Bangkok
We arrived in Bangkok last Sunday after flying from Melbourne into Brunei and then into Bangkok. We arrived around 9pm into the crazy Thai airport. There was still aircon when we arrived in the airport and then we took a step outside to the taxi rank, my god it was hot. Within seconds we were sweaty and the humidity got right down your throat.
We jumped into a taxi that took us to the hostel we were staying at, by this time for us it was around 1am Australian time so we were pretty shattered but the taxi man (as lovely as it was) insisted on knowing the ins and outs of our trip to Asia and gave us a lesson in speaking Thai. Really nice friendly guy but at this point in time the last thing I wanted to do was learn Thai as I was feeling pretty rough from the 12 odd hours we were flying.
We got to our hostel called Born Free which was really friendly. Small but quirky. We soon dumped our bags, got into bed and died until the following morning. Due to the time difference I had woken up at around 3am and stayed awake until it was a suitable time to actually get up for the day. We went down Kho San road which is like backpacker/tourist central for Bangkok and found somewhere to grab some breakie which was a spoonful of scrambled egg and a string of bacon. We were pretty hungry not long after that for sure. We ended up walking down to the river to the reclyning Buddha temple called Wat Pho (I think, might be wrong, probably am) where there was (like the name) a bloody huge golden Buddha statue just chilling, laying on it's side surrounded by gold stuff. It was pretty impressive. We walked around the temple grounds for a bit and then ended up back at the hostel for a while to freshen up and probably have a nap (can't quite remember, a week is a long time for me)
We met up with our friends from PGL Leanne and Jess and went for some food in a street behind Kho San road. A stray dog was right next to our table but we're 99% sure it had rabies. It was like a zombie pooch with a foamy mouth and just growling at nothing, he seemed a lite away with the fairies which was sad.
We had a walk around kho San road afterwards to look at the market stalls and the food stands of pad Thai which sells on the streets for 30baht which is about 70p ish. Pad Thai is a noodle dish with egg and bean sprouts and chicken or shrimp. Pretty tasty stuff for 70p.
That day my best friend Lucy had also flown into bangkok from England with a tour and I knew she was around that road somewhere so I kept my eye on anyone that had a big fridge and a bunch of European people drinking and after walking up and down the road as almost loosing hope THERE SHE WAS! I pointing and squealed and then she saw me too and we just ran to eachother and totally embraced eachother in the middle of the crazy nightlife where we had people all around us looking at us (probably the fact we were both in tears and all other eachother) probably thought we were long lost lovers. (Pretty much are) by we hadn't seen eachother in over a yet and that was only for like a day. We danced to shakira and hugged a hell of a lot and took a shit ton of selfies, I felt a little bad I kinda crashed thir tours drinks night and stole Lucy away. I was so happy. It was late and she had to go and we went back to the hostel to bed.
The next day we met Leanne and Jess again where we went to the other side of town to a snake farm which was ran by the Thai Red Cross where they took the venom out of the snakes to make anti venom. It's was pretty interesting stuff me being a snake lover and all. They did a show where these crazy mofos were like catching king cobras and other deadly snakes with his bare hands and letting them just slithering infront of the crowed. They asked for a volunteer at the end of the show so of course I put my hand up (made sure not kids ha their hands up, I'm not that mean) but I was picked and I they ended up coming up behind me with a MASSIVE Burmese Python which was so awesome. I got to hold it and stuff infront of the crowed and then the guy asked if I liked snakes and what if I had any and it turns out we both have Western Hognoses which was cool.
After the snake farm we went to this big park where huge monitor lizards would roam around, some eating big catfish they just dragged out of the water, another eating a turtle! It was like walking with dinosaurs, pretty scary but so cool! The next day we had a wander around again, went to some markets and got a tuktuk ride which was South fun whizzing through the city (they drive like bloody lunatics) and then went to a Mai Thai fight night which is Thai boxing. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it but it was hardcore stuff! Especially the girls round, they are terrifying. Would not like the cross their paths when they're hormonal. Grabbed another tuktuk after waiting for a bus for about an hour and then experienced a Bangkok downpour where the rain was incredibly heavy! We said goodbye to Leanne and Jess as they were leaving Asia and headed back to the hostel for our last nights stay.
Kachanaburi
We got a bus from Bangkok to kachanaburi which was a 2.5 hour drive north of Bangkok. We stayed at a place called Sugar Cane Guesthouse 2 which was a lovely chilled out spot on the river Kwai where we had our own little room. No aircon this time though, just a fan that only covered half the bed so we had to take turns in sleeping on the "breezy" side. The day we got there we walked around the town over the death railway bridge and had some lunch on a floating restaurant. I stupidly ordered some Chilli paste rice probably oblivious to the world CHILLI and it blew my head off to the point I had tears rolling down my face and the Thai waitresses were all laughing at me. Whoops. Swapped meals with Cal , he can handle that shit. We went to a night market where they had things from baby goats to guns for sale. Interesting to say the least but I found my dinner for 28p!
The next day we had planned to go to Erawan waterfalls. We managed to find the bus station after a nice man offered us a lift in en empty out of service bus to the station as he saw we were a little lost and directed us to the bus that was going to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were probabably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It was like something out of a movie. We walked all the way to the top of the 7th waterfall which was the most sweaty trek ever. I was literally dripping everywhere. We got to the top and straight away stripped off and got in the water. There were these fish that would nibble your toes which was so weird! So ticklish.. A lot of people we're squealing. We cooled off and took some selfies and started to walk back down where we stopped off in the more pretty waterfalls to take a swim in.
We got back to town and eventually back to the guest house after yet another tuktuk to the rescue and we showered and layed under the fan for a while to cool off before having some food at the guest house. The next day we booked a bus back to Bangkok because we had a night bus going from there to Chiang Mai. We got back to Bangkok and went to Maccys to share a meal (tight budget and all) and strolled up and down Kho San to waste some time before the long bus. We ended up taking part in a free food tasting survey for some Thai students which was a little bizzare with herby chicken sauassage and stuff. We got on our night bus which had these really cool reclyning seats so you could get a proper lie down and sleep.
Chiang Mai
We arrived in Chiang Mai around 7am after a fairly pleasant bus journey considering it was like 11 hours long but I managed to sleep almost all the way. Unfortunately can't say the same for Callum. We got a little taxi with a couple other English girls that we're staying at our same hostel. We booked this place called The Gate Capsule Hostel where the bunk beds are huge and have this big curtain all around so you feel like you're in your own little box. We turned up and had a nap, showerd and walked around for a bit, grabbed some lunch and then came back to the hostel to research some bits for the rest of the trip. But we actually ended up napping again for a few hours. We got sorted eventually and headed out to find some food and the night markets of Chiang Mai where on the way we made friends with a stray dog that followed us. We found a cute little restaurant and had some nachos and a carbanara after having Thai food all week (apart from the cheeky Maccys). We found the Sunday street markets and wandered around until our feet could hack anymore (mainly my feet as on the first day I bought myself some Birkenstocks and they rub one foot) and came back to the hostel where I am now writing this blog. Only one day in Chiang Mai this time but tomorrow we get a bus to Pai which is think is the "Byron bay of Thailand" kinda place where we have booked our own little cabin for 5 nights.
Loving life.
L&C xo
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