Day Three - 8th Sept. 2009 - Big Buddha

Our first day of sightseeing since arriving in Bangkok. The jet lag has receded and we managed to sleep an entire night. It's time for some serious Thai culture. In fact we only managed to visit one place today but it was pretty impressive. We spent a few hours at the site of the world famous, 65 meter long, solid gold Reclining Buddah. The site is called Wat Phra Chetuphon.

Around Bangkok there are a number of small restaurants known as Shophouses (not chophouses as I originally thought). These are old buildings from the days of the Portuguese colonial times that are now often turned into little bars and cafes. One such shophouse near Wat Phra Chetuphon is called Rub-ar-roon Cafe (Maharaj Road) this oasis offers rest bite and relief from the heat and humidity in the form of a few Singha beers and some tasty Tom Yam (spicy Thai soup). Once refueled we headed back to the next available boat stop via the dried fish market and the Indian flower market. I particularly like hanging around markets and this one was great. In fact I could have mooched around this place all day but as usual we were on a schedule. It appeared that these markets were really for wholesales purchases and not the general public, however, and this is one thing about the Thai people I particularly like, no one really cared or even noticed two foreigners rummaging around the piles of dried fish and chillies.

Off to Chiang Mai! As I mentioned yesterday we didn't manage to get a first class cabin so we took our places in the almost empty second class sleeper. Other than a couple of American ladies from Hawaii our only neighbor was... yes... a French guy (a 20 year old who dropped out of university to join the army who goes by he name of Jules) Wherever I go I end up sitting next to a French guy! We were settled in our seats and the very friendly and toothless cabin attendant arrives to take our dinner order. Veggie for me and Prawns for Gisela (which in fact turned out to be both Beef and Chicken). We opened the wine, order the beer and its full steam to Chiang Mai!!

As the night wore on we shared our wine with Jules, then opened the whiskey and almost immediately we attracted a motley crew from our carriage and beyond. After not very long our team comprised me (Jason), Gisela, Jules, Giovanni from Milan, Joaquin from Brussels and three other Belgium folks I cant remember the name of.

On the train they put you to bed pretty early. All of the seats are converted to beds so we finished off the scotch and in order not to disturb the rest of the travelers we headed to the restaurant car for some beers. When we got there we found all of the staff out of their official uniforms and relaxing in civilian clothing. They were trying to watch some Thai movie on a little colour portable TV when us 8 Europeans stormed the carriage. I brought beers for the staff and the team. However just like they sent you bed early they also closed the restaurant car early so come 10pm they closed up shop and sent us on our way. The Belgium's looked desperate because they wanted a final cigarette and they had just brought a round of large Chang beers. We left them to it and that was that for the evening. By 10.30pm we were happily tucked up in our bunks.

Jason & Gisela
(seats 38 and 40, coach 4 on the Chiang Mai express)

Today's address
Rub-ar-roon Cafe
310-312 Maharaj Road
Phra Nakorn
Bangkok
10200

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