Day 153

Our first full day in Thailand started with rain. I (Katie) did lots of research to make sure that we didn’t hit SE Asia countries during any rainy season and yet we seem destined to encounter rain everywhere we go.

The rain subsided and we were able to go get breakfast. We had a delicious pork omelet with rice. After breakfast we went to a local grocery store, just to see what was available. We are in a hostel so we don’t have access to a kitchen. The grocery store helped us see that it might be cheaper to eat out here rather than try to eat some meals from the grocery store. Food at restaurants is soooo cheap it is amazing.

After breakfast we picked a direction and we wandered around the city for the rest of the day until sunset.

While we were walking we found the flower market, which is a whole street full of vendors selling flowers for temples and spirit houses. We walked to the river and saw many different boats.

After the river we headed back to the hostel. On the way we saw the Giant Swing. It was beautiful especially in the moon light.

There seems to be a 7/11 every few blocks. We are quickly learning they are a great place to get some relief in AC while wandering around Bangkok. As we were walking past a 7/11 the doors opened and we felt a cold blast of AC. We headed inside and treated ourselves to some interesting new snack options.

We were almost back to the hostel but getting pretty hungry (our snacks weren’t exactly a meal!). We almost walked straight past The Family Restaurant but then Katie said we should check it out. It was a serendipitous choice. The food was delicious and we made some feline friends while we were there.

Day 154

Yesterday after dinner we saw a cat cafe and decided to check it out. On our way to the cafe we saw some interesting temples, canals and colorful buildings.

The Kitty Cat Cafe was amusing to say the least. The cats are all fat and happy to be pet as they lay about the cafe.

On our walk after the Kitty Cat Cafe we found some cool graffiti. There is a lot of good graffiti in the area around the Airbnb.

We checked out another grocery store and got some pineapple crackers. They are like ritz bits but with pineapple filling instead of cheese and they are surprisingly quite good and addictive.

After all the walking yesterday and today we decided that we had earned a massage. It. Was. Amazing.  There is a possibility that we will do that every day!

For dinner we went to a place on Khao San Road. We looked at the BBQ alligator but it was quite expensive (and we have a new massage habit we are trying to afford!) The food at dinner was good but not spicy. Cam is definitely ready to find some spice tomorrow.

Day 155

We slept in and then went for coffee around noon.

We (aka Katie) haven’t planned tourist things to do in Thailand, so there was more wandering without direction. Its a fun and different way to get to see the city. While we were wandering there were more snacks! We’ve decided snacks are also a good way to learn about a new location.

After our foot massages yesterday we wanted to try full body massages. Oh man! Y’all it was amazing. They also gave comfy clothes to change into so that you didn’t need to be naked. Then at the end they had tea waiting for us.

We had more yummy Thai food for dinner. Then we got some beer to take back to the hostel. Check out below how they come in three packs. And then chilled at the hostel for the evening. The hostel cat, Peanut, was trying to make friends with Cam.

Day 156

Cam finally found some spicy food today! We tried Thai iced coffee which was pretty good. Cam asked for Spicy and when they asked if he meant really spicy he said, “yes!” The chef accepted the challenge and added 5x the usual amount of chili peppers to his Green Curry. Spice level = face melting.

We went to Wat Intharawihan, the Temple of the Standing Buddha.

Then we did some wandering and saw some things that are out of our ‘ordinary’ but seemed perfectly normal. For instances chickens walking down the sidewalk.

We had a pretty walk home in the dark. When we were back at the hostel Peanut was being delightful and trying to cuddle.

Day 157

We went back to the yummy omelet rice place that we found the first day.

Our hostel is in the Khao San Road area of Bangkok which doesn’t connect to the train. We could have taken multiple buses to get to the park but we decided to splurge and get a cab to Lumphini Park. The park is big and pretty and the weather was perfect. We didn’t really know anything about the park until we started to walk around.

There are monitor lizards. Lots of monitor lizards!

We were walking and talking when Katie saw a local guy sitting with his friend pointing at the path ahead of us. Katie’s eyes followed his pointing finger to a big  huge  HUGE monitor lizard (4 ft. long not including tail) strolling across the path. After a momentary freakout we went to investigate. The park is filled with them. We did some googling and found out that there are hundreds of them in the park. As we walked around, we saw little ones and big ones and medium sized ones traipsing all over the park.

Once we had our fill of lizards we headed to MBK shopping center. The walk there was pretty and we were able to walk through a college campus. It was interesting to see that the kids were still in uniform even at the college level.

MBK was a mall like none we had seen before. Each floor has different goods on offer and the number of stalls that were crammed into the space was hard to believe. There was also a grocery store inside the mall and it had little signs that told you what country the products were from. We enjoyed seeing all the items from home.

Wandering through the maze of malls clustered around MBK was like walking into an American mall. There was Victoria Secret, Sephora, Dairy Queen, Garrett’s Popcorn and so much more. We found a Lush but unfortunately Lush Thailand doesn’t carry shampoo bars yet. It was still fun seeing the mall and perusing the wares on offer.

