Arun eventually emerged to join me for lunch, after which we decided to wander the Road for a little bit. Becoming more familiar with it, it was evident that rather than many options, there was lots of the same things to do - five 7-elevens, 10 foot massage places, infinite interwoven bars. A Gorillaz t-shirt shone right out at me from one of the stalls and i bought it, getting about a quarter off the asking price after a spot of casual bartering.
We needed to scout out our next bed for the following night, knowing that a night out was going to leave us a little the worse for wear the next day. After a little searching we settled on a little hostel down one of the alleys, which was later to prove a mistake. Before we realised this though, we went looking for a place for a quiet beer, and whilst the Irish pub we found wasn't the most authentic Thai experience, the pool table and friendly staff more than made up for it. Plus, i won at pool.
With our uncreative lunch experience in mind, we later went looking for a more interesting place to eat some dinner, and after searching the lanes behind Khao San Road (where any hint of the party atmosphere just metres away disappears amidst local families cooking and eating their own dinners in long rows of open tables) we found an awesome place that served fresh barbequed fish. Half way through our meal, an unassuming little Thai dude set up an acoustic guitar and proceeded to gently entertain us with a selection of belters. He sang quietly and powerfully and Arun and I made sure he knew we were loving it.
Arun, suffering everso slightly from his first Khao San night out, went for a brief nap so I decided to head up to the Roof Bar which we could see from our room across the street. It turned out to be just as cool as it looked. I sat down with a whiskey (a measure of which from here would make several members of my family smile - think triple) and got chatting to Kim, the dude from New Zealand who would feature much more in the coming days. We chatted about tobacco and Thailand for an hour, and once Arun rose we all met up at the big Centre Point Bar - the main starting point for a night out here. With a "bucket" each (essentially a bottle of spirit dumped into a bucket of ice with 2 red bull concentrates and a bottle of coke) we proceeded to meet more and more people, all of whom were up for any kind of chat you like. Kim and I decided to take a crack at pool, but just as we set up two hefty looking Thai girls jumped out of their seat, demanding that since one of them had won the last game, they had to play me. She played one handed and lefty, evidently trying to take the piss, and it was working as we played the tightest game ever. As Kim cheered me on, i kept my cool to sink the black and proceeded to have a little jig before politely bowing to my competitor. This bow might have saved my life as she was anything but a good loser; she turned on Kim, screaming "You fuck off! Are you fucking blind or deaf?! Get out!!" We all left, with a small crew in tow.
As we sat at another bar, some cute little kids came up to sell us some stuff, but taking a shine to us decided to have a dance and sing with us instead. After this, Arun, Kim and I moved everyone up to Hippie the Bar for yet another bucket and after this the night became a little bit Blackpool, except, that was, for the fried scorpions Kim bought back for the three of us to try. They were more than edible, tasting kind of like crackling and with the texture of...well, a scorpion. It was about 7 in the morning and the sun was rising when we realised that, whilst having had a hell of a fun night out, that really is all you get from Khao San Road, and that once is enough. The next day this became even more apparent thanks to some cracking hangovers all round; admittedly one night had cost us the whole next day.
Arun and I did (eventually) manage to check out of our place and lug our things across to MarcoPolo hostel, our stop for the next two nights. Receptions can be deceptive, as upon arriving in my room, already feeling a little delicate, we were greeted with the most god-awful smell imaginable, the source of which i never discovered and am delighted to have seen the back of this morning. The beds were solid and without duvet, so we both opted to use our towels to cover our legs at night whilst being blasted with air con (turning the air con off was a less desirable option).
Arun slept, but i couldn't, probably thanks to the red bull concentrate. I tried to use a cash machine, and so began my adventure with Natwest's fraud department. Seeing as this blog is meant to be interesting at all, i will leave this alone, suffice to say that if the camp travel agent near our hostel hadn't taken a shine to me and helped well beyond his call of duty, i might be on a flight home.
I managed to make it all the way through to 10p.m. and sat downstairs on the Road to grab a little dinner before going up to bed for the best sleep ever (i barely even noticed the smell).
