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I apologized for being slack the other day and yet I did it again so obviously I haven't truly learnt my lesson. In my defense the heat and humidity here is suffocating and exhausting so leaves me with little energy at the end of the day! So here is my shameful attempt to make up for it.
I also want to say thank you to those who messaged me when I hadn't updated my blog for a few days - It's so nice knowing that if something happened to me and I went quiet that you guys would already be on to it to find out what has happened! It's very comforting and I love you all for it :)
First of all I remembered that I missed out something really important in my final write up about Dubai! Basically, something else that I found absolutely incredible was how much more there is in the future for the region. Seriously, I really don't think they have even come close to reaching their peak yet. Not only do they have god knows how much still in construction (you see it everywhere you go), there is also totally insane amounts of empty space for them to continue expanding. I'm definitely really excited to see what is ahead for Dubai because it truly is and will continue to be one of the most interesting cities of the modern and future era.
Right, now on to the next part of our adventure.
Let me just mention that I've noticed a sucky trick by airlines. If you are using the airline of the country you are flying in to - i.e. Icelandic Air to Iceland or Emirates to Dubai, you are totally spoilt by amazingness of the airline. For example a fancy as plane, or a nice drink, or a huge selection of movies, and so on. BUT! If you use that same airline to fly OUT of that region they get all stingy on you and suddenly you no longer have a plane with stars in the ceiling, or a yummy bottle of Icelandic water :'( I know I sound like a princess, but it's an observation I made!
We arrived in Bangkok early yesterday morning at around 8am. My first thoughts were holy crap it's so hot and humid, wah. I really struggle with anything over 25c, and when you chuck humidity in to the mixture I just find it exhausting and experience constant dizzy spells! We managed to figure out the public transport way to our hostel with virtually no trouble - definitely a pro of Bangkok is that the public transport is excellent. I don't want to go in to the boring details but basically you look at a map and click the number of where you want to go and the number you click is also the price of your ticket (easy peasy!).
When we got off the train, our first impression was along the lines of ohmygod I hope we got the address wrong. The street looked like crap - super dirty, buildings scruffy, ugly food carts everywhere and a pavement that was collapsing in.
However our spirit was lifted soon after as we quickly discovered that Thai people are amazingly friendly. We obviously looked a bit lost and straight away people came to help - with one giving us the direction to our hostel, with another random woman cycling by stopping outside the hostel, pointing at it for us with a big smile, and waiting until we got there so we were sure we were ok. She didn't speak any English but her big grin was enough to show she cared.
Our hostel was also nice too which was relieving. Definitely not one of the best we've stayed in (especially since there's no lifts…), but given the current setting and the suffocation from humidity and heat, I think anything with air conditioning would have felt absolutely beautiful to me.
What was even better is that, despite the fact it was only 9.30am, we were allowed to check in straight away and head to our room! Usually you can't check in until around 2pm, and this has been the case for most of our overnight buses and planes. So it was a relief when, after just one hour sleep, we were allowed to head straight to bed to catch some zzz's.
We woke up four hours later (whoops) and decided it would be rude not to start exploring. We immediately started to realise that actually this area wasn't a total hole - it was in fact really nice. And so it should be, since I had spent ages reading reviews and info on good places to stay in Bangkok! We quickly discovered that actually all of Bangkok is dirty and ugly. But it appears to just add to its charm.
We soon found a super flash shopping mall that confirmed we were staying in a nice area as we were greeted by a doorman and welcomed by a huge selection of high range stores such as Prada. It was also amazing to find somewhere with great air conditioning that we can easily escape to! There was a "tourist information centre" that we headed to, but it wasn't like the ones we are used to. There were no brochures or anything like that - literally just one woman who we asked some questions too, she would try to reply, but mostly she just printed off random things and handed it to us.
We also managed to find some yummy food places. I'm not particularly keen to try out the food carts on our street… Even though I'm sure the food won't kill me, there's just something off-putting about seeing food cooked at left out in 33c humidity and heat. So we managed to find a tasty Thai restaurant in the mall instead… They have an amazing dish of fried vegetables and tofu which I quickly fell in love with!
