I won't bore you with the details of the flight from KL to Bangkok but I will say my first experience of Air Asia (Asia's answer to Easy Jet) was very pleasurable.
By the time we had checked into the hostel it was late afternoon. As we were in a new country we thought it best to start trying some local food for dinner. We both chose the classic Thai dish that everyone at home loves, Green Thai Curry. When ordering the waitress asked us what “spicy” we wanted the food. Charlotte instantly expressed that she didn't want it to be too hot. I though had to accept when I heard the words “you want it Thai spicy?”. Shortly after we started eating our server who was obviously observing my face turn bright red with the first few mouthfuls brought me a plate of cucumber and explained that Thai people use it to cool their mouths. Being English I endured the pain but it didn't take long for me to acclimatise to the heat of the dish and ended up almost licking the plate clean.
Once dinner was finished and my face had returned to a normal colour we set off for our first taste of Thailand, and where better to start than the old red light district. When Charlotte mentioned about the area she had just read about in the Lonely Planet book I got the thought in my mind that as it was the old district that none of the sex trade would be there any more. I thought that maybe it might be more like one of the areas in London that was once a dive but is up and coming. Anyway I was shocked when we got there as to how red light district it actually was. I've passed through red light districts in a couple of places but have never experienced anything quite like this. Now in Bangkok being hassled by people is something that happens every few minutes but not quite like this. Even though I was walking down the road with Charlotte close behind I was still being offered all sorts of services. When I declined half of them then offered Charlotte selection. Once we had ignored or waved away as many as we could handle we though it best to stop and find a place for a few drinks. After staking out a few of the roadside bars we picked one and sat looking over the bustling road. The barmaid came over to take our order and we soon figured out this barmaid was actually a barman. Within seconds we notice the other barmaid working there was also a man although this one was far more obvious. We sat drinking Chang (a local lager) and watched the world go by. At first we didn't realise that Chang packs a mean 6.4% alcohol which would explain our level of intoxication.
Once we left the bar we checked out a few more of the areas delights including a Thai kick boxing show. It didn't take me long to realise it was a show and not actually proper fighting which didn't bother me too much considering my state of merriness. I also have a vague memory of some kind of a strange talent show we were coaxed into seeing.
Tonight was an interesting and drunken introduction to Thailand.
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