Day 2 - Bangcock? (2nd October 2013)

Saw my first ladyboy, or at least I think it was, it was so glaringly obvious it could have been a red herring but I didn't ask if that's what it was, just in case it wasn't.

The Vietnamese embassy  was located just past where I had been walking yesterday, so I sorted out a bag for the day and started walking in that direction. I like to walk, it allows me plenty of time to absorb the sights, smells and sounds of where I am. Today the smell I found so repulsive yesterday is not apparent.

As I walk I feel I'm starting to feel more at home here. What took me 30 minutes to walk yesterday takes me considerably less today and I feel I no longer give off the impression of a lost tourist. A tourist sure, I still have a map after all. but not a tourist who is being consumed by his surroundings. Rather one that is starting to control it.

to a degree.

Grabbing a spot of breakfast after telling myself I have to eat, I emerge from the shopping area to confronted by the monsoon like rains. No way I'm walking any further in that. I have my poncho on me of course, but just the one pair of trainers which have to last as long as I can make them. I take shelter on the skywalk which runs above the road I'm following and watch the rains with perverse admiration.

You know in England how when it rains it clears the air so everything feels fresh again, here it is the opposite. When the rains give way the sodden ground heats and the moisture starts to evaporate almost instantaneously, the humidity is insane. Mosquito's like still water apparently. I should be fine, I'm like a bloody river.

The Vietnam embassy opens after lunch at 1:30, I'm there at 1:35, fill in the forms and wait at the desk with my form filled in, 2500 baht and passport ready. The guy behind the counter is wearing glasses and a straight face, I put mine on too. He tells me to stick my photo onto the form using insect killer. I'm confused until I realise it just looks like insect killer, its actually insect killer with Pritt Stick like qualities. No insect will escape if they land on Pritt Stick. It's a well know fact in these parts of the world. I need to pick up the visa and my passport tomorrow at 4 which throws me a little spanner as I only have my hostel booked for one more night and they are fully booked from then.

Back at the hostel I ask whether the other one in the same chain has rooms available the following evening. The chap on the phone calls through and confirms they have so I reserve for tomorrow night there as i won't now be leaving Bangkok until Friday at the earliest, the only downside is that I need my passport to check in, which I will not have access to until after I can collect it from the embassy, so tomorrow I lug my big ass bag around Bangkok for a few hours. I'm thinking Lumphine park which is on the road that the embassy resides, find some shade and chill out for a few hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumphini_Park

I wander out briefly this evening and explore the indoor market that is situated opposite the hostel I'm staying at. It has a great feel and t-shirts that would have the PC Bridage in the UK reaching for the white flag. You actually have to admire it in a funny kind of way. Life is life here, and no one is telling anyone else how to live theirs.

The rains come again and I return just in time to my current base of operations, get duck noodles and a bottle of Chang beer for 180 baht, about 3.50 of those UK pound thingies and settle down to wrap up the day here.

Bangkok grows on you, I'm actually starting to like it here, which is a little surprising considering how I was feeling less than 48 hours ago.