After having a good walk around the area, we headed back home. We had a lot of planning to sort out since our total time in Thailand would be five days, four nights - but we had only booked one night's accommodation since we weren't sure what to do when we were here. It took us literally five hours to sort out because things kept not working out, or accommodation was booked, etc. Even when we had come to terms with the idea of booking all our accommodation with our Bangkok hostel and just doing some day trips - we went downstairs and found out there was no free beds for our second night! Drama drama. So in the end we decided to book two nights in a place called Jomtien Beach near Pattaya. It was just a two hour bus ride from Bangkok and cost us only like NZ$3 each for the luxury bus :)
The next day (so today), we woke up feeling pretty stressed. There's nothing worse than a day with a deadline, especially when checking out is involved. We got up, packed our stuff, chucked in the luggage room, ate some basic breakfast and headed out. The first thing we did is see how far the bus terminal to Pattaya was from our hostel, to determine whether we would need to catch a taxi or could walk later on. It was only about 15 minutes' walk which was good - and we also used it as an opportunity to check out the bus timetable.
Our next stop was to go find the river and the temples! Again the public transport served us very well - we had to change lines once and then change to get to the river taxi, but this proved to be stress free! The river taxi is also a very cool thing as it's like taking a cruise around the river. We paid just 150baht (less than NZ$5?) for an all-day pass using the boats! It's a very cool idea because it's a SUPER cheap way of combining public transport and a river cruise in one go. However I think it's important to mention that the river looks absolutely foul and riddled with pollution. It's the ranked brown colour, but what's worse is that there's so much rubbish in it!
So we got to check out some of the cool temples. We hadn't actually planned to see them all in that day since we weren't dressed appropriately - the main purpose of us heading to that part of the city was to see the floating market - but we were mistaken in where they were. To see the temples you have to wear like long pants and stuff, but the only long pants I have are jeans so I'll need to buy some off those ugly baggy ones soon because from the outside the temples look really amazing and definitely worth checking out.
We went for a huge walk and saw lots of mini poor markets. They all sold total rubbish but I assume people must buy if they're there, so good on them! The weather was sweltering hot and despite smothering myself I still managed to get burnt. It was easily over 30c and whenever we bought a drink it would warm up too quickly.
At one point we managed to find a park by the river and thought it would be a good idea to sit in the shade. A Thai woman kept trying to say something to us but we couldn't understand - I assumed she was trying to tell me I couldn't visit the temples in area because I was wearing a mini summer dress (since earlier a man felt the need to point it out to me, despite the fact I was on a main road walking AWAY from the temple area?!), but eventually she gave up and grabbed her male friend. The guy spoke great English and was AMAZING. What the woman had been trying to tell us is that we should feel free to sit wherever we like in the park and enjoy ourselves! And the guy continued talking to us, telling us where to watch out for the protests, where's good to check out and so on. He looked at my hand and saw the remains of my henna from Dubai and asked if we had just been to India. When we told him we had come from Dubai he questioned us on how pale we looked - making Matt feel very self-conscious haha. When we told him we had just spent five months in snowy, cold Europe he quickly came to terms with our appearance. He also gave us info on Khao San Road when we asked, and recommended we came back during the evening time.
It was really nice because 9/10 when we are approached by people when travelling it's because they want to sell some crappy product or service or try to rip us off. But one of the biggest winners about Thailand so far for me. Even when you go in to a shop or restaurant, they just leave you to it. Some people might consider this rude, but for me it's a dream. I really think there's nothing more off-putting than entering a shop and being harassed to buy things the minute you walk in!
Another awesome thing I witnessed today that reinforces Thai people are helpful is that there was a blind Thai woman wanting to catch the train somewhere within town. I saw the security woman walk the disabled woman up to the train, helped her on the train and let her grab the rail. When we arrived at the stop this woman wanted to get to, there was another member of security ready at the platform to help her out again. I really thought that was amazing.
