Bangkok

On first arrival in Bangkok I found it hot and humid and I was surprisingly relaxed and ready for the adventure to begin.  A quick bus to the backpacker area and a quick search for a hotel left me with nothing to be desired but a bite to eat.  I ordered spicy thai soup with vermicelli noodles and loads of vegetables which tasted amazing then hit the hay as I was exhausted.  

Grand Palace, Bangkok

I woke up early Friday got some amazing fruit, yogurt and museli on the street with a great coffee and left to see the Grand palace, some temples, the amulet market and the water taxis. The sites were really quite amazing, the palace was covered in gold and the largest laying down buddha in the world was here.  Although I enjoy the temples and the palace I am much more of a culture girl and my favorite part of the day was the amulet market where Thai people go to buy little trinkets and good luck charms.  I saw only one other westerner walking around which made me happy.

Throughout the day I used the Thai public transportation which included water taxi boats up and down the river.  It was refreshing and showed a great perspective of the city from the water.  It was on one of these trips I met Bernd a German guy.  We chatted and took the boat up and down the river and stopped at a little local side stall on one of the piers for spicy squid and grilled fish.  Overall a cheap delicious meal.

From here we went to the center of town.  We tested out the up ground skytrain and visited the giant mall.  With everything from Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Coach and all the other expensive unaffordable designer brands people go gaga for being in a very high end classy mall.  As we walked around we realized that all the crowds in the mall were young and hip.  They must come from the upper upper middle class and be very good at spending their parents money.  Many were high school students in uniforms or what looked like university students, definitely not young people making their own money.

After a day of wondering I was very tired and we headed to the bus stop and met another traveler, Berg, from China.  The three of us headed to dinner at an amazing, slightly higher class Thai restaurant.  We had a nice bottle of wine and we had an amazing meal.  We ordered for different dishes and split them all including grilled fish, spicy mango salad, tom yum soup, and pad thai, all of which was mouth watering delicious.  After we headed to a Jazz club where local music students were performing and who were amazing.  After the actual band finished all the students in the club continued to play piano and sing passing around the microphone and and having an amazing live karaoke session.  What a night!

The next couple days I went to the weekend market and almost lost my mind.  More jewelery, household goods, and amazing clothes in a crowded market.  If I was rich I would have bought loads and sent it all home. As for today, I am checking out and moving on to greener pastures.  I am headed south to Ko Tao which is a small island where I will get dive certified.  I can't wait!

Bangkok Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/Bangkok?authkey=Gv1sRgCP__142JkcbOeQ&feat=directlink