Thailand: One Day in Bangkok

I somehow, and I have no idea how, managed to drag myself to the airport for my flight to Thailand. We had been drinking pretty heavily the night before, and feeling a bit delicate the next day. Thankfully I had already dealt with my bag with the in town check in!

Arriving in Bangkok, it began to sink in that I wasn't in Hong Kong anymore. There were hardly any high rise buildings. Lots of images of the king, plastered around at every opportunity. I was began to get a sense of how religious Thailand is, as religious figures and signs can be seen all the way along too.

It took a while to get into town. I had been a bit worried about the political protests currently happening in Bangkok, and this was the cause of the delay. My taxi driver didn't speak much English either, so was a bit nerve-wracking for a time. Once the traffic subsided, he zoomed to my hotel.

I slept that night until morning, as I was still hungover and a little apprehensive about venturing out on my own at night.

Mustering up the courage, I stepped outside and headed for the river. My friend Woody from Hong Kong had suggested using the ferries as a means of transport and sightseeing. I am so happy he did. The ferries cost hardly anything, and you get a great view of the temples and sights going along. There seemed to be no ferry timetable and we were all standing out on a floating platform hoping one would come by soon. This was a real test of my patience, so I began to converse with another solo traveller. She was a PHD student from Cambridge and had been to Bangkok many times. She gave me some tips and told me the best stop to get off.

I headed straight for Wat Pho, also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. As you can see, the Buddha is ginormous! Naturally I had to take my shoes off and cover my shoulders. I walked the length of the Buddha and then around the back, where you were given an offering for a small donation. This consisted of small coins, which were then put into a line of pots all the way along.

Every detail of the temple has been thought out, and it was very ornate.

Just next to Wat Pho is The Grand Palace. This is where the Temple of the Emerald Buddha resides. I wasn't able to take photos of this Buddha, but I did pay my respects to him.

The palace was very colourful and bright, and looked amazing in the sun. I was beginning to run out of time, I got the quick ferry over to Wat Arun Temple.

Again, this was another stunning temple, but I didn't have time to learn about it as I had to get back to my hotel to meet my tour group. Managed to squeeze in a Pad Thai too, which was very yummy. I also started talking to an American girl so that I wasn't eating all alone. She was a bit hungover, so not much chat.

On the ferry back to my stop, I met a lovely Swiss girl called Sophie. We are a bit disorientated when we got off the boat, and were walking along a main road. A tuk tuk driver ran over to us, and warned us not to go further, as the protests were happening just ahead. After quite a peaceful day in the temples, it was a smack back to reality. 

Back to my room, I met my roommate for the trip. A cool Kiwi girl called Kim. She has done quite a bit of travelling before, and with Intrepid too. We headed down to the lobby to meet our leader and rest of the group. The youngest is 21 and the oldest is beyond retired age. It is a much more mature group than I was expecting, but I enjoy finding out about everyone and their travels no matter what age. 

That night we went for our first group meal, and a few of us headed to the famous Khao San Road for some drinks and late night shopping.

Hong Kong: High Tea at the Peninsula and Highest Bar in the World

On my very last day in Hong kong, I decided I wanted to do it in style. So I spent the morning chilling out, put my washing into the amazing wee laundry shop down the road, and updating the blog. Once the washing came back, I packed my big case, and took it to the in-town check in desk at Hong Kong MRT station. Up to 24 hours before your flight, you can check in your hold luggage, so you don't need to worry about it the next day. As I was going out for one last time in Lan Kwai Fong, I think this was perhaps the best decision of all!

Then off to TST I went, to the Peninsula. This is one of the world's best hotels, and in the Lobby you can take Afternoon Tea. I decided to treat myself, and waited out the queue which seemed to never move. I was there for about an hour, so I guess it wasn't too bad. It was funny people watching from the queue, as everyone was taking their time, chatting, taking photos of the tea and food. I couldn't get frustrated as this would be exactly what I would be doing. 