After all of this sight-seeing, we headed back to our area of Bangkok to grab a very quick lunch and head to the bus station. As I think I mentioned in another blog, I really struggle to eat when it's hot. Usually if I do eat when it's hot I tend to stick to salads and fruit - but a lot of the information I've read up about Thailand suggests to avoid fresh fruit and raw veggies. So that's made eating a bit more difficult! But hopefully it means I've lost some of those excess pounds I gained after surviving an eastern European winter with kilograms and kilograms of pierogi :)
The bus ride was really, really nice. I actually enjoy bus rides (as long as they're not overnight) because it usually involves shoving some head phones in my ears and enjoying the view outside. It gives me a cute opportunity to reflect on how lucky I am to have the life I'm living. The drive was really pleasant, with lots of green scenery and nice trees and rivers. I also noticed that Thailand has a LOT of stray cats and dogs (although more dogs than cats in my opinion). I think the main difference though with Athens and Rome and is that the stray animals here seem a lot sadder and in poorer health, which is heart-breaking. In Athens the animals just carried on with life and seemed to have formed their own little groups and communities - all happy. But here all the animals just seem like they have given up. If it wasn't for the fact I'd be putting my own health at risk, I swear I'd just sit by one of these dogs and give them a hug to try and regain some sparkle in their eyes :(
We arrived in Pattaya around 6.30pm. We went to catch a taxi - but were first approached by these weird local taxi/van like vehicles that basically tourists stand on the back of with their suitcases and hold on for dear life. It was weird and I didn't like the look of them, so we went to the main road to flag down a taxi. When we did this guy immediately told us it would be 400baht to take us to our location. That was a total rip of and we refused straight away. He came up with all the reasons why it was high and we said no and cut off a large portion of his proposed fair and then we came to an agreement. It was still ridiculously expensive by Thai standards but at the end of the day we had heavy bags, our hostel was ages away, and we just wanted to relax. Plus in New Zealand terms it worked out to be like NZ$10 which is nothing for a thirty minute taxi ride! As well as that, we didn't see any other taxis go past - it seems everyone uses those weird open vehicle things.
So we got to the street of our hostel, and decided to walk down since it was only 250m away from the main road. The road looked pretty sketchy and dark so Matt and I began to fear the worse. However our fear quickly vanished when we found that our hostel was in fact almost of a hotel standard and looked super nice. We paid like NZ$7 a night for a private room with our own bathroom, and it's super nice! It's all white and modern looking with a brand new TV, fridge, etc. So we were feeling pretty smug. It's also on the rooftop floor which has a viewing platform, chair and table, and an outdoor kitchen so we get a beautiful view of the area and can see the sea very well!
By this point we were feeling quite peckish so headed out for a walk. Unfortunately this crushed our first impressions of a beautiful beach area very, very quickly. I hate being negative about places I've travelled to because at the end of the day, I'm barely scratching the surfaces of these areas so who am I to judge? But because I want to be honest with you all within this blog I'll judge away…
Basically this place is a total hole. It's by far the most revolting place ever. Which is a shame because from researching online it didn't seem bad at all - I knew Pattaya Beach would be skanky but that's a while away from here, and people are recommended to check this beach out instead. But no, this one sucks. We haven't seen the beach during the day yet, but from our nighttime walk we can tell the sea is a beautiful colour but it's absolutely polluted with so much rubbish. The sand areas too. I'm so ashamed to be a human being right now because of how bad it is. You can see all the plastic bags and bottles floating around in the water, and there's all sorts of rubbish dotted around on the beach itself - including HEAPS of glass. I can't believe people not only leave this rubbish behind, but no one is willing to clean it up. I can tell that this place should be beautiful, but clearly a lethal combination of douchebag tourists and hopeless locals has totally destroyed this area. I asked Matt if maybe we had just become snobs to let it bother us so much, but he rightly pointed out that there's nothing snobby about caring for the environment. I'm no eco-warrior but seriously, shame on EVERYONE for letting places in the world be like this. Put your rubbish in the bin, don't smash glass bottles on the beach and stop being so filthy.
All the food also looked foul. Our dinner ended up being a combo of fries and garlic bread, and then we bought some milk and cashew nuts from the 7/11 so that we had something in our system. We probably should try some of the street food but hmmm… I haven't been feeling too great with stomach upset, sore throat, etc so I don't really feel like taking the risk and getting worse. We will see.
An interesting thing we noticed is that this area within Thailand is largely Russian. You hear Russian speaking everyyyywhere and even most of the shops, advertising etc are in Russia, or have Russian next to Thai. Even a lot of restaurants only speak and have their menu in Russian and Thai. When Matt and I ordered some fries today, we tried to ask for the bill and the watiress had no idea what we were asking. It's really lame of me to expect that everyone speaks English, but lets be honest - English is the language of business and almost essential for any tourist destination to become successful. So it was quite a nuisance when this waitress had to find up to three other waitresses in order for one to finaaaaaaaaally work out what we were trying to ask for.
