Guest Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 I had a 17 day vacation during the Christmas holiday season. I suspect it may have set some kind of a punter record, since I never got around to fucking anyone. The high points were the Nanaplaza AGM and a trip to to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. I still think I had a fairly nice time; maybe I should go and see a doctor... I flew in on Saturday afternoon just in time for the AGM. A nice event - thanks to the organizers. Too bad some of the people I was most curious to meet did not show up despite of having bought a ticket. I hope the lady was worth it. Unfortunately the jet lag made me wilt in the middle of the dance contest, and I was forced to leave while still somewhat awake. Consequently I probably missed all the best fun. In any case, it was really amusing to see how the girls react to a really handsome young guy: it seemed that power tools would be needed to separate the prettiest dancer in the bar from Vladican... I suspect that dance contests are not really my thing. I never made it to any of the earlier ones... I once tried to attend a contest in Clinton Plaza, but I gave up before the contest even properly started: it was just too crowded and the action was very late in getting started. Now the crowd was not a problem, but the competition seemed to proceed very slowly, the music was too loud for me and there were too many handsome men competing for the attention of the dancers. I skipped the Sunday afternoon chill-out session in Cathouse, since I felt totally unable to drink anything at that point. I actually paid a visit to the dance contest venue the same evening to get a closer look to the most lively dancer that I had spotted. It turned out that she was actually the dance contest winner, but unfortunately we did not hit off at all. Well, at least one barfine saved. During the first week my opportunities to debauchery were severely limited by having Thai lessons every morning at 9 am. Three hours per day was surprisingly quite okay, but four hours a day was pure hell. However, I wanted to use up all my prepaid lessons before they expired. Actually studying was rather fun now that I had gotten used to the methods at the somewhat infamous Somchart school. Having homework and having to get up early for school meant that I was not able to carouse late into the night, for which my liver probably was very thankful. On Christmas Eve I delivered a present to my (former?) regular in Pretty Lady. She appeared quite delighted and would have liked to go to a disco. I passed, since it was quite enough to be told once in November that she does not want to have sex with me. I actually don't understand why Pretty Lady has such a lame reputation. As far I can see, they have indeed quite a number of pretty ladies, the dancers are quite often showing and the bar has reasonable drink prices for NEP. Even after language school was over, I was not in the mood to prowl the bars hunting for pussy. I tried visiting the gogos a few times, but was not able to work up any enthusiasm. I guess my dreadful November trip had turned me off the scene. Anyway, I was having a quietly nice time taking it easy, playing pool, drinking not that heavily and eating delicious Indian lunches at Malaysia Aunty (Suk Soi 8). Having a sore throat and a slight fever for a few days was also something of a drag. I spotted one interesting girl in one of the bars on Soi 8: rather tall, rather fair skin and with bleached hair. It turned out that she had worked before as a dancer in Patpong, but the crowds (and pressure?) had been too much and she had switched to this much quieter venue. She was from Isaan, but interestingly enough, she claimed to be the only child in the family and that her parents had wanted her to continue school. Instead she had moved to Bangkok to work in bar and to hunt for farang boyfriend; she claimed the parents had been very sad. A charming simple girl; too bad barfining was out of the question - I was not going to risk that on my 'home' soi and with a girl who claimed not to have an ID card good enough for getting into a disco. On the Friday after Christmas I made it to the Nanaplaza gathering at Gulliver's. Too bad that there were basically no new faces compared to the crowd at the AGM. The guys appeared to be a fairly jovial bunch and quite sane, but somehow I could not help feeling like the odd man out. I guess the reason was that I had no interesting sanuk experiences to talk about. I thought about going to the beach, but in the end decided against that. Pattaya would have been the easiest choice, but according to the board it appeared far too busy to risk an impromptu visit. Anyway, going to the beach alone is dreadfully boring. That gave me time for other tourist things, though. On the Monday before New Year's Eve I made a visit to the Royal Barge Museum (open 9am - 5pm). I followed the Rough Guide instructions which probably was not the easiest way to get to the place. The museum has its own pier so you could always go there directly by chartering a longtail boat. The Rough Guide guide tells you to take the express boat to "Tha Rotfai" and walk from there across the bridge over Khlong Bangkok Noi. It was a manageable walk even in the hot afternoon and actually quite interesting, since it suddenly took you to a quite different Bangkok composed of tiny khlongs and narrow twisty alleys winding among ramshackle buildings with a significant population of chickens and roosters. Some of the contrasts were quite oddlike the brand new scooter sheltering under the porch of what was really a shack built from surplus corrugated iron sheeting. The route had quite decent signs, so it was easy enough to get to the