By Any Means

I had a dream last night, something about Lady-Boys having their Adam's apple removed at birth so that you can't really tell what sex they are, the dream ended with someone at Darling Towers filling the Torana up with mud and then chopping the roof of and converting it into a motorbike. I wasn't really happy about that, but that is all quite irrelevant...

When we wake up in the morning here we feel lovely and refreshed, we shower and dress for the day, then head out of our airconditioned room for the buffet breakfast. It is at about this point that the wall of heat hits you, and your forehead starts leaking sweat like a cold bottle of water in a sauna. It is under these conditions that we set out for the day with the aim of sampling a few of the local forms of public transport.

After finishing another delicious and filling brekkie we walked off toward the river looking for the local ferry, it operates similarly to the Brisbane ferry system, but unlike the gigantic Brisbane Sea Catamarans this was just a long wooden boat with a massive engine and a lack of regard for any kind of water safety, overcrowded is an understatement. The boat charges down the river as fast as it can until it is about five meters from the next mooring, where it throws reverse on full throttle and slams sideways into the dock. Then there is a scramble as people jump on at their own risk.

It was actually a nice "cruise" down the river, and interesting to see the culture of water side living from the very rich to the very not rich. After we jumped off the ferry we found ourselves in Downtown Bangkok, a completely different world to the one we'd left behind in old town. You could almost confuse the business district to Melbourne's CBD, well except the market stalls on every corner, the public liability dangers at every step and the fact that everything is written in Thai.

After getting a bit lost we found our way to the Sky rail, basically a mono rail that serves a small portion of the city, with a ticketing system similar to Melbourne's, but the trains are a lot more modern with comfortable airconditioning and televisions featuring advertisements every five meters along the train. The Sky rail took us directly to MBK Shopping centre, Bangkok's version of Chadstone, only a lot bigger and cheaper and everything is available in legit or ripoff versions.

We shopped for awhile and then jumped back on the Sky Rail to get to the Vietnam Embassy. We have to apply for our Visas for Vietnam, and the embassy has a very cold and cruel atmosphere, after all of the warm hospitality of Bangkok, I sure hope Vietnam isn't anything like its embassy portrays. We have entrusted our passports with the embassy for the next few days, and as we are heading into the jungle for a few days tomorrow, I am hoping we don't need them.

Our last mode of transport for the trip home was by another ferry, this one was down the channel and was quite obviously a more "local" form of transport. The ferry operated much the same as the river ferry, in that it charged along as fast as it could towards each new pier. Only on this ferry, it went slightly faster and only had about one or two meters clearance on either side at every point in time. Also cornered like a demon.

Eventually we have found our way home for a very well deserved swim in the pool as today was probably our hottest one yet. Think we might get a meal and retire early tonight for our trek into the jungle at 7am tomorrow, we have booked a tour featuring Tigers, Elephants, floating markets, waterfalls and death trains... yep Death Trains... Wont be another post for a few days (probably) so you'll just have to read this one again.

Enjoy the photos from the last few days HERE