Highway to the Dangerzone

We tried many things today, all came to an epic fail.

First, we wanted to go to the movies to see Iron Man but all the cinemas were shut due to the protesters. Then we decided to go for a walk and explore, about a block from our hotel we had to turn around due to the heavy army and police presence, and I was becoming more and more anxious about being blown up by a grenade so we decided to head back to the motel.

It was here that we found some success to our day - a traditional Thai massage for an hour - I was poked, prodded and twisted and came back feeling sore rather than relaxed. I must admit I'm not a huge fan of massages and this one didn't make me think any differently.

Whilst having dinner there are streams of military and police walking past, one even posing for us.

I'm looking forward to our tour to Kanchanaburi tomorrow as it will be our first day of real adventure rather than terror.

Tuk-Tuks Are Awesome

I've come to the conclusion that all road rules in Bangkok are entirely optional. This is except for red lights, which have timers for how long you have to wait, and how long the green lights will last.

We got to experience the sheer terror of riding in a tuk-tuk after our walk up the street was cut short by a nice policeman. He advised us that the area we were walking towards was blockaded by red-shirt protesters, and suggested we go shopping instead. He grabbed us a nearby tuk-tuk and negotiated a price for us, then sent us on our merry way.

It quickly turned out that "shopping" in Bangkok for tourists only consists of either purchasing jewellery or tailoring services. After the first place our tuk-tuk driver offered to take us on a sightseeing tour for an hour for 50 Baht. We then got to experience the sheer terror of driving in Bangkok as we saw the Wat Traimit Wittayaram Voraiharn (Traimit Royal Temple) with an enormous golden buddah statue (which is actually a gold painted stucco statue). We then checked out the river, and a sculpture store nearby with some giant lions, which Sancha made me pat.

We also found out why the tuk-tuk drivers keep pushing for you to go to the gem and tailoring places. Our driver had a card entitling him to 5 Litres of free gasoline which he got stamped at each of these stores for bringing tourists inside. He ended up taking us to another gem place and a tailors, which he got his card stamped at, and let us have the sightseeing for free. Needless to say since we overstuffed our bags we didn't buy anything further.

The entire experience was a little bizarre from an olfactory perspective. Speeding through the city, and weaving in and out of traffic my nose was assaulted by various smells in rapid succession. Smog, bread (Ooh! A bakery!), smog, barbecued meat (Mmm! Street food), smog, bus exhaust, river, more smog, satay, oh, surprise, more smog.

We Made It

Despite all bets to the contrary, we didn't manage to kill each other on the flight over. Who would have thought?

The ride from the airport was interesting, Thailand's roads in the main city are way better than I would have thought. Plus getting out of the airport is a snap, so score one for Bangkok over Sydney there. We also saw a bunch of riced up trucks, buses and cabs which was bizarre.

I think the highlight of the ride to the hotel was the warning from our driver "Ann" that we shouldn't head to a certain part of town. Judging by the number of police surrounding that area, and white vans with red lights flashing on top, also filled with cops, that would be where some of the protesters are.

Should be fine though, we're at least a block away from that. If the shit does go down, however, I'm pretty sure we can watch it from the rooftop pool with some cocktails.

First Post!

Well, the title may be a bit misleading, but at least we've got a blog up now.

I think between nature and angry people we're just not meant to travel. I just got an email from DFAT urging us to "Reconsider your need to travel" to Thailand. Hopefully whoever is making grenade attacks is a lousy shot when we're there. My plan is to buy anyone holding an M79 several drinks, and get them drunk enough to throw them off their aim.

That and wear a red shirt underneath a non-red shirt.