From the Land of Smiles...

Bangkok Rock Festival

Hey Everybody,

I realize that this is really really late, but i'm trying to get caught up...so here's this entry that never got posted...

A few weekends ago (the weekend of the 18th and 19th) I went to a Rock Festival in Bangkok. It was amazing, It was sooo much fun.

I went up to Bangkok on the Friday and met one of my friends there. We decided to make a day trip into Chinatown, since we'd never been there. And we decided to take the water Ferry there. So, we took a cab down to the river and got onto a ferry, with some confusion. A thai lady (the meanest thai person i've ever met) told us to get onto the wrong ferry. Luckily the ferry people were nice and let us off at the next stop (for free) and we took one in the other direction. Then we rode the ferry for quite a while down the river. I couldn't believe how crowded it was. It made me really nervous too, because there were so many monks on it, and I was sooo worried that i, or another woman, would touch one by mistake. Its really really bad for a woman and a monk to touch. And i think if it happens all the woman who are there have to do some sort of prayer and little ceremony or something. Anyways, we did make it to chinatown without incident. Then, not having any idea where we were, we wandered around the streets for a while. It was cool, we were just wandering around market streets, some with stuff, some with food. We bought a kilo of shampoo (rose apples) and then some random egg tarts that looked kind of like butter tarts. Eventually we decided to look for the temple that we had come to see. It has one of the largest golden buddha's in the world. Unfortunately though, once we got there it had just closed (i didn't know that temples closed, but apparently they do)...so we went for coffee and arranged to go meet some of our other friends.

We met up with them and went to the night market, because none of them had ever been there. We didn't stay too long though, because nobody was really in a shopping mood, although we did buy a few things.

The next day we slept in and went for breakfast and then tried to decide what to do about the concert. We ended up going and meeting a friend (our newbie, Vee) at Siam Paragon, and then taking the BTS (skytrain) to the stop where there were supposed to be free shuttles to the concert. When we got there it turned out that there were no shuttles, so we had to take a cab. We eventually got there though, and after waiting in line to pick up our tickets we went in. We got in there just in time to hear the end of the set of the last thai band. I felt so bad, because my friend had come to the concert to see the thai bands, and then we'd missed them. Our spirits were lifted though, when we got a phone call and met up with all of our other friends, who we hadn't seen in a while. Then we went and walked around the concert venue, looking at all the stalls and games and stuff.

Anyways, we watched the first few bands, and they were pretty good, but mostly we were just hanging out and waiting for Franz Ferdinand and Oasis. Just at the end of the last band before Franz Ferdinand a couple of our friends come running over to us. They said they found a way for us to get into the front section (it was divided into 3 and we were in the back). They had just gotten into the front by going in with a crowd of ppl, and when they came out they got a stamp of an A on their arm (so the guards didnt have to keep checking for tickets) an dthen when they came out they pressed the stamp onto another person's arm while it was still wet. It was genious. So, by the time that Franz Ferdinand came on, we all had stamps and were making our way up towards the front.

They were really really good. I didn't really know too much of their music, but it was still awsome. It was ridiculously hot though, being in that huge crowd and dancing in the thai heat...After their set half of us just sat right down and a few ppl ran and bought lots and lots of water.

Then Oasis came on. They were amazing. It was sooo great. We got pretty close, and a few people went off by themselves and got right to the front. It was so much fun, the big group of us all together singing and dancing (and sweating like crazy, 555)...Awww, and when wonderwall came on we were all singing and in a big circle. It was kind of corny, but still awsome. They played the longest set, since they were the headliners, which was great. And by the time they were finished we were all sooo exhausted, but it was amazing.

After the concert we had to split up a bit, since some people were going with their host family, and the rest of us tried to catch cabs. It took forever...we had to walk soo far, but eventually we got one and made it back to our hotel, where we crashed right away.

The next day we got up and ate and did a bit of shopping on Khao Sarn before going to the concert. And this time we made it in time to see the thai bands. They were pretty good, although i didn't understand what they were saying. I did know a few of the songs though. There were only 2 that day thoug. Then we wandered around trying to look for concert t-shirts. We hadn't bought oasis shirts the day before because we'd seen some ppl with festival shirts, and we wanted them. We kept asking around and people kept telling us that there weren't any, but we knew we had seen them. Eventually, ashley and I found the group of people wearing them and asked. It turns out that they had made them, so we couldn't get any. We were a little upset, and confused..I mean, that was a bad move for the people who arranged the concert, not making shirts. Defeated, we went and got some dinner before the next bands went on.

It turns out that the next few weren't that good, and we wanted to leave, but I also really wanted to see Snow Patrol, who were second last. Eventually we just got tired of waiting though and decided to leave. On our way out though, we decided to try to buy the shirts off the staff (there were staff shirts). We were unsuccessful, and then a few guys really looked like they wanted to sell them, but they said that their boss would be mad. My friends gave up, but i suggested that we go ask the boss, i mean, whats the worst that could happen??? It turned out that the guy was really nice, and we talked to him for a while. We found out that they had arranged the entire concert in only 2 months, thats crazy. And he even gave us some free stuff, and tried to get us t-shirts. He went around asking all the staff if anyone wanted to sell theirs, and we ended up getting 3 (although there were 4 of us). We were waiting to see if he could get a 4th, when Snow Patrol came on, so Chris and Kat told Ashley and I to go watch while they waited.

Snow Patrol was really really good. And they seem like really nice guys too, they thanked the crowd sooo many times. I'm definetly going to pick up that cd. We didn't stay for the whole set though, because we felt bad for Kat and Chris, so we went back outside. It turns out that they hadn't been able to get another shirt, so we were on our way. On our way out the manager came out and walked to his car to get business cards to give us. Then he gave us hugs (really strange for thailand) and told us to give him a call. We were pretty excited about that. Then we caught a cab to the hotel, which was alot easier tonight because the concert wasn't finished yet.

It was a really awsome weekend.

-Lauren

posted by Lauren @ 10:50 PM