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thehairytraveller-blog · 7 years

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Seeing the World | Bangkok, TH

As we arrived into Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, the excitement of starting a new adventure seemed outweighed the tiredness of the 15+ hours travelling time and I was ready to see the sights from the word go. However, we had to get to the place we were staying first. There are plenty ways of getting into the city from the airport: buses to TukTuks to taxis, and because we'd been travelling for so long and it was sweltering, we decided to go for the latter and treat ourselves to a nice air-conditioned taxi cab.

After an hour drive and an approximate ฿500 charge between 3 of us (we met another traveller at the airport and car-pooled), we arrived at the backpackers mecca, Khao San Road! From here we needed to get to our hostel, The Overstay, which was a good 2.9km away, so we flagged down a TukTuk. There are so many ways to get around in Bangkok and TukTuks are probably one of the most common ways of getting around in southeast asia as a whole, but they can also be a bit unreliable if you don't have your wits about you. ALWAYS agree on a price before agreeing to a ride; they're all in competition with each other so you can usually get them quite cheap if you tell them that someone down the road offered you a cheaper price. Sometimes they will try and take you to a certain shop or info centre as they get free fuel stamps, you don't have to do this; we agreed a price with a guy and after we got in, he said that we agreed to go to the info centre for him and we refused, so he refused to take us... his loss really, his friend got our custom instead.

We finally arrived at The Overstay (www.theoverstay.com) and it was just what we were expecting: a youthful, grungy place that thrived on free art and self expression, whether that be through music or painting or dancing or whatever, they'll cater for it! We'd booked a couple of weeks in advance and got a large double room for 4 nights at £6.86 per night (£27.44 in total for all you less mathy people!). The room was spacious and colourful, however the only downside was that it only had the one fan on the other side of the room. We didn't expect much for the price we got it at, so we couldn't complain, but in 38°C heat and 98% humidity, it can get hard to sleep. I'd definitely recommend The Overstay as it is such a friendly yet extravagant environment to be in. During our time there we met another English couple who were travelling together, named Emma and Jordan. Although we got chatting to a lot of people, we stuck with these guys and they wanted to explore just as much as we did, but also understood rest and that we'll need to take breathers every so often. I feel that it’s really important to take rest days and put your feet us as in the heat, it can be very to burn out and you won’t enjoy yourself.

Around the corner from our hostel was a huge shopping mall with a giant Tesco Lotus in it, so we could grab every essential that we conveniently forgot to bring with us. It also had market stalls outside that sold various different foodstuff at a fraction of restaurant prices. We got noodles a couple of times at ฿20 (~50p) each, however they weren't always cooking it fresh, so the second time it wasn't nice at all! Always make sure that they're cooking the food in front of you, especially meats; this will decrease the risk of any infection or illness being carried through the food. In Bangkok though, you can find food on every street and it’s always so cheap!

Thailand is notorious for its Buddhist religion and its Buddhist temples (nearly 95% of the country is Buddhist). I'm a born-again Christian, but I really appreciate the morals that come from Buddhism: the peaceful nature, the kindness to all living things and treating others with all of your respect. On a couple of our days, we visited these temples and probably the most impressive of them all was Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The Reclining Buddha is a GIANT statue (I'm talking 150 feet long!) of Buddha led on his side, coated in gold leaf. The statue itself if magnificent and my words don't do it justice. If you're ever in Bangkok, I urge you to go and see it; it's only ฿100 (~£2.50) to get in and you get a free bottle of water outside the temple with your ticket. Note: there are plenty of water filters around the temple grounds, but the water in them isn't the nicest and I think would've probably made us ill if we kept drinking... Stick to bottled.

