4 minutes
By: Jas Mitch
Going to Bangkok
After spending just over a week in the lovely Siem Reap, Cambodia, we decided it was time to make the move back over the border to Thailand to wait for our flight to Japan! We had left a week at the end of our trip for Bangkok. The main reason for this was our recent change of plans for after Japan (we’ve decided to head to South America!) and so we needed a week to get a visa to Brazil.
Our first morning in Bangkok we got up early (travel early anyways…) and jumped onto the public bus (for only 6.5THB! thats only $0.25 AUD!) and off we went. The Lonely Planet guide for Bangkok suggests travellers to Bangkok take the taxis and tuk-tuks to get around, but I would highly suggest the buses. Not only are they cheap, they are also a really interesting ride, and you will end up in places you would never normally get to go.
After a bit of confusion we finally found the Brazillian Embassy tucked away inside a large, fancy office building. Up we went to the 34th floor, and within about five minutes our visa had been rejected (not officially, but we didn’t have enough proof that we were going to leave Brazil… sigh…). We had fully anticipated this so we weren’t too worried and were basically told to go to the Embassy in Peru when we had a more detailed timeline… done….
This meant we had 6 more days to explore!
During our time in Bangkok, we somehow ended up in some strange places. Our bus adventures proved worth it, even if sometimes they took a long time to get around.
We found a park (the Lumphini Park) which was lovely to wander around for the morning. Strangely it is filled with giant lizzard things which are everywhere!
Being that it was the end of the Mid-autumn festival, we headed over to Chinatown one day for some awsesome food! and of course Moon-cakes. I’m not too sure how they make Moon-cakes, but they are delicious!
One day we found ourselves in a mall… for the whole day… this is when we discovered that Thai people love malls. There are like five or six of them in one block in what we think is the ‘centre of town’. The most fancy we went in was definitely Siam Paragon. If you needed to you could even buy a luxury car!
Having been totally templed-out in Angkor, we didn’t go to too many temples, but the one I did want to see was Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha). We wandered over from our nearby accommodations, to be greeted with what felt like a thousand people outside the Royal Palace! We just kept on walking and finally came across Wat Pho. Although crazy busy inside we managed to get some good pictures (mostly due to Mitch’s height!) of the massive reclining Buddha, which takes up the entire building its inside of.
And as a bonus, we apparently stumbled across some kind of modelling shoot!
Whilst hanging out in Bangkok we also decided to check out the Jim Thompson House near Siam Paragon. What a beautiful place and a lovely way to spend an afternoon. We joined the tour group and were led around the inside of this old traditional Thai style house, it was very impressive!
Even better then the house was the killer fish out in the garden. As we wandered past this fish, alone in a large pot plant, we were warned that it will bite you… Mitch tested that theory by waving his hands over the top of the water… he almost lost his hand.
Our tour group leader also gave us the tip that you can catch the water taxi up the canals to near where we were staying, and for only 8THB ($0.30 AUD)! We absolutely had to get in on that!
What a crazy way to get around! The boats barely even come to a stop and everyone is piling on and off the boat and then off you go! Barrelling down the canal! Lots of fun!
After six days of eating Pad thai and Mango Sticky Rice we said our goodbyes to Thailand and hello to Japan!!
