Bankgkok
THAILAND
Bankgkok
Bangkok was a truly fantastic place! I expected this famous city to be extremely busy, crowds of people everywhere, buildings and skyscrapers reaching the stars and the noisy hustle and bustle of the city playing its tune 24/7. This certainly wasn’t the case- I found the area of Bangkok that we stayed in very peaceful, everyone living their day to day lives (nowhere near as crowded and busy as Manila) and to my greatest surprise there was a river going right through the middle of the city, of which we took full advantage and travelled by boat (like Bangkok locals) to different temples and sites across the river. Catherine and I stayed in two beautiful, classy, affordable hostels called “Mellow Fellow Hostel” and then met all the other traveling scholars at “The Onion Hostel” so we could all stay together. We all met a young couple at our hostel who have been travelling around the world for 2 years already so their stories at breakfast were always the best!
Unfortunately, Catherine wasn’t feeling too well on our first day in Thailand so whilst she rested, I decided to venture out to visit Thailand’s renowned floating markets. Climbing off the BTS Skytrain (another convenient mode of transport in Thailand) I met two American doctors also trying to find their way to the same floating market. Deciding to all share the experience together, we took a taxi to a sweet little town housing the entrance to the floating markets. Fruit stalls, sticky rice cake stalls, sweet corn on the cob stalls, freshly squeezed fruit juice stalls, kebab stalls, stalls selling hats and scarfs and little sorts of trinkets as well as beautiful gondola boats floating along the river was a feast for sore eyes. The three of us, trying to let our noses enjoy the different aromas, our ears listening to the smooth accents of the Thai language as people ate and chatted to one another and we adjusted our eyes to absorb as many of the colours and interesting sights as possible, thought it best to gain the full experience of the floating markets by taking a gondola boat journey along the floating market river (before grabbing a bite to eat from one of the stalls). I thought it was pretty seeing a few boats sell their food and flowers however there weren’t many floating stalls as made out online. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable afternoon.
Catherine and I were very lucky to spend one of our days in Thailand with my lovely Thai friend Aylin from our university as she went to Bangkok to visit her family during the holiday. Aylin is a local so she and her sister were our tour guides for the day, showing us all their favourite places to eat, recommending Thai foods/ snacks and the huge market they used to go to throughout their childhood so it was absolutely fabulous to see Bangkok through their eyes, making the trip particularly special for Catherine and I. Aylin and her sister also took us to visit my favourite temple called ‘Wat Arun’. The intricate detail on this temple is incredible and it’s fascinating to hear about the meaning of monkey beasts and human statues/paintings on these stunning walls. Aylin’s sister is majoring Thai history, so she had some very interesting stories to tell us about all these artefacts and landmarks.
Apart from Wat Arun, I especially enjoyed trying one of the traditional Thai sweet foods made from egg called “Foi-Thong”- so sweet and so orange (I’ve never tasted anythin like it).
Catherine and I enjoyed taking a Thai cooking class on our last day. We learned how to cook the famous pad Thai, Thai curry, chilli sauce/ paste and a delicious rice-based dessert that I’ve forgotten the name of.
So many temples, markets, massages, walks, photos, Thai characters everywhere (not at all guessable, nothing like Chinese but really curly and cool), new friends, exciting memories and at least 60 pad thais later, we had to bid our last goodbyes- not just to the beautiful city of Bangkok but also to our full month of incredible adventures. What an adventure of a lifetime!
再见放假！谢
谢
Zai jian fang jia!
Goodbye Holiday!