Malls and Art

Yet another relatively late night last night - just before I was about to head upstairs I got talking to a Canadian dude... We ended up hanging out most of the night and hitting up a local pool pub with free pool (score!).

Waking up around 11am, I Googled a few things that we should do today - with cheap being a deciding factor. I managed to find two different art galleries that were both free and a highly regarded shopping mall that turned out to be just around the corner from the hostel. 

First up Fitzey and I headed to the Terminal 21 mall. We wandered around for a while through it, checking out the stores on each of the six floors. 

Much to our delight, the top floor of the mall was a food court ... and it was cheap! Very appetising meals could be had just about anywhere for the around $2 mark!

From here we headed to the Bangkok Art and Cultural Centre, a free art gallery just off the Skytrain route - very easy to get to from where we were. 

The building is nine stories high with a handful of exhibits dotted around the building. 

My favourite exhibition was a bunch centred around Crow's - some very dark and moody canvasses with great detail and stunning visuals. 

Heading up further were more floors of art of varying appeal to me personally. Some I had to stop dead in my tracks to stare at for a few minutes with others an easy glimpse and keep walking. 

The top floor didn't allow any photography but featured an interesting collection of culturally significant Thai art - some of them were very impressive. 

From here it was off to the next gallery, Hof Art Space. Back on the Skytrain in the complete other direction and a ~$2 trip (almost as expensive as it gets!)

Hof is actually in an area called W District, which is a officially described as an "Art and Lifestyle Neighbourhood" - and it did not disappoint! 

The gallery had some very cool pieces in it - quite a few of women which I wont lie, I do like! Otherwise it comprised of various mosaics, sculptures, paintings and other less traditional forms of art - one example was a small sandpit on a pedastal with words made in the sand using plastic beetles.

The photo directly above is actually of the piece on the left in the middle photo; made up of thousands of little photos as you can see!

After taking these shots I realised there were no photography signs scattered around so I decided not to take any more ... but no point letting them go to waste now right?!*

From here we headed outside into the courtyard area - more sculptures and more street art to peer at over a well priced beer. Not a bad way to spend the late afternoon at all!

After our stomachs started rumbling we jumped back on the Skytrain to Alok station where our hostel is nearby and grabbed a random curry and rice dish from a street vendor. We were told "spicy" by the lady serving, but ordered anyway and were duly rewarded with a great meal for under $2 once more!

Adam, Chris and Errica were due to arrive right now as I'm writing this, but their Jetstar flight got delayed three hours in Melbourne prior to leaving for Singapore - should have flown Air Asia! As such they missed their transfer to Bangkok and wont be in until around midnight. 

Our night will now be spent checking in at their hostel for them (reception closes at 10pm) and waiting around somewhere close until they arrive!

* If anyone requests these photos to be taken down I will happily do so.

Back to Bangkok

Yesterday Fitzey and I left Jomtien, Pattaya to head back to Bangkok.

Rather than catch a shitty minibus this time around I thought we'd take the first class bus option that leaves from Pattaya, An easy 20 baht songthaew took us to Pattaya, and rather than spend the extra 10 baht we walked to the bus terminal .. in hindsight the one kilometre or so in the heat would probably have been easier on the back of a ute...

A further 117 baht and we were on our way back to Bangkok on a comfy, air conditioned, roomy bus.

The new hostel we were staying at - Bodega Bangkok - has exceeded our expectations. Priced really well in a 14 bed dorm, this place has a seriously cool atmosphere.

Run by a couple of brothers from the US, it has a bar and nightly beer pong competitions. The place is littered with art and designs from people that have stayed here in the past eighteen months its been open, and the owners are happy to sit at the bar and have a chat with guests. 

Needless to say last night was spent mostly at the bar...

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Last night Fitzey and I got talking to an Aussie girl from Geelong and she joined us on the hostels provided "do it yourself walking tour" guide. 

It was an intense day of walking, catching different forms of transport and seeing a bunch of the sites that Bangkok has to offer. We left around 930am and didnt return until after 6pm.

The first part of the tour consisted of catching a ferry down the canal to get to Wat Saket - Golden Mountain. Upon arriving at the port, we saw a ferry come and go within seconds as people very quickly jumped on and off - I was a little nervous in the speed in which the stop occurred! 

It wasnt actually hard at all, they do come to a relatively complete stop... The ferry ride itself was easy, jump on and a bloke comes up and asks for money, paying the (13 baht) fare. 

Hopping off and a quick walk later we made it to Wat Saket. 

For a small fee you walk up the spiral staircase lining the side of the building and are treated with a very nice view of Bangkok from the top. Inside are a bunch of Buddhist statues and related artefacts.

