Our plane ended up in Dubai after a “medical emergency” required us to veer off course yet it proved to be a fortunate diversion with the UK airspace closing down Heathrow and our timing leading us to simply stay grounded instead of turning backwards, or ending elsewhere on the European continent.

I have to commend Qantas for doing an outstanding job with the first hotel arranged for 175 people in economy within an hour of passengers starting to filter through. Prioritising and forming reasonable queues seemed to be a big problem but as mentioned in the previous post, was probably more due to a lack of ground staff than anything else.

Even them smaller hotel, the Arabian Park Hotel did a great job of finding a number of bus loads appearing on their doorstep, offering people breakfast in order to mitigate the growing queue out their front door as they slowly worked their way through the crowd. Admitedly this hotel isn’t as nice as the two ones that I stayed in last time (fairly thin walls to the point I could hear the TV next door) but it certainly did the job or providing a temporary place to rest and freshen up.

After breakfast, checking in and freshening up, the first task was hunting down Internet. As previously mentioned, the hotel wasn’t really that up to par with the whole Internet thing (no wi-fi in the rooms and the LAN didn’t seem to be working in my room) so off it was to hunt down Internet. Although the first task was really about trying to get some cash. Strangely the hotel did some conversions although they only accepted British Pounds but it was enough to get me a cab ride to “Bank Street”, the wide road that hosts almost all of the different banks. A couple of ATMs later, and I found one that would accept my card.

Now doshed up, I walked around until I recognised a few places and ended at a place with lots of internet cafes. It’s pretty cheap being AER2 (about 40p) per hour with many terminals equipped with webcams, speakers. Some of the terminals were well old-school as well. Think really large CRT screens and the gratifyingly loud keyboards that almost made me very self conscious as I sent out the announcements of my delay.

Last time I came to Dubai I don’t think we saw the markets on the side of the river, a short “Abra”-ride away from everyone. The Abras provide a huge service to the community, connecting both sides of the river for only AER1 (20p) ferrying a constant stream of people. When the Abra-drivers get tired, they moor their boats alongside a quieter part of the river where they have their own social gatherings with other Abra boat-masters.

I love wandering the various markets in other countries, although don’t really like the hassle of all the touts trying to get you into their stores with their different tricks. “Come in and look only.” “Look only,” is the phrase that puts me on the defensive. I think there’s a huge difference between the bargaining rituals you need to go through and the touts that are there to draw in the tourists or the first-time sucker. One of the special things about the markets are the little person drawn-carts that ferry goods around the smaller alley ways although this doesn’t really stop them from getting on the road themselves.

(spice market)

Out of the various souks, my favourite by far is the spice market. You know when you’re in the vicinity when the strong pungent odours hit your senses and the walkways seem to be covered in an even more of a dusty haze (if that seems possible in Dubai). Buckets of full spices fill your senses and despite all the normal spices one would expect in an Arabic spice market (saffron, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, etc) they did surprise me with a number.

There’s been plenty of development and given the constant construction sites, it looks like they’ll be plenty more new things being finished over the years to come. I didn’t get a chance to go to the tallest building in the world, this most recent attempt newly opened in February this year. The other most noticeable investment which I’m pretty surprised about is the metro system. I have no idea how it works or whether or not its a popular or economic choice for locals but I think it’s great they’re thinking so far ahead to a more sustainable transportation system.

After a very late lunch and lots more wandering around, I retired back to the hotel to repack my stuff and to freshen up for hopefully what would be the last leg of the journey.

Street art’s really taken off and being the cultural city that Melbourne is so known for, it does not disappoint. It seemed like on every block or every other corner had some sort of painted street art.

Here’s a number of great samples that I liked the most out of everything (the names are mine).

Faces of Melbourne
A little bit of a contrast between the Jabba-the-hut meets a tattooed Ewok facing off against a more gentlemanly floating head. I really like the contrast between these two faces from everything including the different colours, the different sizes, the fact that one has a very detailed outline, the other a floating head.

Toilet Fame
A take on the well known product design for cleaning toilets. Perhaps I like this because it was such a small piece of art and a reflection on how quickly celebritydom falls on the right (or the wrong) sort of person. This rings even more true knowing the number of celebrity-grades that the UK is so well famous for.

Fitzroy Street Fighter
A tribute to the good old days found on a small entrance to a building in trendy Fitzroy. I particularly liked how the light cast a shadow on this combination of street art.

OK Nothing
Perhaps it was the simplicity of this piece of art that really struck me and the way that the person had a very distinguishable feel to it.

Wall At Dusk
While this one feels a lot less like street art and a bit more like a commissioned wall, I really liked how the colours and painting make it truly feel like dusk (it was pretty night time when I took this photo). The crows made me think about the black birds that dominate some of the Australian skies.

Feline Wall
This one is a bit more of mish mash of lots of different heads and a different set of styles. This one feels like a group of people had a go at this and the result is this wall (in a parking lot).

Bangkok has plenty of unique things to see with tons of temples and palace grounds to see. In fact, if you hang around the Khao San Road (the infamous tourist space for backpackers) you’re likely to pick up a local friend with impeccable English who’ll offer to guide you around to all the local sights in addition to probably dropping you off in between to a number of their mates’ stores where you’ll be encouraged to buy something. I fell foul of this trick when I went to Kochin in India and it always begins the same: Questions about where you were from, what have you seen and how long you were planning to do. Apparently I look Thai because most people only seemed to approach me when I pulled out a map to plan out the next part. A warning sign is that these guys ride rickshaws – the yellow taxis that you flag down won’t give you the same trouble.

