The first of many travel blog posts begins! Let’s delve into our first destination Thailand, where we stopped off in Bangkok for 5 nights.
Well, the journey has officially begun. My temporary offices are going to vary from beach side bungalow lounges (like right now!) to buses, cafe’s, hostel rooms and who knows what else? We’re just over 2 weeks into this unknown-length trip but let me take you back to the beginning.
After 20 hours of travelling from our little North East, England town, we found ourselves waiting for our backpacks in Bangkok. It was around 1pm in the afternoon and we exited the airport to immediate heat.
The humidity hit like a ton of bricks.
We were plonked by our driver on the edge of Khaosan Road, sweaty, heavy with our backpacks and confused with no idea where our hostel was. But pro-organiser little ol’ me was equipped with an app that didn’t need the internet to suss out a route and we were at our hostel within 10 minutes.
The moment we stepped into our room for the next 5 nights, I could have cried. A literal box. With a fan. & a bed.
I mean, I totally knew what I was getting ourselves into with this whole backpacking malarkey, but this place knew how to make itself look better than it was on booking.com, I’ll say that for nothing.
I mean it didn’t help that we didn’t realise we had our fan on the slowest the setting the first night. You’d think that 1 was the slowest and 4 the fastest, right? Maybe it was the jetlag?
Jetlag. Eurgh.
Our first few days seen us napping at 3pm in the afternoon for an hour (or 5) and up at 4am binge watching episodes of You on Netflix (AMAZING BTW). It did mean we didn’t get to see much of Bangkok as we’d of hoped, but it was so important for us to adjust to not only the time difference, but the weather.
Let’s just say the first night I was already looking for flights home, but enough of that. It’s well passed now. Anyway, enough of the negative nancy. Onto actual Bangkok…
We stayed at New Siam Guest House 1 just a short walk away from Khaosan Road. We’re not party people (we ain’t been out past 10pm yet LOL). We loved the little streets where we were, cheap food and beer and still lively with market stalls and people.
The temples around Bangkok are 100% worth seeing. We ventured off on a 7:30am start, walking through the University grounds heading towards Wat Arun, where we had to get a wee little boat across the river, which cost us all of 2p.
It’s so important to read up and respect the culture whilst you are travelling, that’s something we’ve learnt for sure. For example, with temples it’s important to have your shoulders and knees covered for respect. If you’re entering a temple, sit down and don’t point your feet towards Buddha.
See, I’m learning tingz.
After Wat Arun, we spent plenty of time looking around the grounds of Wat Pho after basking in all the glory that is the giant Reclining Buddha. It was incredible to see locals and people from all around worshipping their god. & to see the Monks in practice was a humbling experience.
We didn’t stay in a place with a pool and Bangkok isn’t exactly your seaside town, so to deal with acclimatising, we paid around £5 each to use a rooftop pool and BOY did we need that. With little nature, massive buildings and bustling traffic the heat in Bangkok can take it’s toll on you.
But the nature we did find was amazing, the stunning Lumphini Park was luscious greenery, tall trees to shade us, Tai Chi being practiced by locals and HUGE Monitor lizards.
I’ve always wanted a lizard. I wanted to run up and hug every single one that we come across but one was about 3 feet long, quite chunky and would’ve probably nibbled me.
BUT THEY WERE SO CUTE.
I’d heard, watched and read a lot on Chatuchak Weekend Market. I’d learned that it was a ginormous market full of thousands of stalls selling their trinkets and treasures. We set off early to beat the majority of the crowd and spent some time heading up and down the lanes to see what was on offer. Everything from clothes, jewellery, food, spices, technology, paintings, beauty products. You name it they had it. We were having a great time,
Until we heard barking.
& not your usual street dog barking at another.
We turned a corner and after a minute or so of walking we were surrounded by tiny cages packed full of animals. The majority being puppies but there was everything from cats, to lizards, to chickens, to rodents, to fish. It was crazy.
& it broke our hearts.
It was a disheartening end to our time in Bangkok, but we look back at our overall time there as a learning experience. It was super important that we acclimatised, even if we missed doing things and it was great to experience a real taste of their religion.
Watch our vlog below for a real insight into it all!
Next stop; Chiang Mai