Leaving here our next stop on the tour was Khaosan Road - the renowned backpacker area that some have coined the "backpacker central of the world".

We thought what better way to make the experience more authentic than to catch a Tuk Tuk!

A Tuk Tuk is not exactly the safest way to get around in the world, as it is essentially just a motorbike with a kart on the back (see the green one in the photo above).. I hailed it down, asked how much, and managed to haggle the price down from 60 to 30 baht for the three of us - probably still a bit rich in hindsight!

From here we wandered around the Khaosan road area, grabbing a cheap (50 baht) but amazing lunch from a local street-side vendor and checking out the various market stalls. Some of the wares sold in these stalls were pretty shady stuff - from nunchucks, to butterfly knives, machetes, throwing stars and tasers - with some even built to look just like an iPhone - crazy!

After Khaosan, we walked to Wat Pho to see a massive 46 metre long reclining Buddha statue..

We then caught a long tail ferry to another stop - another different type of transport!

This operated much like the busses here, jump on and buy a ticket when the person comes by.

From the river we caught a BTS Skytrain and walked around Lumpini Park; we sat by the water for a little and managed to see a metre long monitor lizard cruising around the water and bank.

If you look closely in the photo above you can make the lizard out in the water..

From here we caught the MRT subway back to the hostel, concluding the days outings! A rather intense day if I do say so. 

It's a hard life in Thailand

Today has so far consisted of waking up, having breakfast, then getting an hour long Thai massage for a mere $8AUD, eating and swimming.

This was my first real experience with a proper massage... and it hurt! This tiny Thai girl was pressing hard with her elbows and fingers all over my body - it was a total top to bottom run around. I didn't actually realise how painful pressing on your hand between thumb and forefinger could be...

After the massage I felt incredibly relaxed. It really did the trick to relax the muscles.

Fitzey and I followed up the massage with some Thai food from a local corner shop. Green curry with pork and rice seemed to hit the spot pretty well - and open up the airways! Cant complain for $4.50..

This was followed up by a dip at the beach. Never have I been in such warm water before - so damn good! Walking for a few minutes was enough to dry off - who needs towels in Thailand?!

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I'll now rewind for a sec. 

After arriving in Bangkok around 9:30PM two nights ago, we caught a local bus to the hostel. The hostel in a box was really easy to get to from the airport and very well presented.

After a long day of flying Air Asia I did not particularly feel like doing a whole lot. We would have stayed an extra night in Bangkok had the hostel had room, but they didnt, so we decided to catch a bus the next day to Jomtien, a beach just south of Pattaya.

A quick walk and BTS Skytrain ride we arrived at the Eastern Bus Terminal. I had read about the first class bus services available and seen these massive air-conditioned coaches driving around and was excited for the two hour trip to Pattaya, for once again only around $4.

Upon seeing our chariot I was a lot less impressed. Only the "second class bus" goes to Jomtien where we had to go, which I read where pretty similar to first class, usually just without the onboard toilet; we had a minivan with ten seats.

The ride was bumpy and the aircon not the best, but it got us here which is the main thing!

We spent most of the day walking around orientating ourselves with the area.

Given that it was a Saturday night we had to head out to Pattaya, a notorious area filled with debauchery.

An easy Songtheaw ride for 10 baht ($0.75) will get you to Pattaya from Jomtien. A songtheaew is pretty much a ute with a cage and seats on the back, that more or less operates as a bus between set destinations with jump on/jump off as necessary. Flat rate fairs with about twelve people maximum occupancy.

After arriving in Pattaya we headed to "Walking Street" which is where the dude working at the hostel told us to go. It is apparently just lined with bars and strip clubs and not much else.

We managed to find our way back to the stop where the songtheaw originate and another 10 baht and we were home!

Day Trip to the Snow

Tuesday was spent jumping on the Joetsu line Shinkansen for a day trip to Yuzawa, an easily accessible snow town north of Tokyo in the Niigata prefecture.

Stepping out of the station I was instantly greeted with piles of snow lining the sides of the streets.
I was back to being like a kid again. Quickly running up to the nearest pile and making a snow ball to throw at Fitzey.

I climbed up a pile stacked against a wall just because I could.

Walking through the streets to find food I was constantly picking up and making snow balls to throw through the air... I was no doubt grinning like an idiot the entire time!

I was keen to check out the Kogan Ropeway, a cable car to one of the ski resorts in Yuzawa. Fitzey didn't have waterproof shoes like I do and decided not to come up, but I wasn't missing out on that experience so went alone.