Something which disgusts me further is the emphasis on sex tourism. I know it's shallow of me to judge, but in order to be totally honest, judging comes with the package. It's really gross seeing these really old, big guys with super young Thai women. I really can't come to terms with that. I've researched so much in to human trafficking and sex slave trade that there's a lot of things I feel uncomfortable with here when it comes to this weird old man/young Asian stuff plus the whole thing with foreigners coming here primarily to have sex with Thai women, girls and boys.
So all in all, Thailand so far has been a bit of a rollarcoaster. One minute we're totally disappointed by it, the next minute something lifts out spirits, but then it just seems to be a cycle of ups and downs - It's definitely got both pros AND cons. I love how amazingly helpful the people here are, and I love that I also feel very safe which is a bit of a surprise. I walk the streets no matter what time of day and night and haven't felt particularly in danger. On the other hand, it's super dirty and I'm really disappointed by that. It's also stinky and humid which is hard to deal with.
So basically I'm definitely not very happy with Thailand so far… I'm sorry for sounding like an arrogant, judgetmental western douchebag, I know I need to give it more of a chance - but it's important to share first impressions!
But at the end of the day, it just continues to remind me of how lucky I am, and how much I can't wait to get home.
Tomorrow Matt and I are just going to take it very easy. The whole point of us coming here from Bangkok was to get some delicious, relaxing beach time however that illusion has been totally blown up after our night time walk today. I'm interested in trying out one of those fish spas where those cheeky little fish eat the dead skin on your feet (weird, but sounds cool), and maybe even get a nice massage!
On Tuesday we have booked to do some elephant trekking! We booked a proper one with an expensive but legitimate company because despite recommendations from a number of friends on how to do it a cheap way, morally I just can't do that to the poor elephants. At the end of the day, the cheaper you pay for them, the more likely that elephant is being treated like crap.
So hopefully this trek will turn out trip around and cheer us up a bit! At the end of the day I know it's not a waste of money or time because it all adds to the experience. This travel is a constant learning curve of what we do and don't like, where the boundaries of our comfort zone lie, who are the kinds of people we like to associate with, and so on. On Tuesday late afternoon we intend on coming back to Bangkok to do more city sightseeing until we leave on Wednesday evening!
Seriously can't wait to come home. I'm looking forward to establishing a routine and enjoying catch ups with my wonderful friends and family :) As well as the fresh clean air and nice green scenery everywhere, aaaaaaaaaaaah! I really wish a lot of the NZers who don't realise how lucky they are could understand why NZ is so frickin amazing and better than any country in the world. It frustrates me a lot!
xxx
- comments
Aunty Claire Fab blog hun. I totally agree about the being hassled in shops part. Beth and i experienced that in London and it is very off putting.The beaches in that area sound terrible! Its so difficult to understand why no one does anything about it. I hope you have a wonderful relaxing time tomorrow and let me know how it goes. I have been thinking about trying that for a while now. Take care hun and love to you both xxx
Nan Wow that was a long one lol, glad you found some ups as well as downs. I know what it feels like to be put off by pushy shop staff, guaranteed to lose my custom. Don't want to put you off but they have issued a health warning in UK about the fish spa's maybe google it and make up your mind. Not long now sweetheart and you will both be back in your beloved New Zealand your mum is counting the days just like I was when you were coming to us, what it's like to be soooo loved lol. Take care love you xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mum Phew that took some reading! Almost full circle now! I remember last year balling my eyes out and wondering how we would cope with not having you with us for six months. Each time I read your blog though it reminds me of just how proud we are of what an amazing woman you are turning out to be. What you've both achieved in this six months has been incredibly brave and we all respect you immensely for it. Can't wait until Saturday - it still feels like so long, but every day is another day closer. Love you baby ... Mum xxxxxxxxxxxx
Agatka Meowska <3 That's the point in Bangkok everything is so messy and chaotic and colourful and you have all these smells of food and places that just make it sooo intense. I love Thailand :P Go see some nicer places that Pattaya seriously! :P :P :) Love you both and miss you! have a safe trip home -almost there!