Thailand - My response when Rob booked our tickets. "OMG, you really did it."
We left our little Hawaiin Condo at 7:00 am on November 1st, with our 2 duffel bags 🎒 and 2 backpacks. We arrived at the airport, checked in, cleared TSA, and walked to our gate which took us less than an hour. Now we only have to wait 3 hours for our flight. My new travel agent Roberto booked us on Phillipine Airlines with Business Class seats.
We sat down and were offered juice and then champagne 🍾. We had a menu and had to choose our lunch, our mid flight refreshment and dinner.
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| Guava Juice |
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| Seared Ahi Tuna and Roast Duck |
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| Mahi-Mahi in Bernaise Sauce |
Our mid flight refreshment was Arroz Caldo a ginger flavored rice porridge with chicken, salted egg, fried garlic, spring onions and garlic. We also were offered nuts, chips, chocolate, and fresh fruit.
I watched three movies 🎬 Jurassic World Dominion, The Joker, and Elvis. I really enjoyed Elvis. I fell asleep during The Joker 🃏. I have to say we are really enjoying the Business Class flights.
Our dinner was served: an appetizer, bread and a main entree. My fish and pasta were really good, better than the Mahi. Rob chose the Sweet and Sour Pork.
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| Fresh fruit |
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| Fish Fillet and Pasta. |
We arrived in Manilla, Philippines 🇵🇭 at 4:30 pm on November 2nd after flying 11 hours. We are on Hawaii time which was 10:30 pm November 1st. With our Business Class seats we could use the lounge here. They did not have one in Honolulu. The lounge was stocked with food and a bartender. We were so stuffed from all the food served on our flight ✈ and did not partake of any in the lounge but Rob did have a beer. The nice thing was the lounge was directly across from our gate.
Our second flight ✈ was short compared to the first. We were only traveling three and a half hours. Again, we were handed Champagne 🍾 before take off. We also had to make our dinner selection. I think I gained 10 lbs just from flying. This flight was definitely not like the first: no TV, no blanket, no headset but seats were wide and comfortable and first on, first off. I was too exhausted to take pictures of the food.
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| Our Appetizer |
We arrived at the Bangkok Airport at 9:45 pm on November 2nd. Again, we are still on Hawaii time which was 4:45 am November 2nd. It took us probably all of 2 minutes to clear customs and get our 45 day stamp. Rob arranged for a driver to take us to our hotel.
We arrived at out hotel, Talakkia Boutique Hotel and there was no one at the front desk. The parking lot attendant was able to help us and finally a young lady showed up. Thank goodness!
Our room was small, the bed was comfortable, we had a shower with hot water 💧, a TV with no English, and a mini fridge. The bathroom is different as in the door is glass with a little frosting so you can see in.The location of the hotel is perfect.
We weren't sure how our visit in Bangkok was going to go. We read you either love it or you hate it. I/we were expecting to be really overwhelmed with all the people. Bangkok is Thailand's capital and the population is over 14 million.
Our first full day was spent exploring the area around us. We took a little walk 🚶♂️ 🚶♀️ looking for coffee ☕, which we could have gotten right at the Cafe located in the lobby of our hotel 🏨. We chose a little corner Cafe that is actually the sister location to where we are staying. We ordered 2 Americanos (espresso with water) I definitely had to add milk and sugar.
Our breakfast order was fried chicken with garlic and stir fried basil with beef both served with rice and a fried egg 🍳 🥚.
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| Chicken 🐔 |
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| Beef 🐄 |
Some pictures 📸 of the hotel in the daylight. We even had a pool.
We were on a mission to exchange money 💱 Our first stop was Super Rich (they have the best exchange rate) located on the third floor of the Bangkok Fashion Outlet. Kinda looks like play money.
We went to Chinatown. There were so many street food vendors. They were selling things I couldn't even tell you what they were.
We had our first Thai Massage 💆♀️ 💆♂️. I totally recommend.
We were searching for a bar 🍸 and we found Charmgang. We knew they didn't open until 6. We were about 10 minutes early and it looked like there were people sitting at the bar so we walked in. Well, there really was no bar and the people were employees. They let us come in anyway and we ordered an Old Fashion and an Espresso Martini.