I met an American couple in front of me, and they gave me some advice about Bangkok (due to the political protests being held here). Then I was sat down, and messaged Yan, who came to join me. 

Whilst waiting for him to get to Kowloon, I ordered a cocktail called No.5, inspired by the Chanel perfume. It was yummy!

Yan finally arrived, and we ordered the tea. I had Earl Grey, and he had Darjeeling.

The food was then placed in front of us. For those who know me, I am not supposed to eat gluten. I think it is going to be very very difficult in Asia to avoid it, and I don't want to miss out. Sure, I felt really tired afterwards, so I went for a wee kip later on. No big deal, was worth it!

One of the highlights of the experience was the string quartet playing disney songs and random pop songs. We played the guess the song game.

My uncle had told me about a golden toilet at the top of the hotel, so we decided to go exploring for this mystical pan. Alas, there were no golden toilets, but look as how awesome the top bar and the toilets are. Kind of an awesome view from here too.

Later on, after Yan's hockey practice, we went to the Ritz-Carlton and went up the Ozone, claimed to be the highest bar in the world. It was really fancy, but as Yan says, you can get better views of the city from some of the lower bars. I felt like my shots from Wooloomooloo were much more clear. It seemed to be a place for tourists and bankers to enjoy, so off we went to LKF.

It was a crazy night, with far too much drink and drama. Was a shame really, but it didn't spoil my whole time there. Hopefully I will be back for Junk Boat season, and get to experience Hong Kong when it is really hot. Next stop, Bangkok!

Hong Kong: Learning About The Old City

On my second last day in Hong Kong, after a brief lunch stop at a Vietnamese place with Pete, I decided to go and explore Sheung Wan, which is also known as the wholesale district. There is one whole area which is dedicated to dried seafood and Chinese medicine. I still cannot believe how many shops there were, and also the amount of product on offer. Bags and bags, and more bags of the stuff. I wonder how long the seafood has been around for, as there seemed to be no sell by dates. I also had no idea what most of it was, as there were no English translations. I had fun trying to guess.

This area has a really strong, overwhelming smell after a while, and so I hop footed it along to the antiques of Hollywood Road.

Most of the shops here had no photo signs in the windows, which is completely fair enough. As I am travelling, I decided against even properly looking, as I knew I would fall in love with a piece and have no way of getting it home easily.

Further along the road came one of the oldest temples in the area, the Man Mo Temple. Again, the incense spirals were out in full force. Upon reading further, it turns out the name Hong Kong comes from the Cantonese 'fragrant harbour' or 'incense harbour'.

A little further down is the Cat Street Market, which sells memorabilia and general touristy tat. Again, I tried not to look too much, and would like to return again when I have a base somewhere.

The Hong Kong Museum of History was recommended to me, and it did not disappoint. I paid for the permanent exhibition and the special one, Images Through Time: Photos of Old Hong Kong. Again, no photos could be taken in the special, but it was my favourite by far. It was so interesting to learn how photography was introduced to Hong Kong by the West, and how the use of studios enabled families to fake being more wealthy than they were. I loved how even shots of prisoners had been faked, tell tale signs with the use of lighting and good looking models. It was also crazy to see the development of the city, on both sides. I also began to recognise a lot of the places the images were taken, as Sheung Wan was instrumental in the formative days of the city. Good thing I went there in the morning.

It was then onto the permanent echibition, all about the story of Hong Kong. This went through different eras, from prehistoric to the reunification with China. The displays really conveyed the sense of culture of Hong Kong and allowed me to fully understand how it has come to be now.

As Yan was at Hockey practice, his lovely housemate Leah took me to a famous dim sum restaurant, called Din Tai Fung (DTF). Again, the soup dumplings were had, and these were the best I had tasted. We were hungry, so got a lot of food! :)

Stuffed full, we headed back to the flat to watch another instalment of Breaking Bad.