Asian Adventures - Bangkok, Thailand
So Bangkok and in particular Khao San Road is mental! There are so many people trying to sell you food, suits and Tuk Tuk rides! It's pretty overwhelming at first, although I don't know how you could ever get used to it!
We arrived in Bangkok about 7.30 in the morning after a long flight so pretty much slept the remainder of the day as we were exhausted! Our hotel was lovely with a four post bed, a balcony and rooftop pool which we were both excited to try out!
After our nap we went for a wander around where our hotel was to find food and get our bearings. It was as if the locals knew we were 'fresh meat' and knew we had just arrived in the city as they were constantly stopping us asking if we wanted to buy something. It took us about half an hour to walk along one part of the street! Rory engaged in some chat with the sellers which was the wrong move! I took the approach of head down and walk quickly which seemed to get them off our backs. We grabbed some Pad Thai and Rice Stir Fry from a street food kart and headed back to the hotel room with our feast ready for an early night.
On Day 2 we got up early to take advantage of our hotel's rooftop pool. We went out at 8am and it was already roasting!! I could definitely get used to that lifestyle!
We went to The Grand Palace in the afternoon and apart from a minor set back when we had to go back to the hotel for our passports, thankfully it was only a short walk, we had a successful afternoon. This was our first experience of the blistering heat of Thailand and at times it was unbearable! We wandered around the palace grounds for about an hour and a half looking at the different temples.
The architecture is so detailed and the design is beautiful. In one temple you had to take your shoes off before entering. When we came out my shoes weren't sitting where I thought they should have been. I was absolutely raging like I want to go home now raging and thought someone had stolen them only to discover I was looking for them at the wrong entrance! Oops! Never been so thankful for shoes!
We had a nap late afternoon before going on a tram tour of the city which was free with our hotel. It showed us lots of different temples around the city and took us to have a look around The Flower Market. The highlight of the tour was when the tour guide started making jokes to Rory about how his key ring looked like a penis and wouldn't stop going on about it. Not where I saw the tour going!
After the tour we headed for a some drinks and food at a place called Madame Musur where we relaxed on couches to eat and drink.
The bar was really pretty with fairy lights up and a relaxing area up the back where you had to remove your shoes to enter. The food was great - we chose a Massaman curry and sticky rice to share.
On our walk back to our hotel Buddy Lodge Hotel we got caught in a massive thunderstorm and were drenched when we arrived back in our room!
The next morning we had booked a trip to The Floating Market. On our way there we stopped at a market set up on a railway track. The reason for this is because the railway track is Government property the sellers don't need to pay to sell there and there are no taxes on the products they are selling. The market was mostly food so there were a few questionable smells coming from it with raw meat and fish lying out as well as live catfish ready to be slaughtered. We had a wander round then made sure we were safety off the train tracks for the train coming through at 9.00am. It was amazing to see the train driving right through the market. Must be so annoying to have to move your stalls every time a train is due!
At The Floating Market we got a boat that took us around the whole market and we would just inform the driver if we wanted to stop and buy anything.
I had decided I was going to try out my haggling skills on a couple of pairs of trousers. These skills were non existent as I ended up paying way more than I should have for them but hey ho I had my experience of buying something on The Floating Market! It's such an interesting way of life these people have when you think of the normal 9-5 office jobs we have in the UK.
Day 4 saw us having to get our first Thai taxi and unsurprisingly we ended up paying too much for it. The driver gave us a set price when we should have asked him to turn on the meter as we paid double what we should have!
We had a bike tour booked through our Bamba Bus Tour.
Our tour guide Tom was so lovely and made us feel more relaxed about cycling in the city centre of Bangkok! It was nice to hear about his way of life and his different opinions of it. We ended up having a really great chat with him about the differences in the UK and Thailand.
At the start of the tour it was absolutely terrifying cycyling on the busy roads of Bangkok. Thankfully though by the end of the tour it seemed more normal. The tour took us down the back streets of the city where the locals lived which was so different to the city centre road our hotel is on. We also took a boat across the river to the jungle and had a cycle round there. The jungle was such a cool thing to see in the middle of a city.
After our tour we grabbed some street food for lunch and headed to our hotel's pool for a couple of hours.
Our tour guide Tom had recommended a place to eat which we thought we would try out. Google maps said it was a 20 minute walk which we felt was alright. What it didn't tell us was the dodgy back streets we would have to walk down and how the place was on an even smaller street off a small ally walk. It took us ages to find and then when we did they had stopped doing food! Annoyed, we jumped in a taxi back to near our hotel to grab food and ended up having a couple of drinks in Roof Bar on Khao San Road. There was a covers band playing who played loads of pop songs we both knew and it was fun to watch drunk people dancing to the songs.
Overall Bangkok is pretty mental but a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to returning so I can go to a Sky Bar with a rooftop view of the city!
Recommendations -
The Grand Palace - https://www.tourismthailand.org/Attraction/The-Grand-Palace--52
Madame Musur - https://m.facebook.com/madamemusur/
Buddy Lodge Hotel - http://www.buddylodge.com
ABC Bike Tours - http://www.realasia.net
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