We decided to at least go for a day-tour sightseeing. Because some of the tours take up too long or begins way too early in the morning, we settled on a half-day tour that covers two of the most important monuments in Bangkok - the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)
The place, built after King Rama I's ascension to the throne in 1782, covers an area of 218.000 sq meters and it houses not only the royal residence and throne halls but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Yep, it was definitely worth a visit.. a magnificent sight of glittery and grandeur. But we were unfortunate to end up with a shoddy and unprofessional guide who would not even wait for his group of 6 people and hardly had the patient to do any proper explanation! A few times, Lynn and I were left behind just because we wanted to snap a couple of photos!!
That aside, the visit was quite an eye-opener and we did manage to snap some pix in a very hot and sunny afternoon. Though 'm still quite blur of the history behind this palace..including those many halls and pavillions we passed through...
Seedy Sleazy Patpong
And maybe I should add `poor' to describe this place.
Being tourists, we thought we shouldn't miss the (in)famous Patpong which is suppose to have all the happening night scene. Of course we were not planning to actually patronise any of those bars but just a walk along the streets to look-see.
There was actually a quite happening night market in between the rows of nightspots. And the sad thing is, they seemed to be more popular than all those go-go bars and clubs offering sex shows! Many of the go-go bars were almost empty.. I peeped in and saw like dozen of girls in skimpy bikinis (or briefs?) doing pole dancing.. maybe it was a Monday evening but still.. And they had to resort to soliciting tourists like us. Yep, we kept getting people who handed us some slips of papers that described the various `live shows' and urging us to go into their bar.. And we just had to keep shaking our heads and say `no thanks'.
To be honest, it was quite a let-down.. I swear even nightspots in KL are more happening.. Perhaps nowadays not that many tourists are looking for this type of entertainment.. But it is also sad to think of the fate and lives of those sex workers.. selling their bodies and souls away.. and wondering whether they could ever turn a new leaf..
2 comments:
Ah, BKK is a great place. Love Chatuchak, I spent a day there and it was so hot. Did the hotel turn out ok?
Yes, it was really hot! lucky u spent the whole day there.. ;p yeah, the hotel was pretty ok, though the room a bit old. it was very near a skytrain station.
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