastic hotel, immaculately clean, people very friendly, 1 minute to small beach, very quiet location. I will give this a 10/10 score on Booking.com. Beer standard price everywhere, hotel and local bars £0.70 for Kingfisher Strong red top 500ml can (The hotel staff walk over the road to buy it on demand from the local shop with no mark-up). Dinner of main course, side dish, sweet lassi (chilli squid, mackerel, sardines) £1.60 - £2.

Bus ride to state capital, Panjim, £0.10 each way, complete with free range hens.

Return flight Delhi International to Goa (Dambolin airport) £206*, pre-paid taxi from airport, approx. 25km (pre-paid seems to be a good, cheap option if travelling a bit of a distance. You pay at the taxi office mostly at airports or larger railway stations and then the taxi driver turns up straight away) - £6.90.

What a fantastic, baffling, maddening, hard to cope with, funny, filthy and contradictory country! (Or at least the small bits I’ve seen) :-)