Another must-see in Bangkok is the Chatuchack Weekend market. This is pretty much what it says on the tin, a gigantic area full of market stalls, that sells pretty much anything you could ever need: from furniture to pets, from food to knockoff brand name trainers. It's brilliant, but be aware that you probably won't be able to see the whole market in a day, it's too big! We decided to use the public transport system to get there as there were ample bus stops in the area we were staying and for an air-conditioned bus, it's only about ฿12 (~25p). After a couple of buses we arrived at the market and went on the hunt for food. Now, the market is split into lots of different sections and we had to find the food section, which was easier said than done! When arriving at the Chatuchack market, try and find the nearest map, as it'll make your experience a lot smoother than ours. We found ourselves walking down a huge road that just sold pets, it was the weirdest thing I think I've ever seen. There were literally hundreds of fish and seafood in tanks and pools and plastic bags ready to be sold and bunnys in cages. I don't agree with how these animals were being sold, as some of the fish had hardly any water or room and you could tell this had stunted their growth. However, I cannot judge another persons culture just because it's different to mine.

We finally found food, a small market store that sold Greek kebabs with cheese for 80b each, and they really hit the spot! Then as we were walking, everyone just stopped, like robots. We soon realised that it's because the national anthem came on the tannoy, but as soon as it ended, everyone just carried on like nothing had happened, it was bizarre. So if everyone suddenly stops next time you're in Thailand, just stop with them and keep quiet, as a form of respect for their culture and their country.

Our last main attraction that we saw in Bangkok was the Taling Chan Floating Markets. It's based on a small pier about a 15 minute cab ride from our hostel. Now, it wasn't the floating markets we've all seen on TV or the internet as it was tiny (the bigger ones are 90km outside of the city) but it was also very homely and cute. Scattered on the canals were small canoes where women cooking different foods and they were being sold on the pier, so we didn't buy from boat to boat as you see on television. Unfortunately, we'd missed the boat tour of all the bigger markets, but we managed to get on a boat ride to visit the local temple on the canals for ฿69 each (£1.75 ish). It was a 20 minute ride to the temple, but the boat stopped just before we got there and locals sold us fresh loaves of bread for ฿12 (~25p) to feed to the carp in the canal. It was amazing to see them come to the surface like a sheet; they covered the water so all you could see were fish. Unfortunately, some of the areas we were sailing through were quite poverty-stricken and it's sad to see these places that people live, although scattered throughout them were huge grand houses, obviously belonging to the rich!

The temple we arrived at seemed to take care of multiple chickens and roosters. They were wandering around the temple grounds and there were even statues of them. We also found the body of an old monk from this temple in a glass case, covered in gold leaf, he must've been quite an important person to be immortalised like that on display. We only had about 15 minutes to look at the temple before we had to get back into the back to get back to the pier. I recommend this boat tour as you pay next to nothing and can tour the canals of Bangkok for an hour whilst seeing a lovely little temple.

We only spent 4 days in Bangkok before heading to our next destination, but it's likely that we're going to use it as a hub once we come back through Thailand. I'd highly recommend Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) as it was probably my favourite part of Bangkok but I definitely recommend the floating markets also, it's just so homely and nice and sells lots of delicious looking food. There are still things we're yet to do in Bangkok, like The Grand Palace (we couldn't get in as we all didn't have our IDs on us), so we'll definitely be back!

You can live relatively cheaply in Bangkok, Tamsin and myself were only spending about £10 (~฿400) a day each (including buses and tickets for things) and we weren't going to bed hungry. Keep an eye out for the street food vendors as they're dirt cheap and the food is wonderful, but make sure they're cooking it for you fresh everytime. If in doubt, there are plenty of restaurants for a bit more money, but you still won't be breaking the bank!

Quick Thai lesson:

Hello - Sawatdee (Krub/Kah)

How are you? - Sabai Dee Ru (Krub/Kah)

Fine - Sabai Dee (Krub/Kah)

Thank you - Khob Khun (Krub/Kah)

Yes - Chai

No - Mai Chai

If you are male, add Krub or female, add Kah.

If you have any questions about my time in Bangkok, hit me up on social media or via email and I'll be happy to answer them as quickly as possible.

Stay blessed, stay you.

#bangkok #thailand #southeastasia #traveller #travel #nomad #digitalnomad #amateurphotographer #travelblogger #wanderlust #fernweh

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