The land of Elephants and Tuk-Tuk
- Oana
- Jan 17, 2019
- 4 min read
Thailand was the second country on my “see list” in Asia. It was almost cancelled, thank you Air Asia, but it seems that if you go all “European” on them, things will be solved. So, with that taken care of, Bangkok here I come!!!
Per total, it was way more nicer than I thought it would be.
I experienced my first Air Asia flight ( almost lost it, of course), “enjoyed” the turbulances in a low cost airplane (everyone told me you do not know what turbulences are until you feel them in an AirAsia plane, they are so right!!) and finally got to the city that never sleeps- Bangkok.
First step- visa on arrival. It is such a weird feeling the fact that now I have to stay in line for all the visa procedures, but Thailand has it pretty structured, so you just need a picture and money, and you are done.
Then, the hardest step is to get out and embrace the weather. It is the combination of hot, humid and then hot again, just to make sure that you do not forget where you are.
Because I wanted to go as local as possible and to experience Thailand not as a fancy tourist, but as locals do, i took a bus to go to the hostel, so I enjoyed 1 hours and 40 minutes of ride of this high class bus, with air-con and great view. Hell no- no air-con, just a small fan on top of the driver, so that he can survive, wooden floor ( see through of course) and no lower windows, but hey, let’s do it like the locals do! It was fun still, I managed to see and feel the trafic and get a glampse of the day by day routine of Thai people.
Next stop: Khao San Road. From my perspective, one of the best places to say, more if you are a tourist. This place reminded me of “Vama Veche” in it’s glory time, with a lot of tourists. The place is so populated of backpackers, that if you have a backpack on you, people will automatically guide you on how to get there.
This place is crazy, but in a good way! I totally recomend it! It is not alive in the morning, until 2:00, but at night, it changes into the party place, where you have all you need and even more: restaurants to have a great dinner, great music( actually I was impressed how good it was), street food if you are in the mood, cold drinks, crazy scorpions and tarantulas fried ready for the tourists to eat, people on the street who will sell you anything, and a lot of bars!
One of the things I was advised to do in Bangkok was to go to Chatuchak Market, which is a huge market opened only in the weekend. Well, all you people sho told me that and who posted on their blogs about this place, I must thanks you. I went there and it was awesome!!! If you are a shopaholic, you are dead in that place! If you normally are not crazy for shopping, you will buy at least 3 things, that place is that great. Loved it! Totally recomend it! I bought many pretty things here, at a very good price! The main key is to bargain as much as you can. ( I bought 5 pairs or earings for $0.50, it is that crazy)
How can you go to Bangkok and not go to the temples? It is impossible! So, let’s be a normal tourist for a change and also do what normal people do. Guess what, they are kind of right! Temples here are incerdible! I think I starting to get more and more fascinated about temples in Asia, so they are a must see here.
Even though the Grand Palace is not my favourite one, I think it is worth seeing, but be prepared for a lot, and i mean a LOT of people!! I would suggest you to read a bit before going there, so you actually know what are you looking at and what is the history of the place. This goes for all the temples, but my favourite one is Wat Arun, the temple of Dawn. The 79 meter high tower is decorated with ceramic tiles and fragments of multi colored porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China and the porcelain mosaic fills every conceivable nook, cranny, and wall, creating a brilliantly imaginative and visually stunning monument.
The most eficient way to visit the temples is by the Chao Phraya River Ferry, which is also a very nice experience, so just grab a 1 day hop on hop off ticket and go crazy.
And, the last but not least, the best meal that I had in Thailand, which was of course on the street, is Dumplings with 1L bottle of Sprite, the local version. I do not know what I loved more,…the Sprite or the dumplings, but I think that dumplings win this battle. Great, beautiful, tasty… you have to try it. Should I say it was $1?
Per total, great experience, great weekend and I have to say that I have had the best cocktails in the world in Thailand, those people know how to make sure you are having a great time.
So, as an advice if you want to go: the cocktails, go to Khao San Road, try not to get that drunk as have a tattoo ( I was smart this time, but that place is packed of tattoo shops), enjoy Khao San Road for at least 1 night, see tons and TONS of lady boys, enjoy having cheap beer on the street( I miss that in Malaysia), get a foot massage on the street, visit temples, get crazily approached by tuk tuks and swear to God that you will slap them if they approach you one more time, and do shopping, from everywhere, every corner and buy all the things you like.
Definetly going back to Thailand, so thank you Bangkok for making me in love with this country!
Comments