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3rd September - visit to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.
Our first day exploring Bangkok! We ate breakfast at a little cafe that was joined onto the hotel. It was a nice surprise to see familiar items on the menu such as pancakes and eggs. A nice change from our chicken curry breakfast the day before. The cup of tea was surprisingly good as well. Tea how we drink it back at home is a lot different from how Asian people drink tea. Theirs is more commonly green tea without milk as diary is not very common. And being a true lover of a good cuppa, there is nothing worse than a bad cup of tea but so far so good.
We then got a tuk tuk to the Grand Palace. A tuk tuk is a 3 wheeled motorcycle. Driving in Bangkok is crazy! It's fast and there don't seem to be many rules, sharing lanes is common which is nervewrecking as . But we arrived safely.
The Palace and temple within the grounds (Wat Phra Kaew) are beautiful. Each building has so much detail on it! We saw the emerald Buddha here but weren't allowed to take a picture. It was fascinating to watch the monks meditate in front of it. So peaceful!
From the grand palace, we then had a city tour in a tuk tuk. A bad decision on our part as they take you to a temple first but then try to push other locations on you. Locations for which the driver gets a commission for taking tourists there like travel agents and the silk factories. The driver then sulked when we said we wanted to go back to the hotel after the travel agents. Lesson learnt - tuk tuk drivers are a pain in the ass and always have an ulterior motive!! I'm glad we wised up to them on the 2nd day though.
After freshening up at the hotel, we headed out for some street food. We have been told the street food is amazing and it did not disappoint!! Across from the hotel was a little food cart with the tables and the tiniest stools around it, this seemed to be the way to eat. We ate noodle soup with meat in. The menu was in Thai so who knows what was in it but we think chicken and pork. A good portion for 70p each! Delicious!! I could get used to this cheap and yummy food.
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Janet What an amazing first day xx