After
looking like an idiot crying in the airport I went out to the taxi queue. My
taxi driver didn't speak much English and didn't know where my hostel was. I
clenched up a bit on the inside but I got in the back seat with my pack as he
called them.
Easy peasy
and off I went.
I knew I was
in a totally foreign place as soon as I saw the landscape. Now depending on
where you're coming from and going too in Europe some countries have the same
feel. The same vegetation and architecture. But Bangkok was in no way
familiar.
So I focused
on cars. They were familiar makers but some new models. The cars in SE Asia
were all close to the size of the cars in the US. It was comforting.
I made it to
my hostel at like 8:30. I wasn't excessively ripped off, only 60 Bhat over what
the hostel estimated on their profile. I couldn't check in till 2:00.... the
"luggage storage" was in no way secure and I knew if I went into the
city in my current sleep deprived state I'd have a shit time and a full on melt
down. I know I don’t function in foreign places without sleep. So I napped on
the common room couch till 2 then checked in and slept in my bed for a
bit.
I LOVED my hostel. it's called Here Hostel. It has a slide!
Now my first
night in Bangkok was pretty damn amazing! My last night in Prague I'm cruising
Facebook and see a post about two of my friends... they had just arrived in
Bangkok! Now John and Nancy are probably the coolest couple ever. They're
retired. They're successful authors and they travel a shit ton! I also hadn't
seen them in over 5 years. See we all meet at a Writer’s Group at the LBI
library. But after hurricane Sandy I never spent a summer there and John and
Nancy moved to Florida. So I figured what the fuck the worst they can say is
no. I facebooked Nancy and was like hey I'm on my way to Bangkok tomorrow any chance
you want to gran drinks. Nancy messages back yes and we made plans! So after my
nap I tracked down a cab (it was harder then I expected) and headed to their
hotel.
It was crazy
and surreal and amazing. We caught up and chatted. The last time they'd seen me
I hadn't left the states, had no tatts and was my natural colour. And here we
were years later on the opposite side of the world chatting about travel and
other insane things we’ve done.
Honestly it
was the best thing I could have asked for. Familiar faces in a country I was
overwhelmed by was just the cure. We got dinner and walked around a night
market. Honestly I loved every minute and am thankful beyond words that they
took the time to hang out with me. It really helped me set the tone for my
stay.
After
parting from John and Nancy I was exhausted but when I got to bed I couldn't
sleep. Instead of forcing sleep I watched The Crown on Netflix till about 3am
then forced myself to sleep. I slept in till 9 then rolled out of bed to get
breakfast. The food was boarder line shit but the pineapple made up for it. I
probably ate an entire pineapple on my own.
I threw on
clothes and plunged out into the world!
I decided to
treat temples like I treat churches in Rome. If the door is open go in!!
So I saw a
two small temples before I got to my first big one.
Wat Pho is a
big temple complex.
And also
home of the Reclining Buddha
And you get
a free water with the price of entry.
After Wat
Pho I wandered toward the Flower Market.
This place
was crazy! They sold flowers by the bag!
Outside on
the streets were memorials to the recently deceased king.
I wandered
on and saw more temples
And then I
saw a cool looking alley filled with shops while on the streets of Chinatown. So
obviously I had to explore.
At one point
the way was narrow. People were all up in personal space. And I realized I was
the tallest and the only foreigner. I looked over my shoulder and couldn't see
where I'd entered so I figured best to keep on.
I came out
the other side and crossed the street to avoid the crowd. I smelled something
good and I was peckish so I pointed at a stick of.... something
I’m pretty
sure it was tofu but it tasted like chicken!?! but it was amazing!
And I
stumbled upon another temple.. surprise surprise.
This temple
was different though. It had crocodiles!!
If I was an
animal rights zealot I would have done something... because the water was
filthy and smelly and the crocodile looked depressed. As it were I figured
there wasn't really much I could do so I just soaked in the weirdness of it all
before I took back to the streets.
I was on the
other side of Bangkok practically so I figured best to head toward my
hostel.
Two hours
and two temples later
One Temple was a famous one, home of the Golden Buddha
I was back at
my hostel! I showered and dressed and chilled before I got hungry. So back out
I went. While wandering I hear an announcement in Thai and keep walking. Then I
notice everyone is standing still but I didn't stop walking till a guy kind of
yelled at me. He told me to stop walking and be respectful because the King was
coming. And sure enough after a few minutes of near silence the king drives by
in a cool white old car. The road had been cleared of cars and bikes and they’d
all been turned off and people were motionless and silent. After walking around
the crowded bustling streets all day seeing so many people and hearing next to
nothing was almost creepy.
After the king
passes the police let everyone move and it was crazy because the silence
shatters and everyone bursts into motion again. Bikes were the first ones
zipping by and suddenly it was loud again.
After the entirety of
Bangkok seemed to return to normal I crossed the street and ended up on Kao San
Road. I knew this was the place for backpackers and good eats… I just hadn’t
realized it was this road and close to my Hostel.
