Bangkok, Wednesday

1339 Up late. Alarm at 0845ish was OK but went back to bed, ditto 1230, finally got up about 1300. Can't even put this down to timezone. Anyway, I do at least feel fine (fingers crossed got away with that ice!) and with luck tomorrow will manage earlier.

Was thinking of going to Wat Pho and Grand Palace but guidebook says last admission is 1530 so I'd probably be pushing it badly today; will try tomorrow if I can get up early (and maybe also take advantage of free breakfast at hotel, which stops at 10).

1749 In Deen Restaurant (small, air-conditioned!) on Silom Rd.

Left hotel about 2, walked over to Chinatown and went to see the big golden Buddha and the museum about it and a separate museum about Chinese in Bangkok, both underneath big golden Buddha.

Then walked back getting drinks at a couple of 7-Elevens. Diet soft drinks don't seem big here. Got a sort of green tea with lemon and evidently a lot of sugar, and some sort of brown soft drink which said 'root beer flavour' on the label and was otherwise all in Thai. I have never had root beer, so I don't know if this was root beer or something else just flavoured like it. While actually quite nice, it had this bizarrely antiseptic aftertaste, a bit like Coke laced with TCP.

Having beef in spicy coconut broth with rice here, plus a can of non-diet coke. I felt bad asking for no ice but I did. Feels tantamount to saying 'I have no faith in your hygienic standards'.

1805 Food pretty good. 120 with no obvious service charge so made it 140. Back to hotel now.

1814 Back at hotel. Portion was not gigantic, I could have had a second dish (eg tempted by Tom Yum soup) but I am possibly going to eat at the night market tonight, so don't want to fill up. I feel reasonably sated; I guess also I've probably consumed several thousand calories worth of sugar with all these non-diet soft drinks.

Vague plan for tonight is to do some laundry (I seem to be getting through two changes of everything except trousers a day), shower of course and then have a good old read in guide book about the night market and these bloody sex shows which I think are in the same area (but not at all sure). Feel compelled to attend the latter, but frankly rather worried I'm going to be drugged and/or mugged. Will be glad to get it out of the way, to be honest. I may leave phone and wallet behind (obviously not taking camera anyway) and just take some cash in my pockets. That is a bit of a shame as even without GPS the phone has my maps (not to mention entertainment while sitting around waiting), but a) I do have a paper map I picked up at the airport b) I could do with some old-school travel with none of these electronic maps and c) I believe it's safe to employ the 'get a cab' approach to resolving being lost, if push comes to shove. If this all really is around the Patpong night market, that is a short walk from the hotel, which helps.

Golden Buddha was quite impressive but to be honest I wasn't blown away. It wasn't as shiny and gold-looking as the presumably-not-actually-gold gold decorations and statues around it. It is big and intellectually the fact it is made of gold is impressive and it's not unattractive, but I wasn't bowled over by its extreme beauty.

Did see an orange-robed monk with a packet of fags on the way over to the temple, which I found oddly enderaing.

Wat Traimit, that's the proper name according to guide book.

I then wandered a bit into Chinatown but a) wasn't desperate and b) wasn't sure any of the other sights mentioned in guide book would be open, as it was 4-5pm by this point. I did see some gilded kind of temple thing but it didn't seem particularly open. Given the guide book didn't lay huge stress of any of the other places in Chinatown I am not too fussed. I suspect I will overdose on temples long before I leave the country anyway.

Feeling very sweaty walking around, though the museums under the Golden Buddha were air-conditioned and revived me considerably. GB itself not, although maybe the shade helped it feel cooler, and perhaps being a few stories up contributed to a welcome if light breeze.

1918 OK, showered and laundered. Water is nice and hot anyway.

Before I read up on Patpong etc, let me observe that I was thinking this afternoon. I didn't consciously have any mental picture of what Bangkok would be like, but I guess I half expected something like Amsterdam's red light district but with temples, huge and surrounded by masses of nondescript non-tourist-relevant suburbs. It is obviously nothing like that in reality. With the possible exception of the number of massage parlours, what I've seen so far has not been in the least seedy - a little bit poor and ramshackle in places, but no more so than lots of places I've been in Latin America. Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed - while I haven't fallen in love with the place at first sight, the reality is far superior to the imagined version (except that I suppose my imagined Bangkok wasn't so hot and sweaty ;-) ).

Anyway, I am going to read up on the night market etc and see what can/must be done.

1942 You know, I think I might say fuck it to this sex show business. The guide book seems to adopt a slightly right-on subtext and mixes it with a slightly prim attitude. Basically it doesn't really offer much advice on where to go, beyond saying that in many places you risk being presented with a massively inflated bill and a menacing bouncer. While I do have a slight prurient interest in seeing a woman shoot ping-pong balls out of her vagina, that slight interest pales by comparison with the enormous fascination I have in not experiencing a gigantic inflated bill and a beefy bloke preventing my access to the street.

