Bangkok 2

Around 9, I went to meet Patricia and Jesse to find some breakfast. Patricia had met an Israeli in the hostel who was traveling after the army. He started his journey in Kazakhstan and has been a bunch of places. I asked if he's honest with where he comes from when talking to people and he said at first, he would say Italy (esp in the Middle East). Now his view is more, this is who I am and anyone who doesn't like it can go f$&! themselves. I agree with this viewpoint. It took a while to find anything which was good by me because I was more tired than I was hungry. Places that serve western food usually aren't very good and cost much more than Thai places. We settled on a street stand where I ordered the speciest dish I've had since leaving home. It was a battle that left me wanting to spend the rest of the day in the hostel. Patricia went to go do some more shopping and Jesse went to wash his clothes while I switched dorm rooms. My new one wouldn't be ready until two so after lounging in the common area for half an hour, I went for a walk to see the temples. Every time I would stop on a street corner, someone would be "helpful" and ask where I was going and where I'm from and then tell me, oh that's closed today because it's king's day. Go to some other place. It's annoying and makes me feel like Bangkok is the least friendly place I have been. I either shout them off or ignore them and keep walking towards the 'closed' palace. 

In the Royal park, I sat and watched a children's choir singing before going back to the hostel. I was out for a few hours and I'm pretty sure it's been the longest I've spent alone since leaving India. I still prefer being with new people but it was nice to have some time to reflect. 

On my way back I stopped to watch a Muay Thai boxing lesson in a gym in an alleyway. 

Back at the hostel, I tried ineffectually to cool off wth a shower and met a German pilot who wanted to join me on my trip to the sky bar. It's supposed to be one of the best views in the city and it had a big role in "The Hangover 2." Catching one of the ubiquitous taxis was much more difficult than it seems. They'd stop right when we put our hand up but here were our first 4 attempts:

1. The driver didn't speak English and didn't know where the (famous and well known) sky bar was, even when we told and showed him the address. 

2. A cab pulls up and while we were asking the driver if he could take us there, a vendor on the street starts shouting at us or the driver and he drives off. 

3. The cab driver says he knows sky bar and says "300 baht each" we insisted on the meter and he said no. 

4. The driver says yes to the meter and the location and we get in only to find that he won't turn on the meter. . We get out. .

The fifth cab was exactly like how you'd expect hailing a taxi would go. He pulls up, we told him where we want to go, he turned on the meter and took us there. We were going to go for sunset but the 3 mile cab ride took over a hour in the city traffic and we missed it by a long while. We ended up getting out and walking with about half a mile left. There was a dress code of pants and button down shirts. we were ushered up the elevator to the bar by tuxedo'd and black dressed staff. It was beautiful. We didn't get drinks because they were 15 times the price of anywhere else but it was nice to hang out for a while and take a couple pictures. We were also clearly the only grungy backpackers there surrounded by wealthy tourists and maybe a few locals. 

We got some food in an open market and talked about relationships, travelling and sports on the way back. Our hostel is right near Kao Soan road and we walked through it one last time before going to sleep. 

-AB