Gauntlet - Episode 2: Bangkok

Bangkok city, Thailand - June 26-July 2, 2014 - Big city cats.

Curry and chili paste.

The best thing we did was tour around the canals of Western Bangkok with Pandan Tours. I usually don't do tours or tour guides or any of that, but this was really good, and Tao our guide was great. Check them out at www.thaicanaltour.com

It is pleasant riding around the khlongs.

A temple was ahead, and I had never seen any temple like this before.

Then Tao told me it was this big white building across the way.

Inside lay extravagant riches, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of loot.

Notice the fruit in the upper corners, that ripens (upper middle) every 1000 years into a beautiful woman (lower).

The fruit ripening.

When the fruit is fully ripe it is time for the male angels to eat it.

This is another temple from a different sect of the Sangha; the forest sect.As you can see the interior of this sect seems much less materialistic.

Monks study.

At another temple we were lucky enough to witness these two massive turtles shagging.

Second take! How sacrilegious!

Thai-style noodles.

Pandan farm. 

It returns!

See the rest of the our Cambodia/Thailand/Burma/Laos trip:
Episode 1: Pailin, Cambodia
Episode 3: Mae Sot, Thailand
Episode 4: Yangon, Myanmar
Episode 5: Bagan, Myanmar
Episode 6: Mandalay, Myanmar
Episode 7: Vientiane and Vang Vieng, Laos
Coda: Sihanoukville, Cambodia

A Far Too Short Trip to the Big Mango

Bangkok city, Thailand - November 2-5, 2013 - Exams in Bangkok, one of my favourite cities, also means a holiday, and here is the slice of frenetics I managed to photograph.

The first thing any person in their right mind does upon arrival in Bangkok is eat street food.

This is the sourest fruit I've ever eaten, and thus one of my favourites. It's called madan in Thai.

Goong dten. These living shrimps are served in a salad and eaten still jumping around.

Goong dten on the right, and noodle soup on the left. The extreme chili had already killed the shrimps off by now.

At the Rod Fai market, many things are for sale, such as this drugged kitten that couldn't open its eyes.

But it is otherwise an absolute treasure trove.

Old torture devices?

Old Thai school notebook purchased at Rod Fai.

It is a popular place for Thai people to go and is set in an old train station.

Out.

Political rally I encountered in Silom on the Wednesday. These are yellow shirt supporters protesting against the amnesty bill proposed by Yingluck Shinawatra's current government. The bill will allow Thaksin to return to Thailand, as well as exonerate all those guilty of political crimes between 2004 and 2010. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/378452/protesters-warn-fight-against-blanket-amnesty-not-yet-over

If you want to get an idea of the politics happening in Thailand right now, this is a great article: http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21589436-governments-latest-attempt-get-thaksin-shinawatra-back-has-united-almost-everyone-against

Notice how the date on this receipt is 6/1/56. That's because in Thailand's Buddhist calendar the year is actually 2556.

The infamous Soi Cowboy in the rain.

Bakkard, the border town with Cambodia on the way back.

The trip ended disturbingly with a conversation in Khmer with a small beggar girl on the street. I tried speaking the language to her and she responded that she was Cambodian. It was then that I realised this girl used to beg regularly in one of the open street bars in Phnom Penh about a year ago. She had somehow been trafficked into Bangkok, aged not more than five years. Quizzing her yielded no information about how exactly she had got there, or who her bosses were.