We arrived in Bangkok pretty late in
the evening due to a delayed flight, and had the joy of going through
customs and getting a cab around midnight... which means we
probably overpaid for our cab, but we just wanted to get there. When our cab dropped us off at a creepy side road somewhere in the seeming outskirts of the city, we knew we were in for an adventure. He just pointed down a side road into the darkness of nothing and insisted (from what we could understand) that we had arrived.
As you can see in this picture, our
hostel ended up being down an alley of an alley, and we were quite
lucky that they put some signs up so we were able to find it.
After a pretty great night's sleep on a
very odd bed (it was 2 twins pushed together... well a mattress and a
box spring pushed together is a better description) we ventured out
to find something for breakfast. We ended up in a random hole in the wall
near our place with this plate of rice in front of us. It was really
good and I knew that my stomach would be very happy in this country.
Morning Pad Thai? |
We then just decided to hop on the monorail and see where that takes us. We decided to hop off when we saw this cool
temple. It was very quiet and neat,
and turns out we were right in the middle of one of the protest
sights... go us!
After wandering around there a bit (it
seemed really quiet and we were being safe, parents, I promise!) and
having the most delicious pomegranate juice I've ever had, we saw some random white girls (not being racist, but it is weird when you see two white women in a sea of brown going down an alleyway) walk down this alleyway and decided to follow
them. It was to a bunch of water taxis (public transportation style)
so we hopped in one and took it till the end.
At the end we found our first scammer! He told us the sight we were heading to was closed because of the protests, (which we didn't mind too much because we didn't even know where we were trying to walk to) and he offered to show us around the city, proffering forth advice and suggestions - with a price. Anyway, we instead turned around and found this golden temple that you had to hike up about a million stairs to get to. So of course we went to the top.
Lucky for us it had pretty awesome views, we could see the Grand Palace and other sights all over. |
Lunch was needed after that adventure so we found another hole in the wall and ordered Pad Thai and Cokes for all. I thought it was really cool to see the Coke bottles with Thai written all over them and I love the plate full of random veggies they always give you with your Pad Thai.
So Brent is TALL, but this lady only came up to his waist! |
We decided to walk over to the Grand Palace after lunch and hit another scammer at the below protest sight who told us they wouldn't let us in because of what we were wearing. This time we decided to go with it. It was a much longer walk then expected and we didn't want to go the Palace anymore since it would only be open for another hour at that point. So we went with the tuk tuk to his friend's boat for a tour of old Bangkok and the water ways.
They made me sit by Brent in the beginning... and Chad had to sit in front of us |
Alllll by himself |
It was cool to go around and see all the homes and restaurants and stuff right there on the river. I feel like I get to take a peek a bit into the real lives Thai people lead. It was fun.
We also saw a lot of Iguanas and Monitor Lizards! Our driver pointed a few out to us and we are sure he thought we were so silly for freaking out about it since he probably seems them all the time... but I sure haven't!
One of my worst photos... 'Iguana' |
Do you see the Monitor Lizard's head??? |
They called this a floating market... it was one lady in a boat with a bunch of plastic toys |
After our exciting tour of the waterways we headed back closer to our hostel and got infamous Thai massages. It was a pretty nice place and they even give you cute little outfits to put on for the massage.
After an hour of pure relaxation bliss we went to find dinner. Close to the mall is a street where a bunch of vendors sell amazingly delicious food and we had dinner there. Also, we had some of the best mango sticky rice I have ever had in my entire life. I of course included a picture of it, you know for posterity.
Also can I say that I love how green Thailand is? All the street vendors have little tables and they serve you food on their dishes with their silverware, so there are really no paper goods around.
This next picture needs some explaining. See that cute little girl at the end of the table? She and this little boy were walking around selling candy for 10 baht (roughly $0.30 USD) The first time she hit us up we said no and she moved on, the second time her and the boy came up, looked at Brent and started laughing hysterically and could not stop until they left, but started laughing all over again as soon as they came back. The third time she came up she put her hand on her hip and asked if we wanted candy with a ferocity heretofore only exhibited by Bey and mother Bengal tigers. I pulled out my coins and asked "which is the best?" She immediately and wordlessly took 2 coins from my hand and, without hesitation, handed me a strawberry candy and went on her way. I loved her and wanted to take her home with me. Also it was definitely strawberry cough drops, which turned out to be useful later.
After that delightful encounter (those encounters really) we went and walked around the city a bit more and found that a lot of things just aren't okay to do in a cab here (that picture is of a decal they put on cab windows- that's all the caption I'll give) and then a delightfully decorated beer garden with a Thai girl singing Adele.
All in all, what a great Bangkok day.
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