Two Dutch girls (Jitske and Sanne) moved into the bungalow next to mine on Pulau Weh and Jitske was my buddy on three dives. They also headed back to Kuala Lumpur and so I had some people to share the rides and kill some time. We got into a taxi and took the ferry to Banda Aceh at 8:00h in the morning which meant I had to get up at six. Havent been up that early in some time but at least you can easily sleep on the flight and on the bus. On our way from Banda to the airport we had some time left and so we persuaded the taxi driver to get us to a “sight” at no extra charge.
The tidal wave on Boxing Day 2004 hit Banda Aceh pretty hard and a power generator was washed inland to about 4-5 km from its initial place at the beach. When the girls suggested we had a look I was not too enthusiastic, but once I noticed the size of the generator, I realized how much power and impact the wave had on the city. The generator is about 60m long, 30m wide and 20m high. I don’t know how much that thing weighs but you get an idea of how much power the tsunami had.
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| half of the power generator |
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| the other half |
We also took a quick look at the monument for the victims of Banda Aceh.
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| tidal wave memorial |
The flight was straightforward and as said before I didn’t have any trouble sleeping. Having arrived in KL we had to wait at least 45 minutes to get thru immigration. Next time you just need to speed up to get from the aircraft to the arrival hall, especially when you are placed at the back of the plane with just one staircase at the front. I tried a different line to get thru immigration and Murphy’s Law owned me once again. Therefore I almost missed the bus into the city.
In the evening we went for a drink at the market in KL, where I got to meet some other nice Dutch people.
The next day I had my flight to Bangkok. Slowly I am becoming a regular at the KL airport ;-). Not sure what the “normal” terminal looks like but with just 3 restaurants, 1 Starbucks and one overpriced shop the low cost carrier terminal kinda sucks trying to kill some time.
The airport in Bangkok just blows you away with its size. 4 levels each big enough to fit a small terminal in it. So it takes some time finding your way in this mega-building and you certainly don’t wanna be late for you flight as it takes ages to get from the bus platform to your gate. Once again immigration took me half an hour but at least the visa is free of charge so I am not complaining.
Bangkok soon became my favourite city in South East Asia and so I took a break from travelling and decided to stay much longer than I had planned initially. About 3 weeks I spent in a small guest house just next to the popular shopping centre MBK. The rate was 15 Euro and therefore more expensive than my usual travel accommodation. But it was more of a hotel standard than guest house. Cooling air-conditioning, hot shower, soft towels and daily cleaning service contributed to my comfort greatly. I had none of that on the Perhentian Islands for instance.
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| MBK at night |
Bangkok is truly a bustling mega city with enormous traffic issues. Usually a city uses 20-25% of its size for roads. In BKK it’s only 8-12% and so you have traffic jams throughout the city from 6-22h. Ten years ago a mass transit system, called BTS, was built, but although the trains are always cramped, it didn’t really solve the problem. One day we wanted to go from the Royal Palace to Chinatown at around noon and had to ask at least 5 tuk-tuk drivers to take us there. They didn’t wanna drive there because they would have been stuck in traffic for ages.
Severe riots took place some months before I arrived in Bangkok. The “Red Shirts”, supported by the Prime Minister, fought against the army, who was still loyal to the king. Supposedly the Red Shirts had their headquarters just two roads down from where I stayed. News reported several killings on both sides and the impact on BKK’s people will last for a while as it was still one of the top topics. Also, you could still see a lot of soldiers with assault rifles on the street during the night. “Central World” one of the biggest shopping malls in South East Asia burnt down and was just being restored as I visited. Even the German ministry of foreign affairs issued a recommendation not to visit Bangkok but luckily they withdrew the warning by the time I went there. With the warning still in effect my travel insurance would have become invalid and there is nothing worse than having an accident in a foreign country without being covered by insurance.
