On To Thailand

Lots of my friends had told me that they really didn't like Bangkok, so I went in expecting it to be awful.  I think that helped!  Luckily, from the beginning, I met 3 other people going to the same area in the city as my hotel, so I was able to split the taxi with them, saving me nearly $12!  That may not sound like much, but when you're living on $30/day, it is!  

Giant Buddha in Bangkok

After getting in, I walked around the city for nearly 4 hours, just sightseeing and getting a feel for it. It also felt good to be moving after a morning of travel!  There are an incredible number of temples and some stranger on the street came and gave me advice of what I should do in the city!  I stopped at a food stall and got roast duck and noodle soup.  The lady didn't speak hardly any english and handed me only chopsticks, but must've realized I was clueless because she handed me a spoon and fork a minute later!  As I kept walking around, I ended up on Khao San Road, which is the famous "backpacker" street of Bangkok.  It is crazy to say the least.  You can buy anything there from women to fake IDs to roasted bugs (we'll get back to that) and the obvious souvenirs.  Surprisingly, I didn't get lost until this point, when I was trying to leave KSR and go back to my hotel.  Luckily, a tuk-tuk (open aired scooter-ish taxi) brought me home for free because I told him that I may do a temple tour with him the following day.  Luckily, he wasn't at the hotel the following morning.  I did get a really delicious "american breakfast" consisting of an omelette, sausage, bacon, toast, and unlimited fresh fruit!  

TukTuk

The following morning, I switched from my hotel to a hostel.  Then I decided to do a temple tour for the afternoon.  Tuk-tuks can scam you as they don't use a meter like taxis, so they will tell you a price, then you bargain, then eventually, hopefully you get a good deal, although you never really know.  Regardless, I decided to give it a go.  The first one told me 500baht ($15) for the day, which was outrageous, so I didn't even bother with him.  Now here's the other trick with tuk-tuk drivers.  They get petrol vouchers from taking customers into shops, notably tourist booking agents and suit shops.  Eventually, I got a driver to offer to take me to 4 temples and wait for me at each, regardless of how long I took, completely for free if I agreed to go to 1 tourist place and 2 suit shops.  At the end of the day, I did book a few things at the tourist info center and wasted 10 minutes in suit shops (obviously not buying anything) in exchange for a nearly 4.5 hour personal taxi to take me to temples around Bangkok!  That night, I met up with the friends from the airport again on KSR, where I ate a scorpion skewer!  It actually was tasty and meaty, but very salty.  I never have been picky...

Floating market

The following morning I had to be up at 7am for a tour of the Damnoensaduak Floating Market.  That is really neat as people sell all sorts of things out of long boats, from souvenirs to fruit to cooked meals.  I had roast pork noodle soup cooked and sold from, essentially, a canoe!  That afternoon, I went to the malls in Bangkok.  There is one part of the city where there are 5 massive malls all essentially on the same block.  And I mean 5-7 stories and long with everything you could want.  I got a camera to replace the one that broke in Indonesia but was amazed at the size and quality of the malls.  They rivaled any mall I'd seen in America!  I was also proud that I was able to catch a bus since the signs are all in Thai and the drivers either couldn't or didn't want to speak English, but with the help of my hostel front desk and a few English speakers on the bus, I made it!

Ayutthaya temple

The next morning, I went to Ayutthaya for the day, which used to be Thailand's capital city.  It is now more of a collection of broken temples destroyed during wars with neighbouring countries and from a flood and a fire that hit the city.  However, the temples were huge (some recognized as UNESCO world heritage sites) and extremely intricately designed, especially as they dated from the 14th-16th century!  That means these massive buildings were built before America was even discovered!  Plus, to make the trip even better, lunch was included and we had it at a typical Thai little stall and it was one of the best curries I'd ever eaten.  After the tour, I had to kill 5 hours before catching the night train.  I walked around near the train station and found people much friendlier here than in Bangkok.  2 guesthouse owners saw that I had my big bag and assumed that I was waiting for a train, so they offered to let me wait in their guesthouse with a fan and WiFi!  The night train is an experience.  The downside is that you can't see as you drive through the country, but the benefit is that you don't pay for accommodation or waste a day travelling.  Many routes are ridiculously long, but this one was only 12 hours (I will likely take a 24+ hour bus at one point) and my bed was alright.  It wasn't the best sleep I ever had as they left half the lights on, so it wasn't dark and the bus slants as it turns, so you'd roll from side to side a bit, but I slept a decent bit!  Unfortunately, there were no fireworks along the way--oddly Thailand doesn't seem to celebrate American Independence.  Anyway, now here I am in Chiang Mai.  Today I took a nap and sat by the pool for most of the day, then walked around the city for about 2 hours and then went back out to the night market.  Tomorrow I begin a 3 day jungle trek!

Scorpions!

Remnants of a Buddha Statue

Thailand is incredibly cheap!  Accommodation costs 6 or 7 dollars for a hostel and about 18 for a decent hotel and a meal costs about $1-$2 from street stalls or $4-$6 at restaurants.  Traditional food here is Pad Thai (fried noodles), curries, noodle soup, and fried rice.  All of it that I've had so far has been delicious, as well as cheap fruit (I had the best watermelon smoothie for 75 cents!). The 12 hour train with a bed was $23.  It is also incredibly hot here, though.  Not just hot, but very humid.  You can't walk out the door without working up a sweat!  This morning, it was 93 degrees at 7:30am!  Unfortunately I haven't met as many solo travelers to hang out with here as I did in Indonesia, but otherwise Thailand seems like a pretty good country!