Bangkok – part deux

Despite the heat and congestion of Bangkok, it was still exciting to be back there. We made our back to Rutt’s place, where we found the house empty except for her younger brother. We decided to head out to the local mall, where we had spied some market stalls and dancing as we drove into the area. The stalls were full of weird and wonderful Thai dishes and delicacies, including bugs!!! Lots and lots of bugs! The stall we found had an array of ‘enticing’ insects, such as red grasshoppers (seemed to be the most popular), maggoty-grub looking things, and huge cockroaches! No no no no no! Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. Cockroaches are there to be smashed with a shoe, not eaten with a side-order of fried noodles. To my relief, not many people seemed to be buying them, so at least the majority of Thai people have common sense when it comes to matters of insect munching.

The next day was New Years Eve…and also Saturday!....so we decided to head to the weekend market….again! The market was still interesting and fun, but the crowds and heat were a little overwhelming for me after our time in Koh Chang, and I longed to be back on the beach collecting shells!! Needless to say, I didn’t really buy anything that morning…I just wasn’t in the right mood for bartering, and pushing through crowds of customers. After a quick bite to eat at our favourite market-restaurant, we left to go and meet Rutt’s family. They had offered to take us to Koh Kret, a small river island just outside of Bangkok that is famous for pottery, and is apparently a favourite amongst Thai people wanting to get out of the city for a while. It was very pleasant to wander around the island for an hour or 2, and especially nice that all of Rutt’s family was there as well (brothers, sister-in-law, mother, father…even the maid!). We saw yet another temple (wat), looked at the pottery, and tried my first taste of coconut ice-cream. Yummy! To see the other sights of the island, we hired a boat to take us down the river, with various stop-offs to see art collections (I think that’s what one of them was), weird foods, and thai sweet making area. The latter was interesting..but as the sweets were made from eggs, and as the bowls of egg yolks had various insects flying all over them, I was definitely definitely not going to be trying one of those!

On New Year’s Eve evening, we all went out for dinner, at a cute little non-descript Italian restaurant. The food was actually really good, and certainly beat any Italian I have had in Japan. Ellen and Rutt’s Japanese friend, Ryoko (and husband) also came, and so the evening had a real international feel to it. After our Italian feast, Ellen, Rutt and I headed back into central Bangkok where we planned to see the new year in. We had arranged to meet Jen (also a Yamaguchi JET) at the Burger King on the Khao San Road, and so that’s where our new year festivities began. The Khao San Road was already soooo busy, at only 8 o’clock, but there was a great atmosphere, and it was fun walking around this infamous backpackers haven. After meeting Jen, we decided to take a tuk tuk to the Siam Square area to watch the countdown. Being on a tuk tuk on new years eve, whizzing around the streets of Bangkok, with its lights flashing, was great fun! After a stop at the best sorbet shop ever (fact!), where I sampled the divine pineapple and the ‘wordscantdescribehowgood’ lime flavours, we finally settled down near the World Trade Centre where the crowds were gathered to see in the new year. The atmosphere was electric, and the fireworks as 2006 began were great! The queues and crowds for the subway on the way home, were not so great however, and at times I felt I was actually going to pass out from the heat and volume of people. It was madness! We finally made it home, however, and I fell into a deep and content sleep. Chiang Mai tomorrow. Happy New Year everyone!