I met John, an old friend from back in the days of my apprenticeship, shortly after my arrival . He and his wife Duky are BKK regulars and that‘s maybe why I have grown to like this city so much. John is truly fascinated with this town and apparently he infected me. Having not seen each other for a couple of years we caught up we walked around the Siam, Pratunam and Sukhumvit area. He pinpointed BKK’s highlights as we moved thru the cramped streets. One of them was the upper class Shopping Center “Siam Paragon” which delicatessens stunned me. Everything is handmade and for a fraction of what they charge back home. Also the mall features the biggest supermarket I have seen on this travel. You get basically everything including many brands from Germany, at a certain price of course. A new store of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts opened on this day and the people queued up several hundred meters. I passed by a few days later and there was still a never ending line of people.
We met again in the evening started with a Singha (means lion) beer at a street stall. Some fellas from Nigeria took a seat next to us and we chatted a bit. They were here to buy t-shirts and then sell them back home. Our guess was drug dealers as one of them didn’t even ask when helping himself to one of our fags.
I was introduced to a Swiss friend of John who manages a go-go club at Nana Plaza (one of the most infamous entertainment places) and over the time I visited him several times. We had some beers and before long we ended up almost drunk in “Spanky’s” where the name indicates what is going on inside.
The next day John, Duky and I took a scenic boat trip up the river Chao Phraya, passing huge temples on the western bank, to see the Royal Palace.
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| unfortunately I didnt catch the name of this temple |
Highlight is Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) with one of Thailand’s most famous Buddha images made from pure jasper.Depending on the season, the Buddha wears different clothes and also the visitors must adhere to a certain dress code. You cant really tell by the pic but this was one of the very few days I put on long pants.
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| Emerald Buddha in the background |
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| Wat Preah Kaew with some pagodas and stupas in the background |
Also there is a big sign commanding you not to point your feet towards the Buddha and also not to step on any thresholds when entering a building. On site you have lots of stupas, pagodas and jaks all decorated and carved with an enormous attention to detail.
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| golden jak guarding the entrance |
Sharing some sort of history with Cambodia there was also a model of Angkor Wat, but since I will be visiting the world’s biggest religious monument myself I didn’t wanna spoil the fun and just took a quick look. Once again, marvellously manufactured.
Later this day we went to bustling Chinatown (the place no driver wanted to take us) to experience a different world full of sounds, tastes and scents. My guess is there are just a few things you cant get in BKK’s Chinatown and even a mobile phone for a recently departed friend or relative is no problemo.
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| me in bustling Chinatown |
I liked best a very narrow lane where all kind of food, herbs and spices are on offer. Sometimes fish was so fresh that there was still blood dripping out of the beheaded bodies.
A very big thank you to John and Duky who took some time off their well-deserved holiday to show me around. Much appreciated, guys
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| selection in every colour in Chinatown |
Pool is pretty big in the city with BKK having its own amateur pool league in which several clubs compete against each other. And we are talking proper American pool and not that crappy English version played on an 8-foot tables with a way to slow cloth and snooker cues.
Via GoogleMaps I found a place just next to Nana Plaza with great equipment (Brunswick Tournament Table and Cuetec house cues in excellent conditions). Having not played for almost half a year, I became really enthusiastic getting my stroke back which took me about two weeks and was one of the reasons why I stayed in this town for so long. Although I didn’t play as good as back home, I occasionally scored heavily and made some nice table-runs or even total clearances. I played Brad, a great Aussie bloke, for at least 7 or 8 days, 4-5 hours straight without getting bored. Although I won most of the days, he caught up pretty quickly and so it was good fun getting back into the game. Big shout out to Brad, whom I will be visiting in Australia in February next year.
On the downside, staff is too eager to please you. They always want to rack up as a service to the guests, but most of them don’t know the first ball must touch the next row for it to become a successful break. Also they always want to take the rest after your shot but don’t know that it is extremely irritating if someone jumps up from their seat, rushes towards you to take your rest, while you are focusing on your shot.
If you don’t have a partner, you can always play against the bar girls. Good thing is they know the proper rules and there is no “two shots if you sink the white ball”-crap. Although they don’t play great and I think they let you win if you don’t give’em an incentive to beat you, it is an enjoyable pastime.
There is more I would like to share about Bangkok but since I haven’t been updating my blog for 6 weeks I am eager to get some posts out.
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| Child playing at Chatuchak Market |
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| Squirrels on offer at Chatuchak Market |
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