Hello! It's currently June 20th and I'm on the night train to Chiang Mai feeling guilty because I've been away for over 48 hours but this will be my first blog post when I get a chance to post it! My phone hasn't been cooperating with me very well and combined with how busy we've been and jet lag it's been hard to post! But this means that this post can act as a summary of my time in Bangkok, so I'll pretend it was intentional.
On Sunday night we set off on our flight with Jet Airways to Bangkok with a stopover in Delhi. The flights were... okay. Not so much issues with the airline, but more generally just flying really is not that fun. They forgot my vegan meal, presented me with an underwhelming fruit plate later, then delivered my original vegan meal at midnight. Nah. I really struggled to sleep on the first flight, and when faced with a 5 hour stopover I was not keen. Thankfully I think a thai red vegetable curry during our stopover helped revive us a little along with a little pamper sesh (I'm talking teeth brushing and wet wipes, very luxurious) in the airport toilets. Mmmm. We all spent most of the next flight napping and even refused our food in favour of some well-needed rest.
We landed in Bangkok around 8pm local time, and after immigration and collecting our bags (all smooth) we headed downstairs to get the metro into the city. The others now encountered a rite of passage for any traveller; their first 7/11 experience. It did not disappoint, and we all ate a selection of, at time bizarre, snacks before boarding the train to our Air bnb. We had treated ourselves to the apartment for the night as we anticipated being tired, and this was definitely a good idea though a trek from the airport. While on paper it had sounded pretty easy, we had to change train twice and then the 5 minute walk from the station took us 20, but we made it and were there by 10.45pm. The apartment itself was nice, located in a residential block with had a gym and pool. We all finally got a chance to shower and finally experienced the luxury of sleeping in beds once again.
I woke up early and headed down to the rather basic gym, but due to the lack of air con gave up pretty quickly, and soon we were all in the pool. It was nice, though I felt as though I'd developed almost flu-like symptoms from the plane so didn't do much energetic swimming and more standing in the pool to cool off. After another 7/11 trip and a quick breakfast we found a hostel for that night and ordered a grab (asian equivalent of uber). We started a very long journey across the city in our cheap taxi, and then navigated the alleyways by the river before eventually finding our hostel and checking in. Somehow we got it for much cheaper than the price on the desk due to booking through booking.com so that was good!
After a quick pause in the room we headed out to Khao San road. We walked around looking at the classic elephant trousers and other clothing and then stopped for some £1.50 spring rolls and pad thai which were very nice and filling. I also got my first fruit shake of the trip and was very excited to consume some vitamins at last. We then headed off on a 20 minute walk to Wat Pho, a selection of temples including a giant reclining Buddha, only to found that you couldn't wear shorts inside. We returned to Khao San, spent a while debating buying some, and finally returned to our hostel to change into our own trousers/skirts before heading back. We arrived about 5pm and spent the next hour and a half looking around, which included watching monks singing/chanting which was really interesting to see.
We headed back in the early evening and stopped at a rooftop bar. It was really nice and fancy and overlooked the river. We were slightly concerned to discover that a diet coke was £3 including tax, which seems funny when our hostel bed was £5 for the night, but we spent several hours there and it was really nice. Eventually we headed back, via, surprise surprise, 7/11, to get some snacks for the evening and then headed to bed.
This morning we woke up around 8.30 and had some breakfast. At this time and the previous night we finalised bookings for the night train to Chiang Mai, a hostel there and a trip to Elephant nature park, which is supposedly the only ethical elephant sanctuary in Thailand. After sorting this and showers we had some free breakfast at the hostel, checked out and then used their bag storage, before heading to the river. We walked for around half an hour and then caught the taxi boat for 15 baht, around 40p, down the river. It looked really choppy but wasn't too bumpy! Soon we arrived and got off the boat near to a park we wanted to visit. After a lot of wandering we found it and walked around. It was nice and peaceful compared to the busy city, and there are also giant lizards there which were funny to see. After a couple of hours and a lap of the park we caught a metro and then walked back to Khao San road. We underestimated how far it was and walked for over an hour, but it wasn't too hot luckily.