museum. However, it was much farther from the main road than I had expected. Getting back was more difficult, since there were no signs for the opposite direction - I took a couple of wrong turns... The barges were impressive, although not totally amazing. The museum was still worth the trip. The entrance fee had been bumped to 30 baht, and there was an extra 100B fee for photography and an even higher one for shooting video. Make sure that the cashier actually gives you the tag that you are required to hang around your neck... The most amazing sight was actually a group of Russian tourists: one middle-aged guy and three delectable blondes. I hope it was two daughters and their extremely well-preserved mother; otherwise I'm going to die from envy. This was actually not surprising - the surprise was that their young female Thai guide sounded to be speaking quite fluent Russian. In retrospect, it is not at all strange, since Thailand has been getting quite many tourists from Russia for a number of years now... On the days before New Year's Eve I spent most of the evenings at Soi 22. It was a nice change of pace when you are sick and tired of gogo bars. One extra benefit is that there seemed to be quite a few bars that were willing to serve drinks well past the 2am official closing time as long as they had customers. They dimmed the lights and turned off the music but you could find the places, especially if you moved away from the main soi. According to the board this seems to be now history - Soi 22 was one of the first areas where midnight closings were enforced. Some of the bars in the Soi 22 area even appear to stock some pretty girls. One late afternoon I escaped the heat to the air-conditioning of "Hairy Pie" (in Washington Square the first bar on the right when you enter from Soi 22). I was surprised to see three positively pretty girls. One was actually more the type you tend to see in Thai Penthouse: quite pale skin, triangular face and sizable tits. I would have tried to make closer acquaintance, except that all the cuties were barfined about ten minutes after I had entered - and it was still not quite 6 pm. (By two guys - presumably regulars - who just came in and had the girls in off-duty clothing without any preliminaries.) Since I had time on my hands, I finally managed to make an excursion to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I got a three nights/four days package from the "Bangkok Journey" travel agency in the shopping arcade at the corner of Sukhumvit Soi 7. I found the service quite good, although the package was probably overpriced at 22900 baht. It included flights, hotel with full board, three day pass to the temples, guide and transportation from/to Siem Reap airport, as well as around the temples. The flight ticket to Siem Reap appeared to cost 11000 baht, and the nominal price for the hotel was USD 60 per night, so the total price did not appear outrageous. However, I'm sure you can find a better deal by shopping around for the pieces separately - provided that you have the competence and time. The night before departing for Cambodia I ran across a young German guy in one of the Soi 22 bars. He had been working in Thailand for three years as a journalist. Apparently it is quite a challenge to report on the really interesting things without stepping over the line and getting in trouble with the establishment... His opinion of Angkor Wat was that it is way too overrated and not worth the trip; just a bigger edition of the Khmer temples he had seen in Isaan. However, in his opinion Myanmar has some really beautiful temples. Well, he may be right about the temples in Myanmar, but I have seen a couple of Khmer temples in Buriram, and I still feel that Angkor was worth the trip. Actually the German was far less interesting than her totally stunning Buriram girlfriend. I guess the guys who are raving about all those white-skinned Thai GTGs would disagree, since her complexion was much darker than you tend to see even in gogo bars. Anyway, I was totally blown away - and she was smartly dressed, too. Handsome young guys can clearly do much better than fat old punters. The flight to Siem Reap was with a Bangkok Airways ATR-7 turboprop. I was traveling with hand luggage only, so I was a bit concerned, if I would freeze in the cabin wearing only sandals and other summer gear. However, the plane was flying low enough so that it never got really chilly. The service was pretty good: they served a snack although the flight took only a bit over one hour. However, the stewardesses were not that good looking. The Siem Reap airport is quite small, but the immigration was efficient enough. The forms needed for the visa on arrival take quite a bit of time to fill, so it is a good idea to pick them up at check-in in Bangkok and to use the travel time to fill them in. Visa cost was USD 20, as expected. The travel agency had told me to take with me two passport photos for the visa. Actually immigration needed only one, but I could use the second one for the photopass to the Angkor temples. The English speaking guide was waiting outside the airport building with transportation, and after that the trip was the standard Angkor package tour experience, I guess. There is no point in trying to describe the temples, but some other impressions: Daytime it is becomes really hot, so I feel that the three hour siesta that the guide enforced was really justified. A hat and sunblock are also a good idea, unless you have had time to acquire a proper tan. Many of the staircases in the temples are positively dangerous: up to ten meters high with very narrow and weathered steps. Sensible shoes and loose clothing are a good idea... I ended up using film far more than I had