| Bangkok offers a culturally unique blend of | | | | Emerald Buddha, made from a single piece of |
| Eastern and Western cultures, a kaleidoscope | | | | jade, is the most revered. |
| of activity for busy street caf�'s, | | | | |
| vibrant clubs and hedonistic side that one | | | | The blend of spirituality, Asian culture and |
| cannot help but be distracted by | | | | western speed is something that I have been |
| | | | unable to convey in words. Everyone who |
| While not recommend to those with high blood | | | | visits Bangkok will have heard about its sexy |
| pressure, the is something to be said for the | | | | image and every night thousands of Western |
| experience of merely driving into Bangkok. | | | | tourists are drawn to the Patpong area. While |
| With the sizzling food stalls, the open shop | | | | some visitors are either tempted by, or visit |
| fronts, the omnipresent orchids, the rattle | | | | Bangkok specifically for the carnal pleasures |
| of the three-wheeled tuk-tuks, the saffron of | | | | on offer, many like myself find themselves in |
| the Buddhist monks, it's one of Asia's | | | | little more risqu� that haggling over |
| biggest cities, population seven million and | | | | the price of a fake Rolex. |
| growing. | | | | |
| | | | I can't tell you what happens inside the sex |
| Bangkok is truly a melting pot of eastern and | | | | clubs, because I didn't go into any. But |
| western cultures, with its own unique blend | | | | after a quick look around, I was making my |
| of spices added for good measure. They like, | | | | way around out of Patpong when a smiling Thai |
| for instance, the fact that our two countries | | | | tout in a Manchester United T-shirt emerged |
| have royal families, our conservative dress, | | | | from a house of ill repute. "Would you |
| and understated British manners. But more | | | | like a beautiful young lady, sir?" "No, |
| than that they love our football, with | | | | thank you," I replied politely. He hurried |
| highlights of Premiership matches to be seen | | | | after me. "What about a handsome young boy |
| hours before we see them here. From what I | | | | then?" "Don't be ridiculous," I said, |
| knew of Alex Garland's The Beach, Bangkok's | | | | somewhat taken a back. With a |
| Khao San Road, the international | | | | philosophical shrug, the tout dropped back, |
| back-packers' first stop in Asia, was a | | | | obviously thinking, "There's no pleasing some |
| dangerous, druggy place of sexual sighs | | | | folk." |
| behind paper-thin walls, where Western | | | | |
| junkies hid from the real world. | | | | But it was not all hedonistic. Hiring a |
| | | | tuk-tuk I sped back into the centre of town |
| While as with most developed societies that | | | | where earlier I'd spotted my own carnal |
| that scene may well exist, my visit to the | | | | speciality. Slipping inside a doorway down a |
| Khao San Road provided me with a very | | | | riverside alley, I prepared myself for |
| different experience. My personal experience | | | | something really decadent. A beautiful young |
| of Bangkok was one of inexpensive hotels, | | | | woman in a long, white dress padded over. She |
| clubs, restaurants and great clubs where one | | | | carefully removed my shoes and gently washed |
| could dance the night away. I was staying in | | | | my feet. I had a blissful moment that I will |
| the glistening, towering new Peninsula Hotel, | | | | more than likely never forget. My feet after |
| on the Chao Phraya River, in the centre of | | | | a day and a half legging it around Bangkok, |
| Bangkok, across from the old city. I was | | | | were screaming with pain. The young masseuse |
| bedazzled by the river. This extremely busy | | | | anointed my feet with sweet-smelling oils, |
| jugular functioning as a highway for | | | | simultaneously pointing out to me, on a map |
| speedboats, river taxis, junks and the | | | | of a foot, how every bone of the foot |
| occasional jet ski for the very brave. I took | | | | represented a different organ of the entire |
| a riverboat ride upstream from the old port, | | | | body. This, at last, was the exotic East. |
| the Farang Quarter (a foreigner is called a | | | | Later, on the green-canopied ferry as we made |
| farang in Thai) with its hotels, embassies, | | | | our way back across the river to the |
| shops selling antiques, jewels and fossilised | | | | Peninsula Hotel, I realised that for what |
| dinosaur droppings, past the beautiful old, | | | | seemed the first time for ages I was standing |
| dilapidated European customs house and on to | | | | and my feet weren't hurting. It was all I |
| the Park Khlong flower and vegetable market. | | | | could do to refrain from dancing with joy. |
| Nowhere in Bangkok is far from a shrine or | | | | |
| a statue of the Buddha and, as we pulled | | | | Dialaflight is one of the UK's biggest travel |
| upstream passing slums and temples the | | | | companies, offering flights and holiday deals |
| spiritual presence followed. Some of the best | | | | to destinations world wide including |
| Buddha statues are in the Grand Palace in | | | | Thailand. Visit Dialaflight to book your |
| central Bangkok, where the 15th century | | | | Bangkok Flight. |