Thailand day 5: Outside Bangkok

Thursday, December 20th

I had actually planned to spend two days at Khao Yai but decided to only spend one day, so that left me with an extra day in Bangkok. I wasn't dieing to see or do anything in particular, so I leafed through my LP, and found an interesting journey which piqued my interest. So after arriving via train at 11am from Ayuthaya after a 2 hour journey, I checked into my Bangkok hostel and started my journey. The thought was that I'd take this scenic journey and make a circle taking in a few sights along the way.

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I walked to a small train station outside of the city center and eventually found it around 1pm and waited for the 1:20pm train. It arrived in Samut Sakhon an hour later and I went about finding the pier to take the ferry. Here my usually trusty LP failed me and I walked around for probably a half an hour or more looking for it. I eventually found it and crossed the river and walked to the train station in the little town Ban Laem. Unfortunately, there are only about 4 trains a day and I had to wait 1 1/2 hours until the 4:40pm departure. At this point it became apparent that I wouldn't be doing an real sight seeing and would have to just turn around and go straight back to Bangkok.

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To make my interesting journey even more interesting, the train hit a car at a road crossing! Thankfully no one was hurt but we lost at least 20 minutes. The sun set while we waited to continue our journey. When we finally got into Samut Songkram it was about 6:30pm and already dark.

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I found my way to where the buses leave and asked around for the bus which goes to Bangkok. I was directed to a line and waited. On the bus I asked again and was told that 'yes', it was a bus to Bangkok. Well, not exactly. It went to Samut Sakhon -- half way to Bangkok. There I was told to get off and switch to 6A or 68 -- I wasn't quite sure but didn't have time to ask as the bus zoomed away. So I wandered around again and found the line for the 68 bus which indeed goes to Bangkok. A nice woman I was talking to helped me and when we were on the bus she asked where in Bangkok I was going. I told her I was going to the train station and she talked to the cashier on the bus who told her that it wasn't the right bus to go to that part of Bangkok and that I should get off and switch to bus 17. Once again, I was almost pushed out the door as the bus zoomed away. I waited there for a few minutes and a #17 came... and went without stopping. Then a long time passed and no more #17s were passing by. As I became more and more concerned, my guardian angel sporting a pony tail and riding motorcycle came by and asked if I was waiting to get back to Bangkok. I said that I was and he said I should go to the bus station -- just 100 meters down the road. So I hopped on the back of the bike and he took me there and asked around to make sure which bus I should get on.

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Finally, I got on the right bus which took me to the train station in Bangkok and I arrived 9pm! I had a quick dinner, went to the hostel, and showered.

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Then I walked to the infamous red light district of Patpong to see what the fuss was all about. I only walked around the central plaza with various clothes and pirated CD and DVD vendors in the middle and the clubs around the outside. Those with their doors open, showed Thai women in bikinis bopping back and forth to music not unlike middle school kids at their first dance. There must have been more salacious shows, however. Either that or the Thai are avid about table tennis and eager to show foreigners because I was constantly harassed to see "ping pong" shows. After a short time there, I returned to the hostel and went to sleep.