Thailand

Well sure weren’t we the kids on Christmas Eve getting into Bangkok. The flashy lights in the airport said “Long Live the King” which amused me for a few minutes while in the queue. A smiley man took our picture at immigration and we were off outside. The heat hit us like when someone bops a balloon off your head. We decided to get the bus as it went directly past our hostel (according to the hostel website). We only had to try and decipher where exactly that was. Luckily we spotted something that said.. ‘Host’ so I presumed it said “Hostel” and we jumped off. Waheeyyy. We were right!

As we were on the bus we got a text from J&K saying they had arrived and were in their room and to knock up to them when we were ready. Woohooo. Let the games begin! said we…We could see their swanky hotel from the window of our jaxx so we knew it wasn’t far. It took me ages to get ready as I couldn’t find anything to wear. As John said later, it was like going on a date or something. Even when we met up with them first, it felt a bit like an interview/datey situation! He he. But a few beers in and it was like we only left yesterday. We tramped off down the road, as all good Irishmen do, to the nearest Irish pub where we started off our adventures with a few drinks and some Thai grub.

Not really knowing where we were going (yeah right) we stumbled onto what can only be described as Bender’s Boulevard.
It was a right auld experience all right. As we started to walk down this flashy laneway bursting full of beautiful boys, we realized it may have been a mistake! We huddled together to avoid the grabbing hands and feminine voices offering different types of boys in different types of pants. James saw a few guys getting suds up through one of the curtains! He he
When we finally reached the end of the laneway, we realised that in order to get back out, we may have to go through them again! Eek. We decided we needed some Thai whiskies to help us first and so we popped into a place called “Balls” for a tipple.

Afterwards we discovered a sneaky way out of the laneway and went to Patpong road for some normal (ish – nothing is normal in Bangkok) drinks and banter. The world cup was on behind us, but to be honest, we paid little or no attention to it. We didn’t even know who had won the next day. We filled our bellies with tons of different cocktails and whiskies and beers and had a great laugh. We were joined by a flute toting woman and then by two birds who worked in the bar. The 2 girls tried to teach us some Thai songs, but not many of us could get the words right. (I could – the rest were twisted.. )
Then we all acted the maggot in a tuk tuk home.

The following day we all tripped off to ye olde Suite Shoppe, where me & Jim got free water, whilst the other two got measured up for their new birthday suits.
Then we got a lift (ooooh) into Siam Paragon (the shopping centre) where Jim, Karen & I had lunch and John went cigarette shopping . We hopped on the skytrain to go to the park, but it started to bucket down so we settled for some coffees and small shopping instead. Later on, on a recommendation from John & Karen’s guide – the elusive ‘JAY’, we all headed to this scrumptious restaurant and ordered way too much delicious food. We had pink cocktails in booby & bum glasses, lots of things to dip in other things and much more really really good food.
As we were told that most places were closed due to a religious holiday, we decided to go to Th Khao San (famous backpacker road) for some late cheapy drinks. In the first bar they were only selling whisky, but the second bar handed over the beers. :D

On our third day in Bangkok, the lads went for their second fitting and we met up with them after at the temple in Bangkok – for some temple viewing. The day was really really heavy, and the four of us were like sweaty hobos within the hour. We speeded up our temple viewing – i.e. took pictures of ourselves in front of it and fucked off and hopped into a water taxi, which took the four of us around the small canals of Bangkok. (Thanks to J&K for that!) we saw humoungous fish that feasted on fresh bread and a lot of riverside wooden houses on stilts. I dunno how the houses haven’t fallen in, we saw one woman waist-high in water, under her house, hammering nails into the foundations. Kerrrazzeeee..

Later on, we still hadn’t had enough boating so we opted for a riverside feast on a boat. The boat went up and down the river past lots of fabulous temples (The Temple of Dawn) as we ate our fill. There were some fancy pants Thai dancers in costumes who entertained us as we ate. (See pics) After our disappointment at Th Khao San last night, we decided to stay around the Patpong area for drinks. But it was another religious holiday! DOH! So we ended up at BAR TOPLESS, for drinks, shits & giggles. We met some Englishmen – Andy & Dave – who seemed very helpful and full of advice on Thailand. Andy told us how his Thai wife had died from Dengue Fever earlier this year and the terrible things he had to go through to be allowed to bury his wife. He stressed the importance of smothering ourselves in mosquito juice and even carted Jim off to the shop to show him which mosquito preventative juice to buy! Lol.
Nonetheless he was a nice guy, and kept ringing people he knew to tell them that his friends (aka us) were coming to Chiang Mai/Koh Samui etc etc. he even gave us phone numbers of his friends. :/ I think he was a genuine guy but it was a lil weird all the same.
Some other guy came along with Jub Jub on his shoulder and we all got pics with Jub Jub.