4- Bangkok, Thailand

Tuesday, January 25th- Thursday January, 27th: Bangkok, Thailand

• Much to our dismay, Quinn and I left the group in Koh Phi Phi on Tuesday late afternoon to head back to Phuket to catch an overnight bus to Bangkok.
• We took a similar 2 hour ferry back to Phuket, except this ferry was much nicer and played a movie, Avatar.
• On the dock in Phuket, I turned to my left and standing there was no other than the Zarker family (long time friends from Takoma Park, Maryland)!!!! I ran over to my friend Zack and gave him the biggest hug.  It was so exciting to see him.  This truly is a small world.  The entire bus ride to Bangkok I was still smiling because of our encounter.

Quinn and I waiting for the bus.

• The 12-hour bus ride to Bangkok was actually not bad at all.  I am personally a fan of overland travel because I feel like I get to see more of the country and when you go on a VIP-Air Con bus like we did, it is really nice.  We both slept most of the way there and arrived in Bangkok around 6am, both a little tired.

...and we're off!

• We arrived at our hotel, the Bhimann Inn, with little trouble and put down our stuff to take a little nap before hitting the streets.  We woke up a couple of hours later much more ready to check out what Bangkok had to offer.
• The Bhimann Inn is also a very nice place to stay.  Again, for $20, you get a private room, breakfast, and even a pool, which is nice on a really hot day in Bangkok.
• The hotel is located in the old part of the city, which is really convenient for seeing the main tourist attractions in the city.
• Before we napped, Quinn and I went to eat at the local market where we tried various foods including thai pancakes.  Yummy!
• Quinn and I head out around 11am, and we didn't get more than ten minutes before we found our friend, Brian.  I had very good luck running into people this trip.  So, Brian, Quinn, and I headed out to check out some wats (temples) together.
• Our first stop was the Grand Palace, the biggest wat in Thailand.  But, as we approached the wat a gentleman came up to us telling us that the wat was closed at the moment for non-Thai people and that we could instead for $1 take a ride on a tuk-tuk to three other sites and come back when the Grand Palace is open again.

• A tuk-tuk is a 3-wheeled motorized mini-taxi with no doors, just a cabin for sitting.  They are a popular mode of transportation, but more expensive and slower than taxis usually.
• I had done some reading before and was convinced from the beginning that this was a scam because all the books and forums said, "If a person says something is closed and tells you to get into a tuk tuk it is a scam".  But, the boys were into it, so I followed suit and we were off.



A tuk-tuk.

• Our first stop was a pretty temple where we stopped for about ten minutes to take pictures and relax.  I was being convinced that this was legit.

• Our second stop however, was a suit shop...to get the driver gasoline coupons.  We first told him we didn't want to go in, then we went in for 2 minutes, we came out with no gas coupon, and our driver was suddenly a lot less friendly.  We thought we had 2 other stops to go, but he took us right back to where we had begun 20 minutes earlier.

Our scammer even took photos.

• All and all the tuk tuk ride was fun, but it was a scam.  We got to the Grand Palace for the second time and it was open with no problems.  The scam cost us only $1 and we didn't get hurt or anything.  It was an experience we almost needed to have and we got it out of the way early.

• The rest of the day was great.  We got to see Wat Phra Kaew (The Grand Palace), Wat Pho (the Reclining Buddha), Wat Arun, take a boat ride on the river, and check out Chinatown.  We even took another tuk tuk ride to get home later.

The Grand Palace.

More of the Grand Palace.

I reclined with the Buddha.



River boat ride to Wat Arun in the right corner.

• Personally, I thought Wat Arun was the prettiest, but I really enjoyed seeing the Reclining Buddha.  By the end of the day, I was definitely watted out.

• Another highlight of our first day was having our feet eaten by fish!  There is a fish called, "garra rufa", that enjoys eating dead skin off of feet.  The experience is very ticklishly at first and then just weird as you watch the fish feast.

My feet being eaten by fish!

• Bangkok had amazing street pad thai.  For $2, I got some of the best pad thai I have ever had.  I wish I could pay one of those street cart people to work outside of my apartment every single day.
• Nightlife in Bangkok:
• There are classier parts of town, but where the backpackers hang out is called Khao San Rd.
• If you go to Bankgok, you at least have to go for the shopping and people watching.
• I did some shopping myself, buying $5 tank tops that after you are there notice every person travelling in South East Asia have the same tanks from Khao San Rd.
• The tanks they sell have everything and anything you could imagine on them.  The best one says "Same Same, But Different" making fun of a common Konglish, Thaiglish, Chinglish expression.
• The street is filled with Western food and various forms of devious entertainment if you want it.  One of the more common activities advertised are "ping pong shows".  If you Google it, you will understand why I did not go.  A safer route is the many bars lined on the street for a drink and watching the world go by.

Pad thai lady on Khao San Rd...A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

• Our second day in Bangkok was spent doing a full-day organized tour to a floating market and tiger temple.
• While the tour allowed Quinn and I to gain access to things that would have been hard for us to get to on our own, it had a lot of unnecessary travel time, activities, and many parts were not fulfilling.
• The floating market was our first stop and it is a tourist trap, but really fun to watch.  There are many women and men selling all types of food, drink, and souvenirs while cruising down the river.  As part of the tour, we got to get in a boat and check out some of the smaller river channels and homes that people live in.  A highlight of the floating market was meeting an Argentine couple also in our tour group and speaking Spanish to them for a while.  It is always fun to activate that part of my brain.

Floating market.

• After the market, we got back in the vans, drove for a while, and then stopped for lunch.  Lunch was nothing special to talk about.
• We then headed to a famous tourist stop: the bridge over the River Kwai aka "Death Railway".  This is a bridge that the Japanese forced British war prisoners to build to connect Thailand and Burma and many of them died in the process, hence the nickname.
• After this stop, we were off to the Tiger Temple. 
• Prior to setting of to pet tigers, Quinn and I had a traumatic tiger experience.  We were in the town near the bridge of the River Kwai where people could pet this one tiger for very cheap.  To sum it up, a man was petting the tiger, pet the tiger's paw against instructions, and the tiger bit his arm and leg (didn't break skin).  Quinn and I were both scared straight after seeing that and weren't sure we were even going to enter the Tiger Temple.
• We arrive at the Tiger Temple and after 10 minutes we decide we came all of this way and we have to go in.  It turns out that this "temple" was more of an animal sanctuary in general and we didn't have to get near the tigers if we didn't want to.
• Quinn and I did both get close enough to take a picture with a tiger, but stayed a lot farther away than most people.  There were some people in a pen with tigers playing tug-of-war, no thank you.  We also saw horses, buffalos,  pigs, and other interesting animals.  I even fed a deer.  I also enjoyed the monks that were walking around with the tigers like they were best friends.

Proof!
• It was a cool experience, but definitely not on the top of my list.  But, I am glad we went it and did it.  At the end of the day, I feel bad for the tigers because they are probably drugged up all day and sedated so tourists can pet them.  That is not quite a life if you ask me.
• After the Tiger Temple, we were back in the car and headed back to Bangkok.  More of our friends had arrived in Bangkok that night, so we all went out to dinner and chilled for a little.  Quinn and I called it an early night because we had a taxi at 3:30am to catch our flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. 

*Thank you Quinn for the photos!*