We checked out the food court and had a pretty tasty and cheap dinner before heading back to the hostel for the night.

Day 158

Today is Thanksgiving but it is also Loy Krathong in Thailand. When we were out getting coffee we saw lots of women making the little boats out of leaves and flowers.

Loy Krathong is a light festival so the celebrations all happen later at night. Thus our first agenda item for the day was TURKEY!

We had googled Thanksgiving celebrations in Bangkok and a lot of them were $50+ per person. That doesn’t fit with the budget travel adventure that we are on. We picked the least expensive option we could find, Bourbon Street, and hoped for the best. Oh my goodness! This place did not disappoint. The turkey was so moist. The potatoes and gravy were smooth and creamy and delicious. The stuffing was fluffy and flavorful. The sides were pretty good and the cranberry sauce was sour yet sweet and tangy. And they had (American) football on the TV!

After we stuffed our bellies (and then each ate another plate full of food) we finally gave up our table. We took the train to as close as it gets to the hostel and then walked the 45 minutes home. The walk was good after all those mashed potatoes.

Loy Krathong is a festival of light in which floating vessels decorated with flowers and incense are lit and then put into the water. We heard that it is to show respect to nature and the water. People light the incense and pray for the coming year. It was really neat to see all the different kinds of vessels that were for sale. We watched people launching them at the river and at the canal.

Day 159

Today we are headed to the beach in Pattaya but first breakfast.

So we did not buy tickets to Pattaya ahead of time. We debated between going to the bus station to take a ‘real’ bus or to be lazy and go to one of the tourist transportation stands. Our laziness prevailed and we ended up at the tourist stand. We got our tickets and had a few hours to wait. So we enjoyed smoothies next door. We got snacks for the trip at 7/11 and noticed that beer isn’t for sale in the afternoon. They draw a curtain down over all the alcohol products.

We went back to the stand where we bought our tickets. It was ten minutes before 3:00PM and the guy there said the van would be there soon. A few minutes later a man comes over and says, “Pattaya, Pattaya, Pattaya” and indicates that we should follow him. We get our backpacks, look back for reassurance from the guy who sold us the tickets, got zero reassurance, and follow this other guy. He drops us off at another one of these stands that is around the corner where we join up with two other people going to Pattaya. Ten minutes later, another guy comes by and says, “Pattaya, Pattaya, Pattaya” and again we followed him. He dropped us off farther down the block where we met up with four more people headed for Pattaya.

Eventually a van pulls up, we get in and we are headed for Pattaya (Pattaya, Pattaya – apparently you have to say it three times)! Katie fell asleep immediately while we sat in traffic in Bangkok. When she woke up 45 minutes later she was disoriented because she recognized where we were and it was still in Bangkok. The traffic was so bad people were getting out of cabs and getting onto the motorcycle taxis that were passing all of the cars. After an hour, the guy in the front seat of our van decided that the trip to Pattaya (Pattaya, Pattaya) wasn’t worth it and got out in the middle of a freeway (that was gridlocked with traffic). Once we were out of Bangkok we stopped for gas and the restroom. Katie enjoyed/endured her first squat toilet of Asia.

Overall, it was a terrifying trip but we made it there. Check out the picture below to see our driver with a phone in each hand while driving. He also was getting dirty pictures texted to him at one point during the ride.

Cam was amazing getting us to our AirBnb. He could tell I was over it from the crazy van ride. He carried both of our backpacks which is close to 50ish pounds and then also went out and got us pizza for dinner. (He is pretty amazing!)

Thai’s eat ketchup with their Pizza. We had heard about this but didn’t know it was a real thing. Our pizza came with chili flakes and ketchup. As big a ketchup fan as Cam is even he couldn’t denigrate the pizza with America’s favorite condiment (or vice versa).

Day 160

After our adventure getting to Pattaya we needed a chill day with little excitement. We watched the sunrise and then went for a walk along the beach. The water is full of boats and it doesn’t look like we will be doing any swimming in this water. But the palm trees are beautiful.

We checked out the Big C (grocery store) that is near the AirBnb. We have a small kitchen set up so we might do a little cooking during the two weeks we are here. Mostly we just bought snacks though.

For dinner we tried a place close by that we found while walking. When we got inside we realized the name of the restaurant was Shark’s Fin. 😦 Our food was good but we didn’t love the idea of supporting the Shark’s Fin because of the terrible things that are done to the sharks in the hunting process.

We are up on the seventh floor and have a pretty good view for sunset.

Day 161

We have TV again! It has been super interesting to see what is on TV around the world. There was cock fighting, Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, and a whole documentary on how shower toilets (bidets) were perfected in Japan.

We walked to the beach and over to the Pattaya sign today. There are so many huge tourist groups and they all seem to meet around this area. We are definitely planning to avoid this for the rest of our time here.

Walking Street is the main bar area of Pattaya. It is a lot of Go Go bars and the sex trade is in high gear. It was interesting to walk through but not sure we will frequent this area either.

More from Pattaya next week.

 

Thailand