1 week down and who knows how many to go!
So I have just completed one of the most amazing weeks of my life! I arrived last Thursday morning to a hot and humid city, also known as Bangkok! I will endeavour to tell you everything I did in a nutshell! So in no specific order…….. The Grand Palace - This was one of the most incredible places I have visited, a word to easily sum up the palace and temples is GOLD. The sheer beauty of these temples can not be explained in words, just google search and you will see what I mean. After the Grand Palace I ventured to Wat Pho which is home to the reclining buddha, then on to Wat Arun which is certainly not the most glamourous of temples but is one of the best! Scaling up the steps to reach the top of the temple has certainly been a highlight. When I was waiting in the line to get pants to enter the temple I met a British girl Rachel. We ended up spending the day together exploring not only the temples but also parts of BKK including Chinatown.
Later that day I went to Rachel's hostel and met up with her and the other people at her hostel. After spending a few hours at the hostel we made our way to Chinatown for what's said to be some of the best street food in Thailand (ironic?). Of course I saw a bowl full of chillies and thought how hot can they be????? After tasting one I lost all sense of taste in my mouth which made my dinner extra special!!! After dinner we all jumped in tuk tuk's and went to Khoasan road. For those of you that don't know Khoasan road is the BIG nightlife area for backpackers in Bangkok (mum don't go here). We spent some of the night at the club called 'The Club' this was rather interesting… as for the rest of that night…. the rest if history.
Bangkok is filled with so many malls, all making Chadstone seem incredibly small. MBK you can buy everything that fake. Siam Paragon is filled with all the high end retailers, Hermes, D&G, Chanel and the list goes on all legit too. However the more interesting places to go for shopping are the markets such as Patpong night market (also known as the red-light district of Bangkok) also Chatuchak weekend market, which is home to more than 15,000 vendors and is one of the largest markets in the world. Such an experience and not for the faint at heart. On Sunday night I went out for dinner with some locals. They took me to an amazing restaurant overlooking the river and Wat Arun, the food and the ambience here will be hard to top but I wont hold my breath. After dinner we ventured back to Chatuchuk market because on Sunday nights a section of the market turns into a gay Thai club. This has easily been the funniest experience I have had in a long time……
I booked myself on a small group tour up to the north to see the River Kwai and go Elephant trekking. At a cost of just $50 for the whole day excursion it will be impossible to forget. We started the tour visiting the Kanchanaburi cemetery. The cemetery is home to more than 7000 people who lost their lives in World War II from building the rail line between Burma and Siam (Thailand), the train line also plays host to the Bridge on the River Kwai. Before visiting the bridge I went into the JEATH war museum (JEATH meaning Japanese, English, Australian, American, Thai and Holland). This museum was incredibly moving, reading that over 15,000 prisoners of war and over 100,000 civilians lost their lives building the railway and the bridge made it all the more emotional walking across the bridge. After seeing the bridge I hopped onto a train which was to take me along death valley, the train line along death valley was made in WWII from wood. As passengers on the train we were urged by the staff to NOT MOVE too much, this made taking photos interesting. The railway took me down to where I was to go trekking on Elephants. This was AMAZING!!!!!! The force that the elephants move with is incredible, it felt as though you would be thrown from the top with every step, fortunately I was holding on for dear life!!!!! The day ended at a waterfall where I was exploring, I was fortunate enough to find a monk sitting at a small temple, he asked me to sit and indicated to pray with him. Words cant describe what this felt like but it did bring a tear to my eye, just one though!!!!!!!!
All in all my first week in Bangkok has brought me so much joy. I have already experienced and seen things I thought I would never be able to. Step aside Julia Roberts because Elliott Berger is on his Eat Pray Love….. at my age that does sounds worrying though!!!!!!
Live your dreams.
x
