Although the trip began with some unfortunate and long waits after delayed flights, we finally made it to Bangkok, Thailand early on Sunday. We cut out our Laos trip since we had lost some time; however, that was fine because there was so much to do in Thailand. We will just have to take a Laos trip possibly next winter.
We were so excited to finally make it to Thailand, especially because of the warm weather. It was around 30 degrees celcius (80 degrees) throughout the entire week! We were also lucky for no rain throughout our trip.
We spent our first night in China Town at the White Orchid hotel/guesthouse. It was very nice and had a miniature feel to it….in that Keith and I were ducking our heads to get into other rooms or to not hit the ceiling at times throughout the spacious lobby area. There was a nice deck at the top of the hotel, which had an amazing view of the city, and had a restaurant and bar. We went up there for a welcoming complimentary cocktail punch, which was relaxing but extremely windy! Once we felt rested from all the traveling, we walked around China Town, seeing some temples, markets and trying some of the delicious food. We ate shark fin soup from a popular restaurant to the locals,. The soup is well-known in the China Town area (from China), on many menus but also can be very expensive…sooo good though! It came with veggies, a tasty and hearty broth, and crab meat as well. We also shared huge boiled shrimp, and a rice dish. That night we went to the popular nightlife area, where there is also a huge market. We ate another delicious meal…I had Pad Thai with shrimp…to die for!!...and Keith had Tom Yum soup…also a great choice! Our table was right above the kitchen, so we were actually able to watch them cook our dishes, which was pretty cool. I love the lemongrass ingredient that they use in many of their dishes; the taste is so flavorful. The nightlife was filled with tourists from all over. There were so many restaurants and bars and also ping pong shows!! These are the craziest shows ever, but I’m not going to go into details on here. If you want to know more, you’ll have to ask me as it is not appropriate for me to have on my blog. But let’s just say that Keith and I went to one to have the full-experience and we definitely saw more than I would ever want to….it was an interesting and humorous night. I also found some badass Muay Thai Kickboxing shorts for Keith and a purse for myself that I have been eying for a while….all for incredible deals. We also had heard a bar advertising that they were having a Muay Thai Kickboxing match later that night, so we headed there early and got great seats for it. It was so cool to see such a competitive match so close up. Keith and I were very impressed and it made our night! We were even able to meet the boxers after their match when they came around to shake hands and collect tips.
The next morning we got up early to see all the big temples that were on our agenda. We made sure to take taxis instead of tuk tuks in Bangkok, since we had heard that they will rip you off, or send you off somewhere where they want you to spend money. Well, we first went to Lucky Buddha, where we also saw a school ground with children playing jump rope outside. We then stopped at the Thai Silk factory/store to see the famous silk material clothing that Thailand is known for. We then stopped at a gem factory/store since Thailand is also famous for its gems. Here Keith picked out a pretty emerald birthstone (blue topez) ring for me! This was certainly a surprise and a plus to the trip! After spending a long time looking at gems, we ended up visiting The Grand Palace and one other temple next to it. It was unbelievable how large and beautiful these temples were! The architecture was so detailed and we both enjoyed all the gold that was used throughout the temples and Buddhas. It was a very hot day and although I wore mid-length pants and a top with short sleeves for the purpose of wearing appropriate wear for visiting the temples, I still had to borrow clothes there and wrap a long cloth skirt around me and put on a button-downed shirt over my clothes. This did not make me feel any hotter. NOT! It was so hot (plus we were each carrying a backpack) so we made sure to take lots of rests in the shade…if we could find some shade…and drink lots of water.
That Monday night we took a taxi to the train station, where we took an overnight train to Chiang Mai, since we had an elephant trekking tour booked for Wednesday morning.
*Below you can see a picture of the King and Queen...there were pictures of them all of the city. Also, you can see the famous red giant swing. It used to be a giant swing that people would use. However, since it was obviously a little dangerous and in the middle of a busy road, the swing was taken off.
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