Charmgang does not normally allow walk-ins and you have to have a reservation. Lucky for us they didn't throw us out. In fact the chef brought us over a bowl of taro sticks that tasted just like potato sticks. We ordered the appetizer special of scallops on a cupcake. I'm not a fan of scallops and the appetizer was very good with a little kick.
My new travel agent Roberto scheduled 📅 us a Bangkok 101 tour. So we started our morning off with coffee ☕ and breakfast at our little Cafe. Today's breakfast was a parfait and a grilled cheese with ham sandwich.
We met Sumwat at 9 am at our hotel to begin our day of exploring. He got us a taxi and we made our way to the Jim Thompson Museum. Jim Thompson was known as the Thai Silk King. He was born in Greenville, De in 1906 and he disappeared on March 26, 1967 in Malaysia. His famous Thai house remains as a lasting reminder of his creative ability and his deep love of Thailand.
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| This was the kitchen |
We made our way to the water taxi.
Wat Saket and the Golden Mount is 77 meters high or over 252 feet. There were 344 steps to the very top.
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| We rang the bells |
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| Three bangs on the gong for good luck |
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| Shake can and have only one stick fall out. |
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| Number on stick coincides with your fortune. If good you keep, if not good throw away. |
Wat Bowonniwet or Wat Bowon is a first class Royal temple in the Bangkok's Phra Nakhon district.
The Golden Palace!
We stopped for lunch at Wind Water View at the Wang Lang Market.
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| Italian sodas |
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| Egg noodles with crispy pork |
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| Fried rice with pork |
Side note I did not like the crispy pork (pork belly) or the egg. Rob is loving the food and I am trying to be adventurous which is not working so well.
Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) a Buddhist Temple.
We took the water taxi back across the river and as we exited you could see the water rising. We had to walk on planks.
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Our next stop was Wat Phra Chetuphon (Wat Pho) also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The Buddha is 46 meters or 151 feet long.
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| Place a coin 🪙 in each |
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| pot and make a wish |
Time to learn about Thai Massage at the Nuad Thai Museum. The Thai Massage is a traditional form of manual therapy that uses pressure, compression, and rubbing, to boost blood circulation, reduce muscular soreness, and ease aches and pains for insomnia, depression, rheumatism, and Parkinson's.
The Thai Massage was once described as "a treatment where the sick are compressed and stretched, and the pregnant are treated to deliver their babies with ease".
More pictures from the Wat Pho complex.
Phak Khlong Talat the Flower 🌼 Market! They were selling Roses (about 2 dozen) for a 100 bhat ($2.68). On Valentine's the cost is one rose for 200 bhat. The flower market is about a mile long!
While exploring the Flower Market we stopped to have an ice cream sandwich 🥪 😋.
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| Coconut 🥥 ice cream on a bun! |
We took the subway back to Chinatown. Two different experiences yet the same. At night in Chinatown is exactly how I pictured Bangkok.
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| Bugs absolutely 💯 no way |
We had an amazing experience! I believe we tried every mode of transportation except driving ourselves. Would definitely recommend taking the Bangkok 101 tour with Khanom Travel.
We had another tour scheduled with Suwat the next day. This is an "off trail" tour. As usual 🙄 we started the morning off with a quick breakfast at our corner Cafe. My tummy was feeling a little off yesterday so this morning I decided to try a Thai Style breakfast with a soft boiled egg, toast, coffee, and tea.
Suwat hired a longtail boat driver for the morning (at our expense). Rob thought these boats were really cool. They have a six cylinder diesel engine connected to a long drive shaft and propeller. The operator can raise and lower the prop and steer the boat. He took us down the river and through a Canal. The boat chase from The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed here.
We stopped at the Khlong Bang Luang Floating Market. Not many people come here any longer because there is no floating market anymore. Suwat purchased fish food so we could feed the fish 🐟. It is considered good luck if you can feed the white fish. We were both successful. Rob with his very last piece.
We really enjoyed feeding the fish.
We walked along the riverfront and stopped at multiple places to shop, feed the fish, explore The Artist's House and I got in a mini workout.
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| A Masterpiece! |
Back in the longtail boat to Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen
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| Monitor Lizard making himself at home. |
Back in the longtail boat. We experienced our first lock in Thailand.
