I think it takes a bit of time to adjust to the air-con that you find everywhere in hot countries. I’m getting a bit of a throat cold and have been popping the pills today in a bid to suppress it. Initially I thought it was because I’d been in smokey bars and perhaps even partaken of the occassional cigarette while under the influence of a hint of alcohol, but we’re getting into day 2 of not being able to speak now, so I think it may be the air-con.
Most of the places I’ve been so far in Asia have been much less developed, and therefore have much less air-con I’m hoping it’ll settle down in the next few days. I think Ferg (new window) had a similar thing when he left Singapore.
Lonely Planet (new window) guide books seem to be by far the most popular in Asia, which is a massive backpacking region. The company was started by a couple who went travelling and couldn’t find any central source of information on the regions.
In some ways it’s now gone full circle. You meet so many travellers on the road that really moan about seeing all the same back packers in all the same places around Asia. People talk about trying to get away from the backpacker routes and out of the Lonely Planet. In some ways, the LP is a victim of it’s own success.
Personally, I quite like meeting other people and I like being able to turn up somewhere and have a list of a few guest houses. It does make me wonder if there’s a market for a wider, less researched version of the LP though. Lists of a few places to stay, eat and one or two things to see or do in remote places not really covered by the other guide books. Hmm, travelling business venture perhaps? 
I think I’ve now stayed in 4 different places in Bangkok. We moved up in the world because for the same money we had our own little bit of beach on top of the D&D Inn on Khao San Road. The next move swapped one pool for another…
The roof top pool of the D&D became the rather more street level pool of Green Guesthouse…
Needless to say the latter is significantly cheaper. While Roland has spent the last two nights in the lap of luxury in a 1300 baht a night, air-conditioned, hot showering, television equipped palace of a hotel, I’ve been staying in Green Guesthouse for a mere 200 baht a night!
I’ve added a few choice snaps to the gallery, with a wee sample here to tempt your interest, click here to see the gallery itself.
It just sucks me in. I try to get an early night, tell myself I need to sleep, but no, I can’t resist it’s charms, I end up out on the town all the same, partying till the wee small, or for that matter the big fat, hours of the night. Typical example, I was barely conscious this morning I was so tired, I was barely able to stay awake during most of the day, and was convinced I needed an early night.
Alas, I ended up meeting Roland for a quick beer, then one led to another, and so on, you get the picture, it’s now 5am and I’m just getting in, checking my email, and hopefully, finally getting to bed. Jeez, it’s a hard life…
I went to see King Kong in the MBK Centre in Bangkok today. Asia has an obsession with air-conditioning. Ask Ferg (new window) and he’ll tell you his lectures in Singapore are so cold that you have to take a jumper. Well the cinema in Bangkok was that cold, I was blooming freezing in my shorts and tshirt.
Temperature aside, King Kong is one of the worst movies I’ve seen in a long time. Parts of it were funny because they were so bad, Ranj and I were literally wetting ourselves, but most of it is just painful. Roland thougt it was a great film when he saw it in Japan, but what can I say, his taste in films is clearly rubbish!
My advice, avoid King Kong, save your money and most importantly, don’t let them steal three hours of your life, it’s dreadful!
I’m writing in the MBK centre where internet access is a mere 30 baht per hour on the smartest, most advanced machines you’ve ever seen. 19″ flat screen TFT monitors, 1Gb of RAM, big comfy white leatherette armchairs, it’s a gamers paradise. I’m surrounded by probably 50 geeks all battling it out on the cyber.
Anyway, the moral of the story is, I’ve bought some speakers. For a mere 500 baht (£7 GBP), including batteries, I bought a set of speakers which I can power from the computer and play either my iPod or my laptop through. Wonderful, so after about two months, I’ll be reunited with my music collection in the very near future!
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