Day 176

We only have a week left in Bangkok. We decided we should do all of the main touristy things that we have missed so far. Today we went to Wat Arun. We usually skip the tuk tuk ride to places because we see so much more walking. Today we enjoyed another omelet with rice then headed to Wat Arun.

The boat ride across the river was interesting. It started with a long line that had no signage, so we were only half sure we were even in the right place. The line was long so Katie ended up using the restroom, which is usually an adventure in itself. Other than rationing the toilet paper this one wasn’t bad. Eventually we got on the boat and made it across the river.

Wat Arun or The Temple of Dawn is beautiful. There is so much detail and history. We took way too many pictures. Check out some of them below.

After Wat Arun we headed back to the other side of the river on the boat. We had a yummy meal and amazing orange juice. Then Cam told me about this Mangosteen wine that someone had at the hostel the night before. He said it was delicious and we should try to find some.  This started The Great Hunt for Mangosteen Wine, which continued the whole week while we were in Bangkok. Below are some versions of pink ‘wine’ that we thought might be it, but were terrible.  (Spoiler: we never found mangosteen wine).

After failing at finding mangosteen wine we headed to dinner. We had passed by Jo Jo Pad Thai a few times and finally stopped to eat there. It is a little food cart that moves around throughout the day. The pad thai was probably the best we have had so far. We got dessert (because we were still a little sad about our mangosteen failure). From our table we saw the guy go down the street and buy the mango sticky rice from a different cart before bringing it to our table.

Day 177

We wanted to see different things today so we split up. Incidentally, we ended up walking through some of the same areas. (Great minds)

Cam first went to the Bangkokian Museum, which was a house built during the
World War II era and preserved with materials and artifacts from the family that lived there. It was fascinating insight into the lives of wealthy people in Bangkok back in the 1930’s-1950’s. Next Cam was headed to Wat Suthat but on the way he ran into some pretty cool graffiti, the Dragon Gate to Chinatown, Wat Traimit, Soi Texas (Texas Street), and Rommaninat Park. Cam lucked out on his timing for arriving at Wat Suthat. Even though the Wat right behind the Giant Swing is a big tourist draw, coming in right before closing meant he had the place mostly to himself, except of course for the monks and stray cats who live there. Check out the pics below.

Rewind: Day 177 #2

Today I (Katie) need to go to Ikea to get props for my VIP Kids (an online program for teaching English to kids in China).  On my walk to the train station I walked past the Giant Swing and Chinatown.

I finally found the the train. As I was waiting I realized everyone was in orderly lines next to the sides of the train. As the train arrived, people got out and were easily able to walk past everyone waiting. These are the most orderly train riders I’ve seen. IKEA was inside a mall which made the maze that is usually IKEA even more confusing, but, I got all the things I needed. Also, the mall was decked out with smiley face Christmas decorations that were both creepy and cute.

I got off on a different stop than the one earlier in the day so that I could walk through other parts of the city. I saw lots of interesting things, including a bus that was stopped in traffic and its driver was outside the bus taking a smoke break. When traffic started up again he threw down his cigarette and jumped back on the bus.

After that long walk and the productivity of getting stuff for the interview I treated myself to a massage. If you are wearing clothes that aren’t flexible they give you clothes to change into. They also had tea for me at the end.

Day 178

We continued our journey of seeing all the biggest touristic attractions today. We went to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Both were spectacular but filled with people, which was less ideal. First we started the day with breakfast.

Check out our pictures from The Grand Palace.

Here are our pictures from Wat Pho.

Wat Pho is an active school for Thai massage but it is also famous for the Reclining Buddha.

The grounds of Wat Pho are large and there are statues doing lots of poses/stretches throughout. Here are some of the ones that we saw.

More from Wat Pho below. This was the first time that we have seen monks inside the temple while we were visiting.

We ended the day with spectacular food at a street stall called Jok Pochana. It is a small street stall but offers great food and a fun atmosphere as fire flares from the woks and you watch them try to convince people passing by to come eat there.

Day 179

We are off to Cambodia! Leaving Bangkok is bittersweet but we are excited to see and experience Cambodia. We got a cab to the airport and didn’t have much issue this morning.

We got to the airport and handled our visa stuff. We didn’t have pictures printed so it was a few dollars more expensive, but, that was probably as much as we would have had to pay to print pictures and certainly worth the lack of hassle. After getting though passport control we switched out money. This turned out to be unnecessary as they mainly use U.S. Dollars. Our AirBnb host had set up a ride from the airport for us. It turned out our airport pickup, Bun, was our AirBnb host, and our ride was a Cambodian style tuk tuk.

We got settled into the AirBnb and then went out to explore Siem Reap and find dinner. The food is a bit different than Thai food but similar in some ways. We tried the Amok which is a favorite and it was so good.

Day 180

Today was more of the same. Exploring Siem Reap and eating. We need to decide when we are going to Angkor Wat and all of the old temples but for today we just wandered.

Pub Street is the tourist area of Siem Reap. There are a lot of bars and restaurants that serve western food.  We also enjoy how many fake 7/11s we have spotted.

We tried a different Amok and more Cambodian food that was all quite tasty for dinner.

Day 181

We got advice to go to the Angkor Wat Museum before going to the actual site. First we had lunch/breakfast of mac and cheese and quesadillas. We could have taken a tuk tuk but we enjoyed the walk. We saw a beautiful park and some funny Christmas decorations on the way to the museum. Santa seems to be breaking into the mall very often here.

The museum was great but pictures were not allowed in most of it. On our walk home we went a different way and saw more of Siem Reap. For dinner we were a little homesick and had some nachos.

Day 182

We needed to do laundry today. There isn’t laundry available at our Airbnb so we headed out to find a laundromat or the closest thing that we could find in Cambodia. We landed at Missing Sock Cafe. They have washers and DRYERS! This is possibly the first time our clothes have gotten dryer dry during this trip.

The cafe is a coffee shop, restaurant, and has washers and dryers. We had some delicious food and made a new friend playing cards while we waited for our clothes. Our new friend suggested Sihanoukville in Southern Cambodia. We hadn’t planned to leave Siem Reap but we are interested in the beach.

More from Cambodia next week!

Cambodia Thailand