As we both woke yesterday with a film of yellow over our eyes, we decided to recuperate with a creative breakfast of cereal and mango shakes. We decided that we had to pay for our sins by doing some proper tourism, and proper tourism we did. In the blazing midday heat we walked slowly towards the river, aiming to catch a boat across to Wat Arun ("the Temple of the Dawn"). For 3 baht we were ferried south and jumped off right outside the Wat. It is an incredible place to see up close; the intricate detail gets impossibly more beautiful close up and the serenity of the sight of monks eating their food behind the temple beats the atmosphere of any film. The main structure juts upwards like a cone, with stairs along the side getting as steep as probably 70 degrees, an intimidating prospect on the way down. The beauty of this area was immense and the peacefulness slowly brought us both fully back to life.
On the way back we decided to catch the local bus-boat right up the river instead of walking back through town. Our spirits lifted, we watched Bangkok, half beauty half business, roll by for about 20 minutes. The only disturbance on this trip was an unbelievable Manc fella who, when tapped on the shoulder and asked not to sit on the steps of the boat, proceeded to scream right back at the little Thai ticket lady. Arun and I stepped right in, telling him where to get off and that if he did what he said he would and threw her off the boat, we'd politely do the same to him. He shut up.
A tuk-tuk took us home and we grabbed some chicken sticks on the road behind Khao San, Rambuthri, a far more pleasant little strip where the hippie-backpacker vibe exists more strongly. After this we met up with Rory's friend Giftzy, the most lovely young lady around who has sorted out our travel today; we're headed south for Ko Tao island on an overnight coach/bus ride which should arrive mid-morning tomorrow.
We finished the day on Rambuthri with a nice dinner, and hooked up with Kim to say goodbye over a shisha. It was a perfect day to end Bangkok.
Sunday
[Arun conserved energy by only seeing 1 Wat]
Our last afternoon in Delhi could not have gone better. Once we got out of the Internet cafe, we wandered round Connaught Place outdoor shopping hub about 7 times. On each rotation we changed our trajectory everso slightly and if it wasn't for the burning bright McDonalds sign we wouldn't have noticed we were lapping the same place. Delhi is bustling. About 20 people said "nice hat!' to Arun.
We met up with one of our friends from AVS school where we taught 4 years ago, Gaurav, and his friend from Hong Kong via King's College London Gabriel and had a great catch up over lunch at Haldiram's. Gaurav, ever the organiser, made sure that anyone we might know in the area knew we were there, and with an hour left he ushered us into a small blues bar to meet another AVS student, Kishan, and his university mates. We were bought beer after beer and challenged to a 'bottums' up competition as we were in a rush. These guys can down a drink. We were royally humbled but suitably drunk, and with that we hailed a tuk-tuk and headed back to Guest House. The driver from the day before was forgiven everso slightly as this driver could not find the room either. After a kind of landmark-lucky-dip in the dark, we managed to find it all of our own accord, which went some way to making us feel more like badass travellers.
It was straight to the airport to catch our nightmare flight to Bangkok; we checked it at 10.30 and took off at 1.30 am. As we flew towards the sunrise over desolate southern Burma, "All Along the Watchtower" burst into my ears and through exhaustion i suddenly realised how amazing this was going to be. It was smooth from the airport to our accomodation, and I only got more excited after chatting to Sebastian, the Parisian adventurer who says he'll meet us at the Half Moon Party.
Once we got to Khao San Road via a bus that drove past 5 or 6 temples ('Wats') we wandered up and down the street, trying to acclimatise but actually just dazzling ourselves with all the colours and choices of places to go. We slept through most of the day, having planned to wake up for dinner and beers later.
