Krung Thep Day 2 - Of Khao San

Friday, 4th of January

So the rough translation for the proper name of Bangkok is 'The city of angles, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city of the God Indra, the grand capitol of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated God, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.'

We did intend to wake up early, setting our clocks at an impressive 8 or was it 8.30am. We didn't wake up till about 9.15am. I do recall Nadia at my bedside waking me up.. The angel had come from the adjoining room to switch off my alarm clock, which was beside me and of course I had no idea it was ringing.

I wanted to go to two places today, the Khao San area and the Jim Thompson house.

We decided to go to Khao San first as it was the one which was further away. Khao San is a back-packers' haven. Cheap lodging, bars and cafes tailored to the Caucasian market and right next to the Chao Phraya.

It was this morning we met our favourite driver, Om. Everyone, take down his number: +66-085-1293141. If you're ever in BKK, or in Changmai during the water festival (which is in April) Give him a ring! He's a great guy.

If you've read Nadia's blog you'd know all about our lack of self restraint when we saw all those sparkling gems. Om was willing to take us to Khao San for a mere 100 baht. That's dirt cheap. The only condition that we go to a jewellery store. Store ain't the word though, it's more like a factory! So, for bringing us to the gem store, he gets 5 complimentary litres of petrol.

I loved the jewellery store! Will look for the name of it and post it here. I got this pendant for my mum which resembles a beetle and thought it was unique. She loved it. For the two sisters, I got a similar pair of black star sapphires like Nadia, and a garnet one.

If I had the means, I'd have gotten myself this citrine ring. It was beautiful. Honest.

Looking back, I enjoyed Khao San more that I did Chatuchak. Chatuchak was just too big, and the endless sois were really more trouble to navigate through - unless like Dan and Rui, you had planned out where and what they wanted to see.

Khao San was relatively small, just one road. We walked down one stretch and back up on the other side. There were alot of "cool" stuff here. Tee-shirts with funky designs and cool logos. Bags which were made with graphic designs of the iconic Andy Worhol Campbell soup advertisements, and various graphics of canned food you found in the 60's.

We left Khao San a little late, after 3pm , and headed straight to the Jim Thompson house. If you are under 25 years of age, remember to bring ID - it's half price for the entry ticket which is 100 baht at full cost.

I wanted to see his place, since he was the bloke who popularised Thai silk and brought it to international acclaim. His place was undoubtedly beautiful and coupled with the guide, was very interesting and some parts downright eerie. Like the part where a Buddhist fortune teller foretold that a particular date in 1967 would be an unlucky date for him. It was on that day he disappeared.

After the Jim Thompson house we headed to MBK for more retail therapy and then headed to meet Dan and Rui for dinner at another recommended place - Crepes and Co.

Crepes and Co. was run by this French (?) man and, as the name suggests, had a array of crepes, from the traditional, ham and blue cheese which Nick and I shared, to the local variety, the curried one Dan had.

There were Moroccan specials which we chose in the end and were just exquisite. The lamb, sweet and tender, was just delectable while in contrast the chicken with olives was just alright.

Of course no visit to a creperie is complete without desert and for that we customised our own. Mostly bananas for what else goes with crepes no? Coupled with either chestnut cream, Chantilly and caramel. We could name our own crepes, as pictured on the right.

The night ended at... What's the name of the place? I dunno, some seedy go-go girl area. But we weren't ready to get ripped off a second time.