The Gentlemans Drinking Club

Khao San Road. It's been a while since I first showed up here. A teeming, bustling street in a poor district in Bangkok, teeming not with locals but with wide eyed, pastey while young Europeans. The road acts like a Mecca for fresh new travelers, a nursery for budding backpackers. And so it was here that I showed up back in 1994 with the proceeds from the sale of wedding presents from a failed marriage and a keen interest in spending it on seeing some of the World. I would say it was a wise investment. Perhaps not in financial terms but money isn't everything. I'm certainly far richer now as a consequence of that trip in terms of life experiences. 

I digress with my memories... Today in Bangkok we were allowing the junior tour advisor to day dictate the plans. With the options available Lucas decided on Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha and a quick trip on a water bus on the Chao Phrya River. Joined by Kath, Sarah and Helen our first concern was a simple one. One Tuk Tuk or two ?

It was a tight squeeze but we managed to form ourselves in to a compact pile of limbs. All to save ourselves a couple of quid between us. 

I always seem to end up at Wat Pho when I'm in Bangkok. 46 metres of  gold plated Buddha statue. Along the far wall of the temple are 40 metal buckets. It apparently brings you good luck to put a coin in each bucket. It kept Lucas amused for 5 minutes at least. 

A short walk to the river and we all managed to leap on to the boat as it moored. I was slightly disappointed when they tied it to the jetty. Slightly less death defying as it used to be. 

And so, for lunch we found ourselves in one of the multitude of guest house restaurants close to Khao San with the travel agents offering flights, trains and buses and suchlike to all manner of exotic backpacker locations. Sorely tempted but I guess we have a fair bit lined up already and no doubt with a bit less squalor. 

We mustered in the evening at Hualampong Station for our night train to Nong Khai. Jim's birthday. Such a shame he wasn't joining us for our train party. He would have loved it. Our main concern, as is frequently the issue in Thailand, is keeping beer cold enough. Using my British ingenuity I purchased a plastic laundry bag and many bags of ice and between us we lugged our haul on to the train. 

The 'no alcohol' sign was a concern. A lot of effort had gone in to the planning for this party. We were discrete. Well as discrete as 14 people including an Irish woman can be with plenty of alcohol. Our  poor attempts at hiding our activities were greeted with tuts and disapproving looks from the train staff. 

I lasted until 1 am sharing my curtained off bunk with Ralph and Eileen, a bottle of port and many empty beer bottles, trying to giggle as quietly as possible and looking as innocent as possible when the train guards eye appeared at the curtain. Happy birthday Jim from the Windy crew.