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| Little white dots represent where we traveled |
Ko Kret is a small island north of Bangkok. It is only 2 miles long and 2 miles wide. You can rent a bicycle to tour the island, but it is better to walk. Most stalls were closed as the island was flooded recently and sections of the island were still impassable.
Wat Poramai Yikawat
We made our way to the PA Tum Pottery Factory. We even bought a souvenir that we now have to carry for who knows how long.
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| A puzzle that I couldn't figure out, lol |
Lunch on the water at Sainam Cafe.
Back to the dock. The tide was rising and water was coming in fast. Ferry ride back across and then taxi 🚕 to the Nonthaburi Municipality Market. Rob tried chicken balls dipped in the very spicy pot of sauce. We were all waiting for his reaction.
Back to our hotel where we said sat wat dii (goodbye) to our wonderful tour guide Suwat.
We then caught the bus, by ourselves and went to Chinatown. We finally chose a place to eat dinner and I look at the menu and I swear the names says Lek Rat Sea Food. Do I really want to eat here? It was actually Lek Rut Sea Food and the food was really good.
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| These girls were really good. |
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| Snapper steamed with hot and sour curry |
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| Yes I'm looking 👀 at you! |
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| Fried rice with crab and prawn |
Sunday November 6th, we started our morning off with coffee ☕ from Cafe Amazon. Their coffee ☕ is stronger than our little Cafe, but they do not serve food.
We are off to find some street food. We found a "farmers market" which it was awesome. Rob got Pad Thai made to order and I got barbecue chicken wings.
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| Pad Thai |
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| Fresh ??? eggs 🥚 |
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| Barbecue |
We decided to find the train 🚆 station 🚉 to purchase our tickets out of Bangkok for tomorrow afternoon. So glad we went ahead of time ⏲. This was the first time we had to use Google Translate, but the attendant did speak enough English for us to get the correct tickets.
After our walk back we stopped to get another Thai Massage 💆♀️ 💆♂️. A 1 hour massage was only 250 bhat (equivalent to $6.69). What a deal 👌 👍 and a great massage!
We couldn't decide on dinner 😋 so we started walking around. on Google Maps, I found Viva Aviv The River (best bar for day drinking it was 4:30). It was located in a mall right on the water. We thought perfect. They charged to get in which was not a big deal, but the music was so loud we passed.
We ended up going to Giorgio's Italian Restaurant. It was our 15th wedding anniversary and we were hoping for some place nice. Was not impressed from the moment we walked in. Hostess spoke to us and then left. Finally the chef walked by and asked if he could help us. Dinner for 2 no problem I'll get the hostess. Well apparently she didn't like that. The hostess asked if we wanted to sit inside or outside. We chose outside and hostess took us outside and then informed us all the tables were reserved so we had to sit inside. I was disappointed, but we did not have reservations. Service was slow. We were never offered water. We ordered meatballs, lasagna, and shrimp scampi. The food was okay but not spectacular. I know... who orders Italian when in Thailand? The kicker was several tables outside remained vacant the entire time we were there. My little rant is over.
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| Old Fashion & Aperol Spritz |
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| Not a bad view from inside |
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| Meatballs |
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| Lasagna |
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| Shrimp Scampi |
Our last morning in Bangkok started with coffee ☕ and a caramel macchiato and then off to Super Rich to exchange currency. We saw our first Christmas tree in a foreign country. We stopped and picked up brunch: fried chicken salad over rice.
Rob is pretty brave. He went to a little barber shop (not really a shop) to get a haircut. He came back looking pretty fresh for only $4.
Off to the train station 🚉 with all our belongings. We absolutely loved Bangkok! We have seen a lot and still have so much more to see. The traffic is horrendous 😫 I thought for sure one of us was going to get run over, but the people here seem to have the system down. Everyone we have met has been friendly. The city is safe. The language is a small barrier. According to Suwat only 10% of Thailand speak any English. We have learned to point and use Google Translate when necessary. The Thai people use Translate as well. The food 😋 is just amazing here. Not only what we have eaten but the amount of food available for purchase.
"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign." - Robert Louis Stevenson
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