Travel Magic on the Chao Phraya

Posted Tuesday, March 27, 2007, 9:45 PM by Lonely Planet

Dan Eldridge is currently in Thailand researching for the South East Asia on a Shoestring guidebook. He reports in from Bangkok...


It's late in the afternoon on a boiling hot day in Bangkok. I'm riding aboard one of the city's ubiquitous ferry taxis, and floating south along the massive Chao Phraya River. But even with the cool bursts of wind and the occasional droplets of water that spray through the boat's open window, my body is still coated with sweat.



I'm a travel journalist, and a few months back, Lonely Planet offered me an assignment: I was to spend six weeks exploring Thailand for an update of LP's Southeast Asia on a Shoestring. Sounds like a dream job, doesn't it? But right now, as I'm heading towards the centre of town to investigate yet another series of guesthouses, restaurants and cafés, I don't feel like I'm in a dream at all. Thanks to the bulk of my ever-present messenger bag, which is weighted down with guidebooks, my spine feels like its been literally twisted out of shape. And my feet, which have pounded through endless kilometres over the past 72 hours, are throbbing. If this is a dream, I think to myself, it must be the beginning of a nightmare. Right now, there's only one thing I'm absolutely certain of: I haven't worked this hard in months.

But overseas travel, I've found, has a funny way of changing your attitude without so much as a moment's notice. And I suppose that's why it didn't surprise me when I found myself in a sudden conversation with Lulu, a German tourist who was riding the ferry. As we floated further south and exchanged the normal backpacker pleasantries, Lulu told me that she too was having a bad day. She was missing her husband, whose last email from home had made her cry. She was lonely. And so without giving it so much as a second thought, we decided to pass the evening together.

First, we drank smoothies on the outdoor terrace of the Oriental Hotel, and while the sun dropped behind the river, we got to know each other in record time. Later, we were driven to the middle of nowhere by a crooked tuk-tuk driver. We wandered through the night market at Patpong, and climbed a staircase to one of the district's infamous go-go bars. It was a classic Bangkok night and when my head hit the pillow hours later I was laughing out loud, and completely in awe of my luck. Because as it turns out, I've apparently got myself a dream job after all.

Labels: Asia and Pacific

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