A Stop in Hua Hin and On to Bangkok


After four days on Koh Tao it was off to the mainland, the first time not staying on an island.  The trip to Bangkok was an excruciating 12 hour+ affair via ferry and bus.  I thought it best to stop somewhere along the way to break up the trip and see a smaller city.  We picked Hua Hin, a coastal vacation spot for wealthy Bangkok residents.

The beachfront in Hua Hin

We stayed in Hua Hin for only two nights, as it was more of a transit stop for us.  That seemed to be enough as the city didn't have much for tourists.  There were interesting markets and some nightlife - but as with most of Thailand you get the working girls ladyboys too.

From Hua Hin we took a train to Bangkok.  Buses are common but we wanted to experience the train.  It was nice to have done it but not the best way to travel.  It took us 5 hours to make the 200 km journey on an old non-AC packed train.  It was great to get off once we arrived in Bangkok!

a typical second class train in Thailand

As it stands now my trip will be quite jumbled and I'm scheduled to end up back in Bangkok several times.  So now I'll just give a brief overview and go into a bit more detail on later posts when I find myself back in the Big Mango (Bangkok's nickname).

Bangkok is a city with over 7 million residents, and close to 15 million if you count the surrounding metro.  No other city in Thailand comes close in size - the second largest city has only two million people!  With that in mind it is no surprise that Thailand's wealth and economic activity are centered in the capital.  But the economic opportunities have also drawn millions of poor Thais from the rural areas, particularly in the north, to Bangkok slums in search of jobs.  I have seen slums before - Manila and Chennai are probably worse - but they are still an eye opener.

In addition to slums Bangkok is home to high rise apartment complexes, business towers, and luxurious hotels.  Mike and I visited the skybar on the 61st floor of the Lebua State Tower, featured in the movie Hangover 2.  The rooftop bar has stunning views overlooking downtown.  No shorts or open shoes are allowed - which is no easy task in scorching Bangkok.  The city is one of the hottest on the planet.  Most days were in the mid 30s (mid to upper 90s Fahrenheit  and nights stayed in the mid 20s plus (80 degrees).  But donning jeans and paying 13 dollars for a beer was well worth the experience.  Hell 13 bucks is a normal price for a beer in Norway!

the throbbing metropolis of Bangkok
View of the riverfront from the Lebua Sky Bar


Bangkok is also a magnet for backpackers - some stay for sightseeing, others are simply transiting to other parts of the country.  The area near Khao San Road is backpacker central and where Mike and I stayed.  There are plenty of restaurants, hotels, and bars, but is surprisingly not as seedy as Puket.  Bangkok has a reputation for sex tourism and partying but I didn't see it on display as much.  There are definitely areas of the city where you will see prostitutes and go-go bars (where men go to find the ladies of the night) but they are not as ubiquitous as some islands in the south.

infamous backpacker hot-spot Khao San Road

The city was much more of a circus a generation ago, but the government set out to change its image.  Bars are supposed to close by 1 am and the curfew is actually in force (some of the time - paying money to the police can get you a lot of things here).  Clubs and certain establishments stay open until the wee hours of the morning though.

It was too bad for Mike and I because while we were in Bangkok the NCAA basketball tournament started.  In my opinion the first weekend of the tournament is the most exciting time in all of college sports.  Since places in Phuket and Phi Phi stay open seemingly all night, we thought it wouldn't be a problem to find one in Bangkok for late night tourney viewing.  Due to the time change the games were on between 11 pm and 10 am here.  We managed to locate an American sports bar showing early games, but it closed by 2:30 or so.  We also streamed a few games on our laptops too.

I never knew it would be so hard to find the games on
in Bangkok...and Georgetown screwed my bracket!

Although we didn't see all the games, NCAA tourney watching still cut significantly into sightseeing time.  I wasn't too concerned since I will be back not too long.  I fly from Bangkok to Germany to visit my sisters in May, so I can give myself more time here if I want!

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