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.