expected. It would have been better to have a digital camera, especially because the lighting conditions were often very difficult. Now I found out only back home how many crappy shots I had taken... The crowds of tourists were a bit too much in the most popular temples. The tourist pricing was quite merciless. The local taxis charge two dollars per person even for short trips. Twenty dollars per person seems to be the minimum fee for any tourist activity. The street vendors were asking USD 1.5 for a litre of water and haggling was of no use... The food resembled Thai cooking, except that it was more oily and not spicy at all. The food was not that great, but that may have been due to eating only set menus in the restaurants that were dictated by the tour program. The local Angkor beer was rather awful. Fortunately they had also import beers available. I stuck to Japanese Asahi beer, which was not much more expensive at USD 1.80 per bottle (0.33 litres). I was curious about the local nightlife, so on my last evening in Siem Reap I asked my guide about the night spots. He ended up dropping me off at Martini's (!) before heading home. Clearly the ban on nightlife was over, since the place was open again as a disco. It was a Sunday evening, but already around 9 pm there were small groups of local guys on the dance floor. By 10 pm (!) the dance floor was full of local people - boys and girls. The music an eclectic mix of Thai pop, some local stuff and rather out of date Western pop hits. Thankfully the music was not too loud. I did not spot very many Westerners - I think less than ten guys and a couple of women. The drinks appeared to be about as expensive as in Bangkok discos. I found the atmosphere quite good: this was clearly a place where the locals came to party, not just a pick-up joint for prostitutes. Actually the tables next to the entrance seemed to be occupied by local single women, so I suspect that they were there for business. I cannot recall seeing any stunners, but it was quite dark and I was not looking for company - I was very tired after two days of climbing temples and had an early flight the next morning. I called it a day already at 11 pm... The airport passenger service charge had been bumped to USD 25, so it was a good thing that I had not spent my last dollars on prostitutes. The tax free shopping was extremely limited and quite expensive. Overall, a nice vacation. I'm afraid it may be a precedent for future trips: fly to Thailand, enjoy the food, relax for a while spending only little money, and continue onwards to some interesting destination in some other country in the area. Wagner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 2, 2004 Report Share Posted March 2, 2004 Thanks for the excellent and honest report. I hope in the future you will contribute more of them It was good to meet you at the AGM and at the meetings, hopefully our paths will cross again in the future. :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 Angkor is compared to the pyramids by some, as for quality and is considered the largest religious (sic) site in the world. Bagan, in Burma, is considered by some to be better then Angkor and is the largest Buddhist temple area in the world. Not many people have been there. Worth seeing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 personally, i would have liked to see those temples in their heyday. now they are just ruins, and do not hold much attraction for me. if one wants to see similar temples, although on a smaller scale, one should visit the south indian temple cities in tamil nadu and andhra pradesh. there are huge temples, partly very old, but with all the temple life - thousands of priests, temple elephants, pilgrims from all over india, ascets and all what you can think of. large cities mainly surviving from the temples and all the pilgrims. and the temple festivals in the festival season are just beyond anything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 fly me old mucker--Angkor may or may not match Indian temples but they're pretty damn awesome and I would recommend them to anyone --now if you want drama I suggest Machu Pichu in the high Andes--snow peaked mountains (highest mountains in the tropics) rising above jungle mist and the other veiw looking down into the mighty Amazon Rain forest! (let the pissing competition commence ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 never been in ankor, just an expensive pile of stones. never been in the americas either. i need life, what's a temple without priests and pilgrims? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted March 12, 2004 Report Share Posted March 12, 2004 nothing much to see in the americas, but if those stones are that expensive & day passes come for $20 or so I better go 'stock' up before too many other does - would songkran be too hot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pescator Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 Bagan, in Burma, is considered by some to be better then Angkor and is the largest Buddhist temple area in the world Hmm, I thought Borobudour in java took that prize? Cheers Hua Nguu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chilli13 Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 that java temple was nice, but I don't remember it particularly large. anyway someone better compile a top10 or so list over largest worldwide buddhist ancient temple grounds as for pyramids one might think the largest is in egypt, while they're actually in mexico :: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 13, 2004 Report Share Posted March 13, 2004 Mr Guinness and his Records says Java wins Largest Budhist Temple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.