Hi! So here am I, writing this blog post on my tablet in Ho Chi Minh City airport, waiting to board a flight to Da Nang. It seems like I will be writing the blog posts about countries a little while after I have left them. Mostly because I don’t know what I really think of a place until I’ve left it and most of the time I’m too busy trying to get my head around where I am to be able to write about it!
We arrived in Bangkok on 10th October, after making our way down to Heathrow, onto the 12 hour flight, after figuring out the airport link train and to our hostel via a dodgy, definitely overpriced taxi. My initial thoughts on Bangkok; humid, chaotic, colourful and smelly. We stayed in the old quater of the city, which is the most popular location for budget hotels and hostels. We were too exhausted to be interesting on our first night in the city but we did make it out for some Thai street food. We found that in every case in Thailand, the cheaper the food, the more tasty it was.
On our first full day we ventured out to visit the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Crossing the road was and has continued to be an interesting saga. There are mopeds, tuk tuks and cars flying about everywhere, coming at you from every angle. We went on a tuk tuk mini tour for 100 baht, that’s roughly £2.50. Our driver spoke very good English, telling us facts about Thailand and asking questions about England. He took us to get some breakfast and then we went up the Golden Mountain. This was an awesome temple with a high viewpoint where you could look out over the city.
Then we were whisked off to go suit shopping... commonly, drivers might try and take you to their uncle’s daughter’s husband’s second cousin’s suit shop but this place had been recommended to us by multiple people because they had a special offer on. Ant was measured up and the suit ready to be made and shipped to the UK. Weird experience anyway!
Then the driver decided that he would take us to a jewellery shop where he gets petrol tokens if he takes customers. Somehow we managed to avoid being coerced into buying a diamond ring or even an elephant keyring.
Our last stop was the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Grand Palace. It is disrespectful to enter a Buddhist Temple if you don’t have your shoulders and knees covered. I was mind-boggled at the amount of people who were rocking up at the temple in short shorts and being surprised that they needed to cover up. Just use some common sense people!
The temple was unbelievable. Extremely ornate with patterns, mirrors, colour, bright stones. The Emerald Buddha is a tiny little but is regarded to be the most sacred image of Buddha in Thailand. The Buddha wears seasonal clothing and only the King may change the clothes.
In Thailand the King is very loved. Everywhere we went we saw his portrait and images of the late King. Whilst we were in Bangkok there was a public holiday happening to celebrate the King. Everyone was wearing yellow and it made for an even more vibrant (if that’s even possible), busy Bangkok. Everyone was happy and cheerful, it was a great atmosphere.
During our stay in Bangkok we also visited the Temple of Dawn. It is a very beautiful temple, white, covered in patterns of all different colours. To get there, you need to get across the river from the Old City. By some miracle we managed to successfully get a public boat ticket, avoid accidentally bumping into any monks (a huge no no), and get off the boat at the right stop. The huge temple was a bit of a giveaway but still! The only downside to our visit was the huge number of tourists doing photoshoots of each other, you couldn’t walk anywhere without wandering straight into the shot of a beautifully dressed girl throwing her sun hat in the air and fake laughing. Quite entertaining really!
That evening we went to one of the many street food markets. We discovered our favourite Thai treat; khanom krok. This is a sort of flying saucer type shape, white in colour, crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. Made from rice milk and coconut milk, very yummy!
The next day we were leaving to fly to Krabi and so we packed up our bags and left for airport. We managed (with the help of the hostel staff) to get a properly and fairly metred taxi, result! Bangkok was definitely an experience. I was tired out when we left, just from it's intensity but what a way to start our adventure!
Next stop, Krabi!
Em x
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