Massage is a huge part of being in Bangkok with all sorts of styles and places providing them. One of the more unique ones that I’d read about where the “fish massages” where you put your feet into a tank and let the fish “massage” your feet. I was a bit sceptical about this at first, but considering it was something like £3 for half and hour, would be worth trying out. You are asked to first wipe your feet down before putting them into the tank. As you lower your feet into the tank, the school of fish literally swim to the surface in reaction to the approaching shadow in their direction. It was a strange reaction from the fish and as you placed your feet down, they swam up to every nook and cranny.

You don’t have to worry about the fish as these are the sorts that seem to be “cleaning types of fish” you might see around larger fish. They kinda of have sucker-like mouths – you can see many of them clinging to the sides of the tank before you lower your feet. It feels more ticklish than anything else, as they must eat the dead skin off. I’ll have to admit that my feet felt much nicer and cleaner by the end of the half an hour and well worth the money spent for something a bit of a novelty. I do wonder how long the fish last for and what happens with so many people putting their feet into the tank but reassure myself with the fact that it wouldn’t have lasted so long if it didn’t continue working.

Thailand’s main religion is Buddhism, therefore there are plenty of temples and various places of worship. These provide an escape from the bustle of the city and a quiet place for contemplation. Many of the temples are brightly coloured and well decorated including many gorgeous and sometimes, lavish decorations – far greater than what you would expect. Unsurprisingly many of them are in pristine condition. One of the more spectacular ones include Wat Pho (the famous reclining Buddha) and Wat Pria. You really do have to go and see if for yourself although you want to spend a bit more time and not just go for the photos.

One of the other big locations that need visiting is the grand palace. This is a majestic ground, immaculately kept and really lovely. They even have a small weapons museum in one of the buildings. Bangkok has plenty of other places to go and keep yourself occupied – far more than a week and that’s not even including all the activities, beaches and places you can go to relax and unwind.

Bangkok has lots to see and do. There’s plenty more attractions, sights and markets to visit and except for the current government-protest situation would highly recommend it.

On the way to Australia, I stayed in Bangkok for a couple of days. It’s one of those things I try to do when I go back to Australia – it helps with the jetlag and it really does feel like a bit of a holiday instead of simply a frenzy of catching up with lots of friends and family. This time, I decided to go via Bangkok. I booked it a long time ago, and was a bit worried by both the ash and then the protests that you’re hearing all over the news. When I left London, I’d just read about the bombing that the red-shirt protesters had “apparently” did and was worried how it might impact my stay. Fortunately enough, news being news, it apparently ended up being a fairly small issue in the grander scheme of things.

Firstly, the government had already locked down the protesters to a single area – both the taxi driver from the airport simply warned me to stay away and the staff at the hotel I was staying at told me which areas to avoid. With the protests aimed at the government, it hit a few more of the commercial/government part of Bangkok but also meant a large part of the sight seeing places were free from any such thing. Bangkok is such a big city that with all the trouble centred on a single part of the city, it didn’t really affect much of my stay.

Speaking of which, I ended up staying at the Park Plaza Sukhumvit. It’s located right near the intersection between the Asoke BTS (their very modern sky-rail system and the older, but still just as great Sukhumvit Subway). The rooms were large, spacious and I can recommend staying here despite the fairly thin walls – I could hear the room next door when they turned their TV on. From this place, I could get around the city very well and get to almost all parts wherever there was public transport.

I was only there for a short amount of time and enjoyed many different things about the city, including the marvellous street food. Although there wasn’t as much street food around the area I was staying in as much as many other places, I certainly found myself stopping for a sidewalk meal with many other locals. The hygienic attitude of the Thais and the fast turn around of the food meant I felt really comfortable eating many of the dishes that would be prepared. I loved the fact that it was also really authentic and so cheap, with many meals easily coming around BHT50 (£1) if you didn’t have any drinks alongside it.

One of the things you also definitely have to try whenever you get the chance are the famous Thai Ice Teas or the Thai Ice Coffees. Both the tea and the coffee mixtures tend to be this thick, dark mixture that is then mixed with the very sweet condensed milk, slightly watered down by some more evaporated milk and then poured into a large cup filled with ice. The result is a wondrous drink costing about BHT30 (just over 50p) whose sugar and caffeine rush will keep you going in addition to its iciness keeping you cool against the continuous Thai heat. The other great street dish to try is the coconut ice cream – you’ll see vendors of these walking around, often serving them in half coconut shells, or some accompanying the ice cream with a glass of fresh coconut juice. It’s a delicious way to escape the heat for such a short time frame.

I remember it was such a shock coming off the plane from London into that wall of hot air that greets you at the airplane exit and then reminds you of its presence when you step outside the air conditioned airport doors. Not being prepared, I had to go and find some shorts for the journey as soon as I could, forgetting that in temperatures of 38-42 degrees during the day with lots of humidity is not easily receptive for tourists who want to walk around for the entire day in the sun.

One of the things you probably won’t escape if you make it to Bangkok are the markets, and these are a great place to pick up a bargain including lots of counterfeited (some of it reasonable looking – others shockingly obvious) items and clothes. There are lots to choose from, including the massive weekend Chatuchak markets that are really hard to complete it a single weekend. At these weekend markets, you’ll find yourself walking from section to section, although they all start to blur together bit after bit. In some areas, you’ll find it almost claustrophobically dense with both people and the stifling heat under some of the covered areas. You can only feel sorry for some of the animal sections (some are much better than others) with some, very big, fluffy animals in smallish cages. Some of the shops are better than others – providing air conditioned places although the locals really discourage taking so many photos of the animals, particularly some of the rarer ones. I’m guessing this is from some trouble they may have had in the past about proving where some of the animals come from. Still, it’s an interesting walk and you do have to wonder whether or not all these animals move so quickly considering all of them were all really young.