Arrival in Bangkok

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  Bangkok, Thailand
Thursday, July 24, 2008

After a surprisingly good 18 hour journey from Dublin via London, we arrived in Bangkok fairly awake and energetic. I actually managed to get some sleep on the plane which is a first!

We're not planning on spending a lot of time here as Bangkok is mainly a big metropolitan city, crowded and hectic. We'll be doing some of the city's sights in 2 weeks when Angie arrives from Richmond.

Our hotel is just off the Khao San Road near the river just west of the city centre. The area is basically a backpacker ghetto. Very few locals around, just thousands of backpackers who have either just arrived in the country or are about to leave. You can get just about everything a backpacker could possibly want in the street stalls around the area. Except Febreeze for some reason. You'd have thought that was a fairly indispensable backpacking item

Wat Pho

.

Today (Thursday, 24 July) was spent wandering around the area taking in some of the sights. We took the river ferry down to Wat Pho and the Grand Palace. Wat Pho was amazing. It's the oldest and largest Wat in Bangkok. Inside one of the many buildings is a giant statue of a reclining Buddha. It is 46 metres long and 15 metres high. For those of you who don't get the metric system that translates to a pretty damn big Buddha! Especially considering that the whole thing is covered in gold leaf. Following the customs here, we had to take off our shoes before entering and pick them up on the way out.

The Grand Palace was a bit of a let down. We'd been hoping to see the Emerald Buddha in Wat Phra Kaew but it was closed when we arrived. Hopefully we'll get to see it when Angie gets here.

At the moment we're just hanging around the pool area of our hotel. We are taking the night train to Surat Thani in Southern Thailand tonight. From there we're taking a ferry to Ko Samui. We've got 2 weeks till we need to be back in Bangkok and we mean to spend most of it on the beach!

The train should be interesting. It's a sleeper train. From the pictures it looks like a train car turned into a dorm room with bunkbeds lining the walls. The ones with AC were booked out so hopefully it won't be like trying to sleep in a moving sauna.

So far the trip is going great

Reclining Buddha

. Every restaurant has a menu about 3 inches thick with just about every food you can think of. It makes choosing what we want an experience in itself. I think Christen's average deciding time is about 15 minutes and that's only because the waiter stands at the table side waiting until you're ready to order.

I'm really looking forward to the islands. We're not sure how long we're going to spend where yet. Do we spend 2 weeks in the luxury beach resort of Koh Samui or go straight to the party island of Koh Phangan? You know what this site needs is a poll feature so we could allow anyone who reads us to vote on where we go next. Hmmmm that could make a good travel book for Christen to write when she gets around to writing her novel...
-Joe

Arriving in Bangkok went a lot smoother than I expected. Near the airport, most signs were written in English and Thai. It was only as we got closer to the city centre that the English slowly started disappearing. And as the English disappeared, the smells of Bangkok pervaded. Not sure what to make of that really, the only one I seem to be able to pick out is something like rotten eggs, mmmm.

Khao San Road is a bit overwhelming: people, motorbikes and clothing and food stalls everywhere. It was definitely interesting to see, especially because it is mentioned in so many books and things, but not somewhere I would like to spend most of my time, especially since most of the people there are tourists.

The food has been deliciously cheap and, so far, we have not been hit by any stomach problems

Reclining Buddha with Christen

. I tried the backpacker classic, pancake and banana, yesterday morning. Just a simple pancake with a banana cut up on the side, no syrup or anything, but quite tasty. We have been eating mainly Thai food for dinner, but somehow that just doesn't appeal when you wake up in the morning.

I think Joe's said most everything else. Our touring was lots of fun today. The river ferry was pretty quick and seemed like an efficient way to get around town. One day I would like a statue dedicated to me entitled, "Reclining Christen" and perhaps made out of chocolate. I was glad I wore pants today. A guard at the entrance to the Palace looked everyone up and down and decided if you were dressed appropriately. I passed! Reminds me of the Catholic School uniform days...

Off to get some food before our long train ride.

We will be in touch from the islands!
Can't wait!
-Christen

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

That's a big Buddha!	Wat Pho	Grounds at Wat Pho	Glittery Door
Joe at Wat Pho	Thai School	Grand Palace	Grand Palace
River Ferry	The Kho San Road

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