I ended up grabbing some pad
thai with egg for $1 And a stick of beef barbecue! It was amazing!
I’d also seen a cart of fried insects
next to where I got my pad thai… but I wasn’t feel brave enough to try… at
least that night.
The next day I was up around
noon because I hadn’t fallen asleep till nearly four because fuck jetlag! But
that’s besides the point. I figured since I was up and going I had to go see
the Royal Palace! Nancy and John had said it was worth the almost $15 entrance
fee. So off I went on a grand adventure
at the Palace.
I knew I had to dress
properly for it. By this point in my trip my last clean shirt was a tank top.
But I had my scarf that I tired over it. Turns out that wasn’t enough. So there
were students there that took me to a tent where I could “rent” a shirt. They
wanted me to leave me passport and I was like here have my driver’s license.
That worked. And I got this itchy nylon black shirt….
Hot right… no legitimately
hot. So I get back to the gate and was ready to pay and…. Turns out it was a
national holiday of some sort so the entry was free!
The ground were amazing and
there was this tower thingy covered in tiny gold tiles.
The Emerald Buddha was
inside the temple there.
Over all it was a tiny sort
of complex that’s open to the public but it was pretty and I enjoyed it.
The tiny details were my
favourite bits!
On my way to return my shirt
the police were stopping traffic and making everyone knee on the sidewalks. The
king drove by again! I got to see him twice! This time was different I suppose
because we were right outside of the palace so we had to kneel silently as he
passed.
Afterwards I explored a few
temples by my hostel. One was rather old and dilapidated.
But they were still pretty.
Then I meandered my way over
to the Golden mount!
The hike up was cool.
The view was worth the
dollar something I paid to enter.
Then I ate dinner on the
side of the road… In Bangkok they have these sort of sketchy like places you
can stop and eat. They're just on the sidewalk and don't actually have running water...
The food was amazing and
cheap.
And I kind of felt like a local and I tried not to think about how
sanitary it all really was….
I did a bit of shopping
before turning back to my hostel for a shower and a facetime session!
My last day in Bangkok
started out later then I wanted. I had a cooking class that afternoon but I
wanted to see Wat Suthat first.
Thank goodness it was right by my hostel so I
still made it over to the temple before headed off for my class.
It was the best $35 I ever
spent!! So I got there early and was relaxing. I thought I was going to be the
only one in class. Then last minute the rest of the group shows up. They were
the best. It was a family of four. They’re from California and they’re
traveling for a year. Thailand was 6 months in for them. They were all
wonderful and fabulous. The kids were 9 and probably 13… give or take a few
years. The son Trevor was still in that awkward early teen phase, he shared the
work station with me.
Any how the class started
with a tuktuk ride to the market. I’d yet to take a tuktuk ride because I
didn’t know how to wing it plus honestly they looked frightening. Riding in one
took years off my life. They don’t always obey traffic laws. Like if they can
pass in the lane of on coming traffic they pass. We whizzed between busses and
cars and it was scary in a fun way…. But mostly scary. The market was cool!
I saw a lot of weird things.
Like skinned frogs
I learned that tofu, noodles
and blood can all be bought at the same stall.
We picked up our ingredients
and back to the classroom for the fun bit!
We started with mashing up
the ingredients for green curry paste.
That turned into green curry
with chicken.
We learned to make coconut
cream!! And coconut milk! They’re
both made from the same batch of shredded coconut. The cream comes first
because it’s thicker and the milk is the weaker second round of adding warm
water.
Then we used the coconut
cream to make sticky rice to go with the mango we bought at the market.
Next up was Tom Yum soup!
This I learned is actually a
very easy soup but it’s very important to pay attention to how you add things
and when to turn off the heat so that you get the right amount of flavor.
Then the last bit was the
best bit! Pad Thai!!! Again I learned that it’s actually super easy to make.
And it was fun and I made mine all supper spicy!
After we finished each dish
we had marked it with coloured tags. Trevor had a dark pink and I had light
pink. So we were kind of joking that it would be horrible to mix them up because
Trevor added no spice to his dished and mine were all super spicy.
The feast that we made was
amazing! I was starving by the time we sat down to eat… but I still was unable
to finish eating it all. Still it was one of the best meals I’d in Bangkok and
I LOVE thai food so I was so fucking excited that I could go home and really
cook it now!
The next morning I had to
catch my shuttle to the airport…. I thought it was going to be a legit shuttle…
no it was just a bunch of people sharing a taxi. It was so dumb but it was a
bit cheaper then taking the taxi on my own.
Bangkok was a charming city!
I got to the airport and had
no issues going through boarder control and security. The only thing Iw as
starting to sweat was the fact that I needed a Visa for Cambodia. I’d read that
it was easy to get at the boarder. But Nancy and John had said they paid a
pretty penny for theirs… I was nervous once again but excited. After all the
only reason I was going to Cambodia was for Angkor Wat!!
Bangkok was the perfect city
to kick off my South East Asia adventure! One day I’ll go back…
Cheers,
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