I think I will play it a little by ear, but at this stage I am not intending to go into any kind of show. The guide book isn't super clear about night markets either; there is one on Patpong, but it may or may not suck. I think tonight I will wander down to Patpong and see what happens in the way of food; unless someone manages to severely beguile me, I ain't going into any shows. I mean, I'm here on my own, FFS. I appreciate the guide book may play up the danger as part of its prissy right-on dismissal of such things, but I am super cautious and I do feel it would be better to do such a thing with a group. I will plan to go walk down Soi Cowboy another night (maybe tomorrow) but on a similar not-intending-to-go-in anywhere plan.

Just possibly I will stay in a hostel when I'm here at the end of my stay and just possibly I will find a group to go with. On the other hand, I'm so fricking nervous about flying into Singapore - both the 7kg budget airline baggage issue and the massively stringent customs - that I kind of want the peace, quiet and 'not been within fifty metres of someone who might have been using illegal drugs' reassurance of a clean hotel when I'm packing to go to Singapore.

Not that either of those would be the place to do it anyway, I wouldn't mind a night out with a few beers and maybe some live music, but the licensing laws here seem almost as strict as those in London (I exaggerate of course, few things could be as dull as London, the city that goes to bed at 11pm prompt, or maybe stays up til midnight if it feels naughty, but still) and frankly I am not sure I'd want to be remotely (five pint say) drunk here. (Unless I get a taxi, I'd worry about crossing most of the roads, for a start.) I am wondering if there's somewhere I could walk to from the night market where a beer or two might be an option.

Fuck it, can't find anything in the guide book. I am sorely tempted to take my phone out with me, but I won't. Let's go have a look at Patpong and then see if I can find any normal bars and if I can't I can come back here and probably make an early night of it and if not I can pick up my phone and go back out.

2032 OK, out we go. Slightly worried about my guts, but I think I'm OK. Anyway.

0000 Just got back to hotel. Have booked a Spanish lesson for 10am which should help me get up.

Oddly depressing night. Walked up and down Patpong 1 and 2. Tawdry market in gewgaws, much touting for girlie shows which I felt a bit sad about resisting, but as per earlier waffle I ain't chancing it solo.

Ended up in a restaurant/bar place on street north of Silom Road, with a Japanese restaurant which might have been called HokkaiDo opposite with a huge animated mechanical crab on the wall. Had four 330ml bottles of Chang at an astounding 6.4%. As I ordered my third the waiter, no doubt just trying to make pleasant chat, said he'd be drunk after two. Very quiet but I deliberately chose somewhere like that, since anywhere more fun-looking seemed to run the risk of getting saddled with an enormous bill. Some tempting-ish open-to-street bars on Patpong 2 but far too many single Thai-looking women sat at tables on their own; nothing ruins a beer like having an expensive prostitute come join you at the table.

Quite frankly felt like a bit of a loser all night, like there's a party going on and I'm not joining in, but I think in reality I can't blame myself for being cautious. Tomorrow night I might go over to the major backpacker tourist kind of area (not noted for overt sexual stuff) and try to chill a bit more. I think I will book in at this hotel for the one night prior to my onward flight to Singapore so I can repack in relative comfort prior to braving AirAsia's gouging and Singapore's customs, and if (as I expect) I am back in Bangkok for more than one night prior to flying out I will maybe try out a hostel and see if I can find a buddy or buddies to make it safe to visit the shit round here. I am getting almost stupidly bothered about it, on my deathbed I don't think I will be wishing I'd seen some crappy sex show in Bangkok, but all the same it is annoying to feel I'm missing out. The fact I am missing out because I'm here on my own makes me feel lonely, although putting that to one side I generally feel fine. Maybe I should have stayed in a hostel, but after the draining flight out and while trying to get used to a new country/city I do otherwise feel it was smart to splurge slightly on nice accommodation.

Tomorrow night I think I need to work on my onward plans, I think this is peak tourist season so don't want to be booking accommodation etc the night before I arrive. Tomorrow night may be pushing it even so, but I'm not doing it tonight so it will have to do.

Oh, the beer was only 80 a bottle, made it 360 with tip. Missed having my phone with me but I sat there and felt drunkenly sad and mused over shit. Not too bad a night really, except I felt I was missing out.

Oh, no real food stalls in Patpong streets, were some generally in the streets and maybe I should have eaten there, but I felt too edgy to be inclined to do so. Perhaps another night. Not eaten tonight as a result but I did at least eat earlier and I feel OK. Actually while at bar did have odd twinge in guts as if I might be ill, as I did while here before going out, but I think I am more-or-less OK.

So maybe I'm a sad git, but if any of my friends has or would have the balls or lack of sense (choose your spin) to go to the bars off Patpong on their own, kudos. I didn't. I know Chubbard went (probably not here, probably off Soi Cowboy, both point is the same) with a group of work colleagues, doubtless he would claim to have gone if he'd been on his own, but talk is cheap. He's also twice my size (25% on the height, 75% on the stomach), which must help.

0102 Bed. I am not really pissed (I reckon those four bottles of strong beer are about equivalent to four pints) and I should feel fine tomorrow (I actually feel quite OK now, really) and at least I will be out and about by 1130ish 'guaranteed'.