Now I know how Americans feel

Monday 28th January

It used to annoy me when the Americans came over to Ireland expecting to see us in thatched cottages and all that, but to a lot of them their first vision of Ireland in film was in the Quiet Man. Well the first time I saw Bangkok in a film was probably in the Man with the Golden Gun, specifically where they have the big chase around the canals.


As first impressions last, no matter how many times you hear thing have changed, part of you wants to see the original version of the place that exists in your mind. For Americans it was thatched cottages and the whole Derby O'Gil experience, for me it was the canals. I has been led to believe that on the main side of the river there were few canals left, all paved over, but these do still exist. However it is on the ThonBuri (West) side of the river that they are really extensive. So I got the ferry up the river and then got onto a canal tour.


And I've got to say I was disappointed. First of all, there was no guide as such, and the boat driver couldn't speak much English. All he kept doing was pointing at wats. And that was most of the tour, wats all over the place. We also went to a snake farm, which wasn't particularly something I wanted to see. The one thing that might have been interesting, the Royal Barge museum, was supposed to be on the tour but the driver said we ran out of time. Probably because of all the stops he made where people tried to sell you things.


So now I know how disappointed Americans are when they come over and discover its not like in the films. And this is despite the fact that you do actually know when you get there that it is all modernised. But the real thing that links the Americans in Ireland (up until a few years ago) and tourists here, are the scams that are all over the place. Its a fairly safe place, but there are no end of ways in which they are always looking to get the last few baht out of you.


So I'm now trying to play them at their own game. I decided to get a free tuk-tuk trip around the sights by letting one of them try to take me to all these shops they get commission from. But nobody can sell me something I don't want, so there was no commission for him.


Overall the canal trip wasn't really a highlight, and by the time we got back I was sick of the sight of canals (and when on the main river, there was a danger of being sick anyway because it was so choppy). So I headed back to the hotel and decided to go to Vertigo bar. Now that was a sight to see. The bar is on the 61st floor of a hotel. Its not the highest bar in the world, its not even the highest bar in Bangkok, but it is spectacular, because it is open air. That's right, its on the 61st floor of a 60 story building, the roof. I went there about half an hour before sundown, and stayed until about an hour after sunset, and it was spectacular. I hope the photos show it.

(Edit - One thing I forgot to say is that the bottles of Heineken cost the same here as they do in Dublin. Its the price you pay for the view I guess)

After that it was on to Patpong. This is one of the other notorious districts in Bangkok, and it lived up to its reputation. It was mental, there were lads hassling you every 2 or 3 meters. And of course a market full of counterfeit items. I'm not sure which is worse. Funnily enough just as was thinking weren't the World Trade people supposed to be putting a stop to this all the watch people bundled up their stuff and scarpered. So I guess that somebody from Rolex or the cops turned up.

Probably the most unusual thing about Patpong is that right in the middle is an O'Briens sandwich shop. Very strange placement. I'm not sure the barnd manager back in Dublin would be too impressed.