Due to the fact that I'm loving every moment of life in Bangkok I though it would be appropriate to bring my blog back so I can share some of my escapades with you!
Here's a bit of the lowdown on what I've done so far ...
Well yesterday after two days of travel from Canada I landed in Bangkok at 6 am and immediately felt rejuvenated. I decided I would save a few baht and figure out the BTS - (basically their subway, metro, underground, whatever you want to call it) - let me tell you it was not as user friendly as I thought it would be... but I met a nice man from Kelowna BC and together we got to our destination.
After locking up my pack at the hostel I hit the river to grab a boat bus. I am loving this boat bus. Imagine taking a boat to get to work? Feeling the wind through your hair, watching the sun set on the river while you're coming home from work... Needless to say it's been my favourite way to get around and it's only 15 baht a trip - that's 50 cents Canadian.
The rest of my day was spent galavanting by foot and by boat. I'd get off at a stop that looked interesting and literally get lost. After a few hours of walking I'd hit the boat again. Btw I did this whole process over and over again sans map. I loved the freedom and excitement of not knowing where I'd end up. I also realized that my memory and sense of direction is way better than I thought it was! And people were always helpful when I'd ask where the water was and made boat hand movements.
The highlights of my findings were the grand palace, where the royal family use to live (BTW fun fact it is NOT ok to make jokes about the Thai royal family here, like some might do with the Brit royals... It is a big insult to Thai people, they have a lot of respect for the royals in fact most people have their pictures in their home and you see pictures of them on the streets too.)
Chinatown was pretty mind blowing as well. I've been to many markets but I' never seen anything quite like this before. Words cannot even describe the amount of people and the amount of stuff for sale. I will eventually try to eat the market food but I was little too grossed out by the massive spiders and fish that they were deep frying and by the people eating right on the ground of small alley ways directly in the exhaust of motorcycles zooming by. So I had fried rice in a near by resto that was packed - hey, baby steps I have a sensitive stomach...
Which brings me to today's highlights...
I woke up starving (obviously) and decided to hit khao san road since I knew I would find menus I could read and I wanted to see the strip also. Khao San road is Bangkok's backpacker ghetto. I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It honestly felt like a way busier version of Woodstock but in Bangkok. A lot of chilled out looking people drinking and eating on these super cosy outdoor terraces and everything you could ever imagine needing as a backpacker is right there at your disposal.
Then I headed to Wat Arun which literally blew my mind. I think it's definitely my trip highlight so far. It's a gorgeous temple named after the Indian god of dawn and you have to clim these super tiny teeny very steep stairs to the top. It was beautiful. But what was even more beautiful was the spiritual celebrations after. They were so lively and included singing and chanting and fireworks and dragons and... at some point a man tapped me to move over and just as I wondered why about 100 fireworks went off right at my feet. Scary but totally amazing and I got the whole thing on video which I shall be posting soon! Oh also hundreds of little school kids kept asking me to sign their school book. At first I thought they may be planning to scam me but they were so smiley I did it anyway too bad no one spoke English so I couldn't ask why they wanted it...
Next I went to wat pho, the largest and oldest temple in Bangkok and the home of the biggest Buddha ever. There were monks everywhere petting stray dogs the sun was setting... All of it just such a sight. I decided to end my day with a traditional Thai massage. There's a massage school on the temple grounds and it's a notorious place to experience a real Thai massage.
It was pretty much the best day ever except for when I took a cab to get to MBK the biggest shopping mall in Bangkok. Don't even ask me why I decided to go there but someone wanted to punish me because the moment I got there I was greeted by thousands of people frantically trying to get out because there was a power outage. Doesn't that sound like the worst thing ever post relaxing massage? Anyway totally pooped I BTS'd it back to my hostel ate on a terrace showered and hit the hay!
Can't wait till tomorrow!
Sorry for the ridiculously long post pictures will come shortly!
