Spent another day in Bangkok before heading to Ayatthaya, which was the Siamese capital before Bangkok. This place is gorgeous. Full of 700 year old ruins and amazing food. We (myself and a Canadian chick I met in Bangkok) found a great guest house where we got a room with a balcony over the river for 250b (that's about $6 each). We spent two nights there and spent the days and nights exploring the ruins and the town. I could easily have stayed longer, but felt I should see some more of what else Thailand has to offer.
I didn't get a chance to head any further north than Ayutthaya, but have spent the last couple of days checking out Bangkok. Kind of took yesterday 'off' - spent most of the day in a park by the river reading and practising my German. Guten Tag!
Today I went to Jim Thompson's House, then Siam Square before walking back to Khao San (about an hour). It was good to walk that - it gave me a better feel for Bangkok - for the distances and all. I also realised just how many tourists / travellers do not venture outside of the Khao San area, which is really sad as it's the least Thai part of Bangkok that I've discovered.
Everyone is reading Alex Garland
Spent two nights at Khao Sok, before catching the bus and ferry to Koh Samui where I also spent two nights. Didn't love Koh Samui. It was just too touristy. Even though we were at the 'quiet' end of the island, at Bo Phut, it was just ... not what I wanted. It wasn't like Thailand. It felt like it could be almost any touristy seaside town.
Thankfully after Koh Samui was Koh Tao. Absolutely beautiful. Smaller and a lot less developed, and it had the most beautiful beaches. Unfortunately I don't have many photos of Tao as my little snappy camera got soaked on the way back from snorkelling one day and is no more. Snorkelling at Tao was amazing - I've never really done that before - not in nice tropical water. We had most of the day to snorkel in crystal clear waters, checking out fish and coral, before the daily mid afternoon storm rolled in. Our little boat was half flooded and my camera was in my bag at the bottom of the boat. Very sad. Very fun. At least I still have my good camera. Spent three nights at Koh Tao before heading back to Bangkok.
Thankfully after Koh Samui was Koh Tao. Absolutely beautiful. Smaller and a lot less developed, and it had the most beautiful beaches. Unfortunately I don't have many photos of Tao as my little snappy camera got soaked on the way back from snorkelling one day and is no more. Snorkelling at Tao was amazing - I've never really done that before - not in nice tropical water. We had most of the day to snorkel in crystal clear waters, checking out fish and coral, before the daily mid afternoon storm rolled in. Our little boat was half flooded and my camera was in my bag at the bottom of the boat. Very sad. Very fun. At least I still have my good camera. Spent three nights at Koh Tao before heading back to Bangkok.
I've seen where the Phantom lives
Sunday night I caught the overnight train south to catch a bus to Khao Sok National Park. The overnight train was fun, and it was so easy to sleep!
The Khao Sok is a rainforest, and other than doing some (a lot of) walking, what I did most of while there was eat, drink and watch the rain. It rained all the time. One of the locals told me that it had been raining too much in the south and that people were starting to get sick. It was a beautiful place though. The rocky things that formed the mountains were like nothing I'd seen (in person) before. It was kind of like seeing a Phantom comic come to life.
Nerdy bit here. I know Bengalla is meant to be in Africa, but this was really exactly how I'd always imagined it.
The Khao Sok is a rainforest, and other than doing some (a lot of) walking, what I did most of while there was eat, drink and watch the rain. It rained all the time. One of the locals told me that it had been raining too much in the south and that people were starting to get sick. It was a beautiful place though. The rocky things that formed the mountains were like nothing I'd seen (in person) before. It was kind of like seeing a Phantom comic come to life.
Nerdy bit here. I know Bengalla is meant to be in Africa, but this was really exactly how I'd always imagined it.
If it's all going to go wrong ... get it over with quickly
I arrived in Bangkok late Friday night and managed to lose my passport and airline ticket somewhere in the airport. Luckily when I realised this, I'd just sat down in a taxi driven by the nicest man in Thailand. He told me to wait in the taxi and he ran off. I sat and waited. Although feeling incredibly stupid, I stayed remarkedly calm. About twenty minutes later he returned with a security guy, who had all my stuff. Hooray! I guess it's kind of good to get an experience like that over and done with quickly.
Bangkok is ... dirty and crowded and ... enthralling.
The next day I spent the afternoon at Wat Po and was invited to a ceremony to see a young man become a monk. It was amazing - orange robe and all. The chanting a stuff was just incredible, and the boy's parents were just ecstatic. Chatted to the head monk guy. He's been to Australia, likes kangaroos. Spent a few months in Melbourne, too. Liked it better than Sydney. Went out that night to Patpong, which is the red light district of Bangkok and after wandering about the streets and markets, getting offers to all sorts of ... ahhh ... shows ended up at a regular kind of bar, with a great band and danced for hours.
I spent most of today on a ferry wandering up and down the river in Bangkok, checking out the city and walking around some of the less touristy areas, where I didn't see any other westerners at all, which was kind of cool.
Bangkok is ... dirty and crowded and ... enthralling.
The next day I spent the afternoon at Wat Po and was invited to a ceremony to see a young man become a monk. It was amazing - orange robe and all. The chanting a stuff was just incredible, and the boy's parents were just ecstatic. Chatted to the head monk guy. He's been to Australia, likes kangaroos. Spent a few months in Melbourne, too. Liked it better than Sydney. Went out that night to Patpong, which is the red light district of Bangkok and after wandering about the streets and markets, getting offers to all sorts of ... ahhh ... shows ended up at a regular kind of bar, with a great band and danced for hours.
I spent most of today on a ferry wandering up and down the river in Bangkok, checking out the city and walking around some of the less touristy areas, where I didn't see any other westerners at all, which was kind of cool.
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