So this was my third visit to Bangkok. Totally different vibe this time.. different me? Different Bangkok? Either way we’ve had a blast these past 3 days and I’ve seen so many new things that Bangkok has to offer.
It makes me feel lucky when I visit these kind of places, lucky at the life I was born into, the parents I was lucky enough to have, the upbringing and financial security I’ve had my whole life. My family have worked hard for me and I work hard for me but seeing the poverty of some of the families living here and just going about their business is heartbreaking. I feel bad for haggling for a pair of trousers that cost £5 on a bad day knowing that that extra £1 I pay them will feed their family for a week.
We took a river cruise in a long tail boat along the Chao Phraya River. Awesome to get a breeze at last from the sweltering 33 degree humidity. Saddened once again by the poverty that some families endure, living in tiny huts on stilts on the rivers edge, their houses crumbling into the river, their beds just dirty and threadbare mats on the bare wood of the shacks they know as home.
We revisited Khoa San Road, the backpacking capital of Bangkok that I’d so loved each visit previously.
The same place, different vibe, perhaps just because it was daytime and it’s a night life vibe it offers that attracts millions of backpackers every day. I hope to re-visit when we return to Bangkok at the end of our tour to soak up the night time atmosphere there but I wonder whether often it’s best to remember our fondest memories and places as they were as often they are never as you remember next time around.
R&R featured heavily on our agenda this time around as our impending tour through Cambodia and Laos will be full on to say the least. Turns out I’m pretty good at doing very little and I thoroughly enjoyed the day we spent lounging around the hotel pool.
We did force ourselves away from the bliss and coolness of the pool for an evening at Asiatique night market. What an amazing place. A fusion of shopping, eating, drinking, fairground rides and street performers, such a fun way to spend an evening.
We’d been so lazy all day that we decided we’d walk the 45 minutes there and back. I know what you’re thinking... 45 minutes, as much as that? Well imagine stepping outside your front door and straight into a furnace of scorching heat that zaps any little energy or motivation you might have had and then imagine walking for 2 miles through that scorching furnace whilst someone tips water on you so your clothes feel like a second skin... a very moist and soggy skin! This humidity is a killer.... bring on Australia’s winter!
Cheeky foot massage on the way home you say? Well why ever not... we deserve it right?
Bliss..... mmmmmmmmm.... pamper pamper pamper (if a little ouchy ouchy ouchy in places - these woman are aggressive)
Well that’ll teach us... heavens open and we’re swept away quite literally in Bangkok’s most recent tsunami.
I thought a walk in the storm would be quite pleasant, refreshing even. Michelle was not so impressed with my British morals and insisted we hail a taxi. Easier said than done. 15 minutes later were still standing outside the massage shop, dripping wet and watching taxi after taxi pass us by (laughing at us of course).
Finally... a tuk tuk arrives and off we go, already soaked to skin and about to commence our very own Mario kart race around Bangkok. It sure was an adventure that I’ll remember for a very long time.
As we board the 6:30am bus today with our new tour buddies, we leave the wonder that is Bangkok behind us and wait in eager anticipation of what Cambodia and Laos have to offer.
Goodbye Bangkok, awesome to see you again... till next time!