…doesn’t always get blogged. But, here’s a little bit of what happend in Bangkok.
Were we excited to get to Bangkok, a city with many rumours of debauchery surrounding it? Oh yeah. Were we excited to travel for 16+ hours and arrive at 4am after a boat, 2 buses, and a tuk tuk? Not particularly.
We arrived to a quiet guesthouse with a trail of notes leading us through the halls and to our lovely room. Turned on the AC (OH YEAH!) and hit the hay. We woke up slowly and made our way through the city via cabs and s sky-rails to the weekend market. Its an endless maze of shopping and food. If you see something you like, buy it. You’ll never find it again. Its just impossible.
And when you’re fed up with shopping, its time to feed. This guy was making huge amounts of paella on the street and had a house DJ by his side. It was a welcomed break.
nom nom nom
When we got home we were hot, sweaty, and exhausted. But our housemates were hungry, so we followed suit to a local spot down the street that was spectacular.
We hit the hay early that evening too; still a little wrecked from the travel day prior. The next day we wandered around to the Alder Subhashok Gallery and hit the Saxaphone Club in the evening. We almost felt like we were back in New Orleans for a moment.
SURPISE a Grammy Award Winning Jazz musician is in Bangkok and here you are bopping around to the jam. Night: made.
Bangkok has lots of art and culture to offer. I mean, LOTS. There were so many museums that we genuinely had a hard time choosing which ones to visit. We settled on the Bangkok Arts & Culture Center which was free (YES even to tourists.) The place had a breathing feel; as well as a sense of humor. Its familiar Guggenheim style architecture made for a fun art stroll up and up until we got the top floor. It was the gem, as it was a floor of working artists and pieces to interact with.
After you’ve gotten your fill of the art inside gallery walls, logically, its time to get your fill of the art outside of the walls. Which in Thailand, is food. There’s only one logical next step: Chinatown.
We ate everything that looked good, and weird. Fresh things, dead things, and unknown things. The smells were changing constantly and fighting for your attention, even when you really didn’t want to smell them. Mixed with people everywhere and all sorts of motor-powered contraptions from food carts to scooters to anything, it was a sensory overload.
We escaped the bustle of Chinatown and hopped on a locals river taxi. We just cruised the river while the sun set and got to see the city from a different perspective.
We rode the water taxi for 20 Baht until we were freezing. Then we got off at the pier and played tourist for a bit. There’s a huge market, tons of lovely restur restaurants all sorts of weird rides/activities to engage in.
We went for the skyline dominating ferris wheel.
After our ride, we strolled the boardwalk with some cold beers and watched people try to ride these crazy kinetic contraptions, until we decided it was time for a street food dinner. Then, spent the evening gallavanting Bangkok’s trying ridiculious night life party scene.
We woke up slow the next day. An excellent way to spend the final morning of 2014!
You cannot visit Bangkok without seeing the truly spectacular (despite being very touristic) Royal Palace. So, we set off for a battle with taxi drivers, crowds, scammers, and peddlers. And boy was it worth it.
The highlight of the Royal Palace complex is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Its legend is long and it allegedly has a complicated history of traveling around Southeast Asia. But rumor has it that lightning struck a pagoda in Ch Chiang ai in 1434, and it was then sticking out of the stucco of the building. Its an extremely important piece of the Thai and Buddhist cultures.
The Emerald B Buddha is actually made of green jasper and draped in gold. Its a sacred relic, and we were allowed to enter with our shoes removed, and kneeled in front of it to meditate for as much time as we desired.
It is only a short walk from the Grand Palace to Wat Pho; another truly stunning, but a little more modest temple complex. The big draw here, however, is the enormous golden reclining bud buddha
As we exited the temple, there was a monk giving blessing for the New Year. So, of course! We had to. The guy was so happy to be greeting everyone, and wishing them peace for 2015.
So, off we were to get ready for the New Years Celebration in Bangkok with good energy in our hearts and humble minds to guide us.
Dressed to the nines, we made our way down to the outdoor NYE celebration for some fireworks. So did everyone else in Thailand, apparently.
Fireworks? Check. Insane amounts of huge crowds? Check. Time it mellow it out. We hopped on the train and jetted a few blocks away from the crazy crowds to a rad little bar called The Iron Fairies. We caught some amazing Jazz, and after that a DJ and the house Saxapho Saxophonist jammed all evening until 4am.
Lights out, 2014. Thanks for the great year.
Sleep, sleep, sleep. Water, water, water. Ok, 2015. Lets do this.
Or not. We stayed in bed all day. Until it was time to go to the movies. Which was also practically being in bed.
We were brought beers, ice cream, tea, popcorn and cookies throughout the film.
Seeing The Hobbit 3 was probably the best movie-going decision of our entire lives. Obviously.
Bangkok has got something for everyone, that’s for sure. And if you’re up for anything, Bangkok is the place to find it.