We hit one of the half-empty bars at 7, and from that point on the street just got busier and busier, until it was full of everyone. More beers and more chats with friendly tourists followed, as we indulged in more football on tele, not a particularly anti-social thing to do on Khao San Road on a Saturday as the time difference makes a full Premier League line-up more like a good ngiht out. As United smashed Brum, we got talking to Magnus, the English bar/restraunt owner from Manchester, and Scott, the Aussie non-football fan. We all had a great laugh watching the street roll by and we couldn't help but wander out in to the mire every so often to purchase one kind of treat or another. I personally rejoiced at finding Rizla, although it became obvious that you can get anything here if you look hard enough. Khao San Road is clearly set up for first-timers, and we found it to be the perfect start; we mentioned to the guys that whilst it was tricky to avoid the scammers and touts on the road, our few days in Delhi had made for great practice in avoidance. It's simply not as desperate here.
My exhaustion got the better of me around 1, so i left the guys and headed back to sleep. Arun stumbled in, heavily, a couple of hours later having apparently had an amazing time, which i'm going to have to fill him in on when he wakes up in a couple of hours. We're both buzzing about our time here, though it's hard to say exactly what we're going to get up to as new opportunities exist at every turn. We wouldn't want it any other way.
We met up with one of our friends from AVS school where we taught 4 years ago, Gaurav, and his friend from Hong Kong via King's College London Gabriel and had a great catch up over lunch at Haldiram's. Gaurav, ever the organiser, made sure that anyone we might know in the area knew we were there, and with an hour left he ushered us into a small blues bar to meet another AVS student, Kishan, and his university mates. We were bought beer after beer and challenged to a 'bottums' up competition as we were in a rush. These guys can down a drink. We were royally humbled but suitably drunk, and with that we hailed a tuk-tuk and headed back to Guest House. The driver from the day before was forgiven everso slightly as this driver could not find the room either. After a kind of landmark-lucky-dip in the dark, we managed to find it all of our own accord, which went some way to making us feel more like badass travellers.
It was straight to the airport to catch our nightmare flight to Bangkok; we checked it at 10.30 and took off at 1.30 am. As we flew towards the sunrise over desolate southern Burma, "All Along the Watchtower" burst into my ears and through exhaustion i suddenly realised how amazing this was going to be. It was smooth from the airport to our accomodation, and I only got more excited after chatting to Sebastian, the Parisian adventurer who says he'll meet us at the Half Moon Party.
Once we got to Khao San Road via a bus that drove past 5 or 6 temples ('Wats') we wandered up and down the street, trying to acclimatise but actually just dazzling ourselves with all the colours and choices of places to go. We slept through most of the day, having planned to wake up for dinner and beers later.
We hit one of the half-empty bars at 7, and from that point on the street just got busier and busier, until it was full of everyone. More beers and more chats with friendly tourists followed, as we indulged in more football on tele, not a particularly anti-social thing to do on Khao San Road on a Saturday as the time difference makes a full Premier League line-up more like a good ngiht out. As United smashed Brum, we got talking to Magnus, the English bar/restraunt owner from Manchester, and Scott, the Aussie non-football fan. We all had a great laugh watching the street roll by and we couldn't help but wander out in to the mire every so often to purchase one kind of treat or another. I personally rejoiced at finding Rizla, although it became obvious that you can get anything here if you look hard enough. Khao San Road is clearly set up for first-timers, and we found it to be the perfect start; we mentioned to the guys that whilst it was tricky to avoid the scammers and touts on the road, our few days in Delhi had made for great practice in avoidance. It's simply not as desperate here.
My exhaustion got the better of me around 1, so i left the guys and headed back to sleep. Arun stumbled in, heavily, a couple of hours later having apparently had an amazing time, which i'm going to have to fill him in on when he wakes up in a couple of hours. We're both buzzing about our time here, though it's hard to say exactly what we're going to get up to as new opportunities exist at every turn. We wouldn't want it any other way.
Friday
[It's all gone Steve Wright]
As one commenter on the previous blog entry noted, my ending was a little unfashionable and abrupt. The story of the next few days offers an explanation of this.
As i sat down in the Cyber Cafe in Guwahati to write the first blog entry, i suddenly became overwhelmed by a fever; looking around at Arun's cousin Bhaskar, i explained to him that the pastries we'd eaten earlier most definitely contained a load of nuts, disguised by delicious spice and veg. We abandoned the Internet and headed straight home, where i remained for the rest of the afternoon feeling awful.