I can't even begin to describe how beautiful the sight was up there. The ropeway ascends 500m toward the heavens and the view is absolutely spectacular. I'll let the photos do the talking here!

After finding and trudging through the deepest snow I could find - deep enough to sink in just below my knee - and jumping off a little hill into it a few times, I went inside to grab a beer.

I sat my arse down in the best snow I could find and just stared off into the rolling snow-covered mountains. It was truly blissful.

The time came and I had to leave; Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

That night Fitzey and I had plans to check out Kubukicho in Shinjuku - Tokyo's biggest red light district.

We ended up getting in contact with and meeting up with Anthony and Mike from the j hoppers in Osaka, and a bunch of others from their latest hostel. A Japanese girl managed to get us into a private karaoke room with unlimited drinks for around $25 a head.

The group of ten or so danced, sang and drank well into the morning, catching the first train home after 5am.

Needless to say the next day was not the most productive.

Today we caught the Shinkansen back to Osaka from Tokyo. I think we got on the wrong train because this one stopped at every stop and took around 4 hours. Plenty of time to catch up on some reading though!

Last night in Japan tonight. Tomorrow at 11am we jump on a plane for our next stop, Bangkok, Thailand!

Cars, Trains and Lights

Saturday night at the capsule hotel was a bit of an experience - probably one I would be happy to not have repeated though!

Fitzey and I were basically the only foreigners in the whole place; the populous was largely middle aged Japanese business men.

The toilet area only contained squat toilets. The showers were only communal seated shower areas much like those found in the onsen wash up area.

After checking in you were able to pay an extra 200 yen for checked baggage storage; no bags allowed in the capsule and they wouldn't fit in the provided locker. Every time I needed to get something from my bag I had to ask at reception.

The beds themselves weren't too bad, but the bean/rice pillows weren't the comfiest of this trip! I had to sleep with ear plugs for the first time due to the snoring of all the Japanese around me - oh well! At least it was long enough to fit in...

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Sunday was my visit to the Osaka Auto Messe .. wow.

It was a total overload - so many amazing cars and so many people. I managed to navigate there from the capsule hotel without too many dramas - it is hosted at INTEX Osaka.

Walking to the event was just a constant stream of incredibly modified street cars - Osaka has the best car scene in the country. Walking through the car park after definitely solidified this!

I could post a hundred photos right now but I'll try to restrain myself to show only a few to get my point across about how crazy the whole experience was.

That last car is a Honda Odyssey - a family van we have back home.

One of the most interesting things is walking through and seeing hordes of guys standing around taking photos. You think "oh what car must be getting this much attention?" Getting closer you see that it is just a promo girl standing in front of the car posing for photos. Men with their cameras flock and looking at their view finders, are only taking photos of the girls. Why bother?

That said, this phenomenon is not new to me. I experienced exactly the same thing at the Super GT race I saw on my last visit. As soon as a girl was on stage, men would flock to take photos - crazy culture indeed!

That night Fitzey and I walked through Dotonbori for a while after checking into our next hostel. The new hostel was a private room for the price of a dorm, a nice welcomed change of pace with peace and quiet!

Dotonbori is one of the popular night life areas in Osaka, close to the JR Namba station. We ended up not actually going in anywhere, just walking around and taking in the sites. Its a very cool area with a river running down the centre and lights everywhere - and plenty of photo opportunities!

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Today we checked out of the hostel in Osaka with our sights set for Tokyo, where we will be spending the next three nights before heading back to Osaka for one night then Bangkok!

We jumped on the shinkansen bullet train to Toyko, an easy three hour trip that covers half the country!

The train ride was spent either reading or listening to an incredible podcast I have been told about earlier - Serial. It's a true story based around a murder that happened in 1999 and even after one episode I can highly recommend it!

Given the nature of a podcast story I was able to listen and take in what was being said, while staring out at the beautiful scenery as life flew by at 300kph. A great train ride indeed!

A snow capped Mount Fuji (above) was quite a treat to see!

I checked into the latest hostel upon arriving in Tokyo - a quick train and subway ride from Tokyo station where the shinkansen terminates.
This place is easily the most beautiful hostel I have ever seen - maybe even hotel for that matter!

Everything here is handmade from wood sourced in Hokkaido, with stunning accents used around wherever possible.

It was then time to jump on a local train to Akihabara Electric Town. It was not my first time visiting here but it was just as outrageous as I remember. Streets are covered in anime and video game signs, lights are everywhere at night and stores are nothing but electronics, video games, arcades and anime. 

My time in Akihabara was spent wandering through the stores and surrounding streets, taking in all that this cultural hub of Japan has to offer.