Bangkok 8th and 9th March

Thursday 8th and Friday 9th March

Thursday

Cloudy and relatively cool today (but still hot), which comes as some relief! Nothing on the agenda today as yet  but I feel there should be since its an ideal day to go off hiking somewhere. research into getting to a couple of places, the air force museum at Dong Muang Airport and the airfield at Bang phra. Bus number 3 go's to the museum and a long distance bus from Ekkami Station heads to Bang Phra then it's tuk tuks to the airfield. A plan to do some aviating is on the agenda, probably Saturday, if getting there actually go's to pan of course.

So, today is a slackish kind of day. Right now just hanging out at Thammasat having a nice 20 b coffee in their air conditioned seating area. A French tourist has the same idea, ducking in here to escape the heat for a while. Need to stock up on a few things like deodorant and toothpaste. They can be bought close by, so no need to hike any distance.

Friday

Another slack day, doing not a great deal. Unless temples and architecture are must sees on a tourists agenda then there isn't anything different to do close by, or at least within an hours hiking. I know, get the bus upto the Air Force Museum! I managed to find out that bus number 3 go's from this area to the museum at Dong Muang, but finding the actual bus stop is another matter. The locals don't know anything, and those few that did weren't sure and each gave a different story! This is either going to be interesting or frustrating or both. I pick on a bus stand across the main boulevard from Khoa San and wait, and wait. Every bus except number 3. Same scenario trying to get from the airport station to Khoa San.

2pm and I've waited at least an hour, quite long enough. A period of cooling down with a Thammasat coffee is in order I think. Bus number 3, there it is, rolls on by and all I can do is watch in frustration since I'm someway from the bus stand now - oh we'll, another day. Conclusion here then is that tourists and local buses don't make a good mix, which is why I suppose taxis do brisk business from what I've seen so far.

So after aborting my museum visit, and sufficiently cooling down time for a movie. A guesthouse just along the road has a giant Tv screen, and each evening they show a DVD for those of us who don't have the luxury of a tv in the room. A collection of travellers soon forms and settles to watch a movie called "forgotten". And I've long forgotten what it's like to be freezing cold in Britain, or even Hanoi.