At this point I should point out, and i'll emphasise it with the super-power of capital letters, I'M FINE! I had about 48 hours of fever and a bad stomach, but now it's friday afternoon in Delhi, and all is well. It's buzzing and beeping outside and it must have climbed to about 25 degrees.
We both had an incredible time in Guwahati. Arun's extended family are the most wonderful hosts, and we managed to visit most of the people we visited four years ago in the space of three days. Spending some time with Arun's uncles on his mother's side was a lot of fun, as some hilarious photos will show. On Thursday morning, about 24 hours after nut-gate, we were escorted by Borditta back to Guwahati airport for our flight to Delhi. After fond farewells we sat down in the tiny little departure lounge and were approached by a young lady (whose name we never discovered) who was an Assamese tourist student. We chatted to her for half an hour and as we did, it became apparent to me how lucky I, in particular, was to visit the region. It's truly a beautiful part of the world; a piece of India barely touched by Westerners, as Arun put it. Whilst our stay this time was short, it was, in the words of Budumama (Arun's uncle), very sweet.
After a comfortable two hour flight back to Delhi, we met Arun's cousin Loya and got in the back of the same car we'd been dropped off in a few days earlier. The only difference this time was the driver. Apparently, he only spoke Punjab. With Loya communicating in English, Hindi and Assamese, we eventually made it to the Guest House where we were due to stay, but only after several detours round and round the same area, and a nice clean scrape against a parked motorcycle on the side of the road. With all due respect to our driver, none of us were sure if he'd driven before, let alone in Delhi.
So we woke this morning, after an evening of watching wrestling, knowing that today was something of a waiting day. We're taking a trip around the city, and we've arranged to meet one of our closest friends from Assam Valley School, where we taught 4 years ago, who is now studying in Delhi. Tonight we check out of the guest house at around 9, to catch our flight to Bangkok at 1 a.m. We'll land at 7.30 Thai time, and then it all begins.
As i sat down in the Cyber Cafe in Guwahati to write the first blog entry, i suddenly became overwhelmed by a fever; looking around at Arun's cousin Bhaskar, i explained to him that the pastries we'd eaten earlier most definitely contained a load of nuts, disguised by delicious spice and veg. We abandoned the Internet and headed straight home, where i remained for the rest of the afternoon feeling awful.
At this point I should point out, and i'll emphasise it with the super-power of capital letters, I'M FINE! I had about 48 hours of fever and a bad stomach, but now it's friday afternoon in Delhi, and all is well. It's buzzing and beeping outside and it must have climbed to about 25 degrees.
We both had an incredible time in Guwahati. Arun's extended family are the most wonderful hosts, and we managed to visit most of the people we visited four years ago in the space of three days. Spending some time with Arun's uncles on his mother's side was a lot of fun, as some hilarious photos will show. On Thursday morning, about 24 hours after nut-gate, we were escorted by Borditta back to Guwahati airport for our flight to Delhi. After fond farewells we sat down in the tiny little departure lounge and were approached by a young lady (whose name we never discovered) who was an Assamese tourist student. We chatted to her for half an hour and as we did, it became apparent to me how lucky I, in particular, was to visit the region. It's truly a beautiful part of the world; a piece of India barely touched by Westerners, as Arun put it. Whilst our stay this time was short, it was, in the words of Budumama (Arun's uncle), very sweet.
After a comfortable two hour flight back to Delhi, we met Arun's cousin Loya and got in the back of the same car we'd been dropped off in a few days earlier. The only difference this time was the driver. Apparently, he only spoke Punjab. With Loya communicating in English, Hindi and Assamese, we eventually made it to the Guest House where we were due to stay, but only after several detours round and round the same area, and a nice clean scrape against a parked motorcycle on the side of the road. With all due respect to our driver, none of us were sure if he'd driven before, let alone in Delhi.