We stopped on Khao San road and got food in a restaurant (treating ourselves to food costing over £1!) and then did a bit of quick shopping before heading back to the hostel to get our bags. After sneakily using their free drinking water and having a quick wash in the toilets we caught a Grab to the train station, got some snacks from (you guessed it) 7/11 and some fresh fruit and then got on our train about 7.20pm as it left at 7.35pm. It's now just after 10.30 and I am very ready to sleep though slightly worried about rolling out of my little top bunk bed during the night...!
Laura x
We landed in Bangkok around 8pm local time, and after immigration and collecting our bags (all smooth) we headed downstairs to get the metro into the city. The others now encountered a rite of passage for any traveller; their first 7/11 experience. It did not disappoint, and we all ate a selection of, at time bizarre, snacks before boarding the train to our Air bnb. We had treated ourselves to the apartment for the night as we anticipated being tired, and this was definitely a good idea though a trek from the airport. While on paper it had sounded pretty easy, we had to change train twice and then the 5 minute walk from the station took us 20, but we made it and were there by 10.45pm. The apartment itself was nice, located in a residential block with had a gym and pool. We all finally got a chance to shower and finally experienced the luxury of sleeping in beds once again.
I woke up early and headed down to the rather basic gym, but due to the lack of air con gave up pretty quickly, and soon we were all in the pool. It was nice, though I felt as though I'd developed almost flu-like symptoms from the plane so didn't do much energetic swimming and more standing in the pool to cool off. After another 7/11 trip and a quick breakfast we found a hostel for that night and ordered a grab (asian equivalent of uber). We started a very long journey across the city in our cheap taxi, and then navigated the alleyways by the river before eventually finding our hostel and checking in. Somehow we got it for much cheaper than the price on the desk due to booking through booking.com so that was good!
After a quick pause in the room we headed out to Khao San road. We walked around looking at the classic elephant trousers and other clothing and then stopped for some £1.50 spring rolls and pad thai which were very nice and filling. I also got my first fruit shake of the trip and was very excited to consume some vitamins at last. We then headed off on a 20 minute walk to Wat Pho, a selection of temples including a giant reclining Buddha, only to found that you couldn't wear shorts inside. We returned to Khao San, spent a while debating buying some, and finally returned to our hostel to change into our own trousers/skirts before heading back. We arrived about 5pm and spent the next hour and a half looking around, which included watching monks singing/chanting which was really interesting to see.
We headed back in the early evening and stopped at a rooftop bar. It was really nice and fancy and overlooked the river. We were slightly concerned to discover that a diet coke was £3 including tax, which seems funny when our hostel bed was £5 for the night, but we spent several hours there and it was really nice. Eventually we headed back, via, surprise surprise, 7/11, to get some snacks for the evening and then headed to bed.
This morning we woke up around 8.30 and had some breakfast. At this time and the previous night we finalised bookings for the night train to Chiang Mai, a hostel there and a trip to Elephant nature park, which is supposedly the only ethical elephant sanctuary in Thailand. After sorting this and showers we had some free breakfast at the hostel, checked out and then used their bag storage, before heading to the river. We walked for around half an hour and then caught the taxi boat for 15 baht, around 40p, down the river. It looked really choppy but wasn't too bumpy! Soon we arrived and got off the boat near to a park we wanted to visit. After a lot of wandering we found it and walked around. It was nice and peaceful compared to the busy city, and there are also giant lizards there which were funny to see. After a couple of hours and a lap of the park we caught a metro and then walked back to Khao San road. We underestimated how far it was and walked for over an hour, but it wasn't too hot luckily.
Laura x
Nice and interesting information and informative too.
ReplyDeleteCan you please let me know the good attraction places we can visit: Delhi To Bangkok Flight