Jon the Traveller

Before I left, in fact while still mulling this trip over last summer, I decided to invite my family out to meet in Thailand over Easter – or during the Thai New Year Festival of Songkran. They took the offer up and so it was decided that the trip would happen and I’d meet them in Thailand when they arrived.

After Ko Lanta I had to head to Bangkok to meet the family when they arrived, so I got there a day or two early, meeting up with Daniel & Danielle, both from the South-East Asia 2010 Facebook group I keep harping on about (JOIN NOW!).

We had a good couple of days – went shopping, watched the Red’s before things turned ugly a few weeks later, and drank (3 Brits meeting up for the first time it goes without saying really!) in various bars around the Khao San.

Then my family arrived.

I met them out at Suvarnabhumi Airport and got them to their amazingly good hotel – they stayed at the Imperial Tara just off Sukhumvit Road – and dragged them to the Suan Lum Night Bazaar for good food and some shopping. I really hate to shop now. However, they enjoyed it – their food was good and they got to bargain with the vendor’s, which is one of the fun things to do in Thailand.

We had agreed that their time in Bangkok and it’s surrounds would be the usual array of sightseeing, followed by a day trip to Kanchanaburi. Without rushing them at all, I got them round the main Bangkok sights on their first proper day as well as ensuring they knew their way around the sky train themselves and then arranged to meet them down the Khao San Road that evening for dinner, so they could see how the other half live.

They, like so many others before them (mostly backpackers at that) loved the KSR. Had a little of everything they expected in Thailand, yet with the familiarity of the atypical holiday town, just a tad noisier than they are used too. I was quite pleased they enjoyed themselves on that most infamous of streets, as Ao Nang where were headed in a day or two is very similar, just more up market.

I really cannot say much about their visit to Kanchanaburi – I went with them – as I had been up drinking with Kelsey & Marcus amongst others till 7a.m. and only grabbed 2 hours sleep before meeting them. I do know doing anything like that still drunk and on little sleep was a bad idea. Not that bad as I did the same thing that night.

We flew down to Krabi – closest airport to Ao Nang – following that second all-night bender of mine.

Edit: Pictures to be added once uploaded.

Don Det to Pakse: Minibus with broken aircon.

Pakse to Ubon: Thai-Laos Friendship bus that kept going back to the bus station over and over.

Ubon to Bangkok: Overnight bus, sharing a blanket for most of the night with a random Thai girl who thought I was a giant pillow. Not complaining though!

Arriving in Bangkok I headed towards the Khao San Road, passing the area were the “Reds”- supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – were busy setting up stages and roadside camps for the tens of thousands who would be descending on the city the following day to protest the governments treatment of Thaksin; the crippling poverty they are suffering from and generally to try to force the current government to dissolve and bring in a fresh parliament, hopefully led by someone who believes in their cause. A few days later I was back in Bangkok and it was still very busy with Reds and in their main encampments there was quite the carnival atmosphere, no trouble towards farang, more joy that you are in the area taking an interest.

While in the city I met up with Mat, the founder of the South East Asia 2010 Facebook group I have mentioned previously.

He was readying himself to move on to Malaysia, so we spent a few days wandering the city, running from persistent Thai whores and sorting our respective onward journeys – him to Penang and me to Kanchanaburi.