One Night in Bangkok
In many ways Bangkok is where my traveling began. It was the first stop after I'd quit work in Sydney and headed off into the unknown, still very green and unaware as to how naive I really was about the world. I also hadn't yet got quite used to my change in roles from lawyer to backpacker. At the time photography was still a part-time hobby, not a full-time lifestyle choice.
On arriving in Bangkok I was expecting an interrogation to get visas and paperwork sorted, followed by a harrowing run through customs with sniffer dogs, bag searches and if we were particularly unlucky, nasty men with rubber gloves. My ideas were heavily influenced by a combination of the movie “Bangkok Hilton”, and news coverage of Australians in South East Asian countries that had been on trial for drug smuggling just before I left the country.
Instead of this there was a normal looking airport counter with a customs official checking visas, and a web-cam that took photo of everyone entering. Proceeding through the “nothing to declare” doorway was more of a surprise though. It was literally just a doorway out into Bangkok, with nobody at all checking belongings, and no sniffer dogs.
Photo: Olympus E420 + 50-200mm @ 62mm f3.2, ISO400 1/160 (handheld) - Its Tuesday, so there are a few more photos in the full version of the blog post. Warning - this site contains no nudity, but these photos still may not be 100% "work-safe"!The old Bangkok Airport
Outside the doorway, we were greeted by a scrum of locals trying to sell transport, accommodation and probably all manner of other things along the way. Although the flight from Sydney had been fairly short, 11pm at night wasn’t a great time to be arriving in a foreign city for first time travelers.
The sobering reality once we’d walked through the airport gate was that Bangkok was big, hot and smelly. The prospect of 7 hours at the old airport wasn’t really that enticing. The first change to our plan came after about 20 minutes and ventured out into the unknown to kill time and catch a glimpse of the Bangkok nightlife. Stepping out of the airport we were engulfed by the hot, sticky stench of Bangkok.
Once in a taxi my emotions were a mixture of adrenalin, fear and the certain knowledge that we had no idea where we were going.
Taxi ride Down-town
In the front of the taxi, my friend somehow managed to communicate that we wanted to go into town for a drink. It was enough to get us going. In the back of the taxi, it became more and more clear that we were heading into a totally alien city, with no idea if we’d make it back, if we were heading to a bar for a drink, or whether we were heading somewhere else to be robbed.
My friend tried to make small-talk to the taxi driver, who in turn mistook "so... have you been busy" for a desire to go faster. As a result he sped up to be driving at about 100km/h and weaving through 4 lanes of vehicles. Most of these seemed to be pickup trucks heavily overloaded with random goods such as coconuts and also traveling faster than I thought was safe. In the back of the taxi, I began searching for seatbelts, only to find that the buckles had been cut off.
Somewhere along the way, our cab driver started talking on a mobile phone in Thai. I became convinced that we were being taken away to be met by a bunch of local muggers in a dark back alley. We descended into the streets from the motorway and traveled through the glitzy neon lights for a bit before turning into a dark unlit back alley that looked exactly as I’d been imagining that a location for a mugging would look like.
Late-night bar - Thai style
Turning another corner, the ambush turned out to be in the form of a very seedy looking bar with pink neon lights and a number of equally seedy looking people hanging around outside. I was nevertheless relieved. From the reaction of the driver and door staff, we didn’t really feel we had much choice but to go in for a drink. Inside was something that wasn’t what I'd previously associated with the word “bar”. Along one wall about 30 Thai girls were seated and looking a mix between expectant and bored. All had white circles with numbers.
My friend had the good sense to make sure that we were seated near the doorway on barstools with no other seats nearby. The scary looking hostess who was trying to usher us towards lounges didn’t seem overly pleased by the choice. After ordering a round of beers we both started to relax a bit. As the night wore on, my mood fluctuated between edgy and ecstatic, “One Night in Bangkok” was played at least 3 times. Obviously it was a local favourite.
Local Hospitality
Eventually other westerners started coming in to the bar. We started talking to another Australian who had been on our flight from Sydney. After some conversation about how strange and exploitative the whole situation was, the hostess started introducing him to a range of Thai girls. Eventually he settled on a young looking girl and left. So much for the conversation we’d been having.
After a few more beers we eventually decided to go back to the airport in a taxi. The taxi driver we spoke to tried to negotiate a higher return price than we’d paid on the way out but settled on the same fare back. It was only after about five minutes into the trip that I realised that we had the same driver and taxi from earlier, who had waited over 3 hours outside the bar. The smile on his face after we paid him told us that it had been worth his time to wait for his 2 first-time-in-Bangkok passengers!
Footnote
I've been back to Bangkok and Thailand a number of times since my first night there - it seems to be a place that you often come back through when traveling in Asia. Most long-time backpackers would be familiar with Ko-San road, and many shudder at the idea of even going there. I do however recommend Bangkok as a place to start a trip in Asia or Thailand.
The photos used in this article are from a subsequent trip and were taken with this blog story in mind. The "go-go" bar shots are however in Phuket. Unfortunately they don't actually resemble the bar from my first night in Bangkok which didn't allow photography, and are taken with an Olympus E420 + 12-60mm + FL-36R
Advice for Bangkok
- Shopping: if you're starting a trip in Bangkok, pack lightly and buy all the warm-climate clothes you need here*. Start slowly until your haggling skills have caught up with the local prices.
- Where to stay: Kao San Road is a good start, even if its a backpacker mecca - accommodation starts at 100baht (US$3) and a nice room can be found for 250baht ($8). The advantage of this area is that there are plenty of other travelers, travel agents to organise connections etc. and lots of good food around.
- Hostels: If you look on hostelworld, you'll see that there are lots of hostels in Bangkok. Unless you're keen to spending a night in a room with 8 or more strangers, I wouldn't recommend them - getting your own room is usually cheaper.
- Budget: if you're in a tight budget, you can get by on $15 a day in Bangkok - but there is unlimited scope to send more!
- Learn how to use a squat toilet!
