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Let the journey begin....
Thursday 20th November was the start of our adventure. We said some emotional farewells, and took our flight to Bangkok via Deli. We arrived at 7pm in Bangkok, took a taxi to our swanky hotel in Lumphini, and wondered out to find something small to eat. We took a risk, and went for a pork satay on the street - seemed to go down well!
With the jet lag, Saturday morning took me a lot of effort to get out of bed! Chris however, was up and buzzing around like a kid at Christmas. Eventually I woke, and we had a hearty hotel breakfast, and braved the Bangkok MRT (metro) and BTS (sky train) to Silom, where the shopping malls are. We soon realised we were in the most upmarket shopping mall, when we noticed the Lamborghini/Aston Martins/Maserati's! Anyway, we had a look around and decided to eat in the food court, as we read you shouldn't disregard them - and rightly so, the food was good!
After our venture out into the city, we went back to our hotel, and of course we had to make use of the very swarve roof top pool.
Saturday evening we ventured to the Sala Daeng night market. We bartered our way through the stalls, thinking we were getting some great deals...but probably not! Ate our first proper street food meal which of course had to be Pad Thai (costing 50 baht, just under £1!), and bought a guava for dessert.
We took a taxi over to Koh San road to meet some of my brothers uni friends for drinks. Koh San road is the main hub for backpackers, and was like being in Magaluf - with street food even offering donor kababs and for the more exotic, scorpions/bugs/crickets/cockroaches.
Another struggle to wake up on Sunday morning but off to Chatuchak weekend market, which was a maze of stalls which seemed never ending - it is one of the worlds largest weekend markets. We didn't do too badly shopping wise, and used our best bartering skills.
Late afternoon we met up with some friends from the previous night, and visited the Golden Buddha. Grabbed a quick bite to eat as we were on a time schedule for Chris to get back to the hotel, to watch the final F1 race of the season, and see Hamilton win. Having caught the practice and qualifying live on the hotel room tv we assumed the same for the race...but oh no! Chris had to watch the whole race on his iPhone, with continuous buffering issues - not a happy man but at least he got to see his hero win!
We celebrated with our free welcome drink at the hotel bar, not realising that 'free' also meant 'free from alcohol', bah humbug!
Sadly we had to check out of our luxury hotel, and move to a hostel near Samran Rat. Chris loaded up on Imodium after having a bad night, so we could do some more sightseeing. We took our first tuk tuk over to the Grand Palace to see the grounds and the Emerald Buddha. Although small, at 75cm, it was pretty amazing! The grounds, buildings and temples within the Palace walls were beautiful, and incredibly well-maintained. We walked down to the piers, and after many different directions given, we eventually found pier 8 where we got a 3 baht (not even 1p) boat over to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, one of the oldest temples in Bangkok. A spectacular temple allowing you to climb the outside to the top. If your scared of heights then this is not for you, but the views were great across the river side of Bangkok.
We managed to barter our way onto an hours boat trip around Bangkok's canals (500 baht for the two of us vs lonely planet saying expect to pay 800 baht each!). You get to see how new meets old and how rich meets poor. Going from nice luxury city housing and hotels, to collapsing wooden huts with corrugated iron roofs.
A quick veg pad Thai with NO spice (didn't want to upset Chris' tummy) at the pier, tuk tuk back to the hostel, before heading out to China town for the evening.
Aluminous and crazily busy, China town offers our Chinese food favourites at a fraction of the price. We enjoyed some duck with rice and noodles and a bottle of bear, or should I say a 650ml bottle of beer each!
Still peckish we went and found some crispy squid at another street food restaurant, before heading back.
Tuesday was a very early start due to a Chinese celebration of some sort outside our hostel (6am wake up call!). Tuk tuk over to Wat Pho to see the reclining Buddha. It was huge! From its gleaming gold body to its mother of pearl soles, it was magnificent!
Over to MBK shopping centre, basically an indoor market, with seven floors of stalls. Purchased a fair amount of goodies, well Chris did as I overpacked and have no space at all in my bag - torture!
We decided to go for a 'proper' meal in a fancy restaurant, although with the name Cabbages and Condoms, you might not think it. We were welcomed by Father Christmas and a fairy made entirely from condoms. The food was yummy and I even asked for the bill in Thai. Instead of your standard mint with the bill you get a posh condom.
In keeping with the theme of the evening we decided to go to Bangkok's red light district and watch (or not watch..!) the infamous ping pong show. OMG..never again! Razor blades, fairy lights, cigarettes, ping pong balls, writing, whistles, trumpets...need I say more. A few drinks and street entertainment helped us recover from the disturbing ordeal.
Wednesday was our first lazy morning in Bangkok as the only thing on our agenda was to get a bus to Pattaya, to the beach to escape the hustle and bustle of Bangkok...
- comments
Pete Love this, try the big Singha beers as I found they were nicer but I'm sure you were happy enough after the Chang!