So we woke this morning, after an evening of watching wrestling, knowing that today was something of a waiting day. We're taking a trip around the city, and we've arranged to meet one of our closest friends from Assam Valley School, where we taught 4 years ago, who is now studying in Delhi. Tonight we check out of the guest house at around 9, to catch our flight to Bangkok at 1 a.m. We'll land at 7.30 Thai time, and then it all begins.
Wednesday
[What's New Pussyclart?]
(The first cigarette off the plane was incredible ;) Smoking room in arrivals!)
We touched down in Delhi after an eight-and-a-half hour flight in which Arun slept most of the way and I managed no sleep at all. India is currently leaving its winter and we were greeted by warm sunshine on a fresh day. After meeting Arun's cousin Loya, we spent our first day travelling around New Delhi by foot and by tuk-tuk. In a bit of a jet-lagged daze, we grabbed a bite to eat, then another, whilst sampling some of the shops in Connaught Place, a fashionable and busy shopping area.
The atmosphere in Delhi is dominated by traffic at almost all times; the sounds and smells are overwhelming but not at all off putting. I kept wishing i could discern exactly what i could smell.
We spent a night in a nice guesthouse, complete with 3 live Premier League games on the TV, which helped us relax enough to sleep before our early start the next day.
The next day we left early for the airport to catch out flight to Guwahati (gwa-ha-tee), the capital of Assam and our home for the next 3 nights. Whilst sat in the airport, we both suddenly realised that we were completely exhausted, to the extent that we spent most of our waiting time horizontal on some lush leather bed-chairs.
Once were up in the air, the sky was clear enough for me to watch the Himalayas slowly roll by for 2 hours, of which Arun caught 15 minutes due to another impressive bout of sleeping. At Guwahati airport Arun's uncle, who we call Borditta (which means elder uncle), met us immediately and we were chauffeured, once again in fresh, warm sunshine, across town to the family house.
We spent the following two days visiting relatives all over town, including some of the local elders at the chemist next to Borditta's house, being well-received and over-fed on each occasion. My appetite is completely dwarfed by Arun's, but it works well in that we finish most of what we are offered at each house. Whilst still experiencing jet-lag, we are both well rested and very much ready for our trip to Bangkok next week.
Tomorrow we fly back to Delhi, the next day (Friday) we check in to the airport for our overnight flight to Bangkok.
We touched down in Delhi after an eight-and-a-half hour flight in which Arun slept most of the way and I managed no sleep at all. India is currently leaving its winter and we were greeted by warm sunshine on a fresh day. After meeting Arun's cousin Loya, we spent our first day travelling around New Delhi by foot and by tuk-tuk. In a bit of a jet-lagged daze, we grabbed a bite to eat, then another, whilst sampling some of the shops in Connaught Place, a fashionable and busy shopping area.
The atmosphere in Delhi is dominated by traffic at almost all times; the sounds and smells are overwhelming but not at all off putting. I kept wishing i could discern exactly what i could smell.
We spent a night in a nice guesthouse, complete with 3 live Premier League games on the TV, which helped us relax enough to sleep before our early start the next day.
The next day we left early for the airport to catch out flight to Guwahati (gwa-ha-tee), the capital of Assam and our home for the next 3 nights. Whilst sat in the airport, we both suddenly realised that we were completely exhausted, to the extent that we spent most of our waiting time horizontal on some lush leather bed-chairs.
Once were up in the air, the sky was clear enough for me to watch the Himalayas slowly roll by for 2 hours, of which Arun caught 15 minutes due to another impressive bout of sleeping. At Guwahati airport Arun's uncle, who we call Borditta (which means elder uncle), met us immediately and we were chauffeured, once again in fresh, warm sunshine, across town to the family house.
We spent the following two days visiting relatives all over town, including some of the local elders at the chemist next to Borditta's house, being well-received and over-fed on each occasion. My appetite is completely dwarfed by Arun's, but it works well in that we finish most of what we are offered at each house. Whilst still experiencing jet-lag, we are both well rested and very much ready for our trip to Bangkok next week.
Tomorrow we fly back to Delhi, the next day (Friday) we check in to the airport for our overnight flight to Bangkok.
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