Final Stop in Southeast Asia: Bangkok

We were quiiiite sad to be leaving Anantara but all amazing things must come to an end so you can appreciate them that much more. We flew from Chiang Rai to Bangkok. When we landed in Bangkok, we had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal. I swear we were on that bus for like 15 minutes - the airport is like its own city!

We arrived at our hotel at around 10pm so we grabbed some dinner and then hit the hay.

Bangkok from our room

The next morning we went searching for a breakfast place we had read about - turns out it was on the 7th floor of a massive mall and left much to be desired. It was interesting to see the culture of malls in Asia! We went to this cafe called After You instead and realized it was a "breakfast dessert" place - I wasn't complaining! We had 2 sights we wanted to make sure we saw in Bangkok - Wat Pho (with a huge reclining Buddha) and the Grand Palace. It was too far to walk so we decided to find a tuk tuk.

The first tuk tuk we asked told us it would cost $15 when we had just taken a taxi from our hotel which was the same distance and it was $2.50. Sorry sir we are not idiot tourists!!! We then decided we should take a taxi since it would be metered anyways - well turns out taxis can do whatever they want so they quoted us $15 again. Ridiculous! A taxi can't "quote" a fare, it's called turn on your meter.

We came to an agreement with the taxi for $5 (annoying!) and arrived at Wat Pho to find hundreds of people. We haven't seen that many people in one place in awhile so I was kind of overwhelmed! Little did I know what the rest of the day had in store for us.

We saw the massive, I mean huge!, reclining Buddha. At 150 feet long, it's pretty hard to get a picture of all of it and not with a tourist in it.

150 feet long!

Attempted panoramic

The Grand Palace was next to Wat Pho so we started walking towards the entrance. A group of tuk tuk drivers told us we were going the wrong way and directed us the "right way." I will never listen to a tuk tuk driver ever again. We walked 10x longer than what we should have and normally I would be happy for the exercise but at 1pm on a sunny day at 95 degrees with 100% humidity - I was not pleased.

We finally arrived at the Grand Palace (heavily guarded by the military) and were told our outfits weren't "appropriate" and that we had to put a deposit on clothes to borrow to tour the palace which also has the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. I was wearing capris and a tank top (I always have a scarf with me to cover my shoulders in temples but this did satisfy them!) and Stace was wearing a long skirt and a tank top. We both got shirts since that was the only problem with our outfit and went to buy our ridiculously overpriced tickets.

I'm sorry but if you ever go to Bangkok, the Grand Palace is NOT worth $20!! There are no signs anywhere to say what each building is so basically you just walk around aimlessly with hundreds of other people. Oh and I forgot to mention - LOTS of Chinese/Korean tour groups.

We finally found the entrance and I was told my outfit was still not appropriate. The ticket collector pointed at my legs so I wrapped my scarf around them. This did not please him. I then wrapped Stace's scarf around my ankles so literally none of my skin was showing. STILL didn't please him. And at that moment, I knew I had arrived at my breaking point. Traveling is stressful - the thrill had worn off. Not knowing the language and sticking out as a 5'10 blonde had gotten old.

After a few choice words with him that he probably didn't understand, I went back to the clothes rental place and got a skirt. Turns out that women are not allowed to wear pants - only skirts or dresses. I am so thankful I can live in a country that lets me wear pants...

So after all that I was hoping it would all be worth the trouble. Well it wasn't. The coveted emerald Buddha was tiny and so high up on a platform that you could barely see it and apparently it's not even the real one - cool.

Thailand - known for its very ornate temples.

Replica of Angkor Wat - unsure why this was here...?

Grand Palace - I think? 

The Grand Palace was pointless (or maybe I was just a bit biased) but you weren't allowed in any buildings and nothing was labeled...

So after all that we decided to call it a day and go back to the hotel pool to relax. Every taxi/tuk tuk we talked to again quoted us $15! We walked around for an hour trying to find a form a transportation but no taxi would ever use their meter and no tuk tuk would go under $15. We were literally stuck and walking back to our hotel would take 1.5 hours. So we grabbed some lunch and then the first tuk tuk we talked to agreed to our price. Really???

We were excited for the next day because we scheduled a 5 hour bike/boat tour aka no taxis/tuk tuks involved!! The tour, Co van Kessel Bike Tours, took us around the back streets of Bangkok which was awesome to see, especially after our previous day. We were in a group of 20 people (mostly Dutch because the company is Dutch!) and I was surprised how well it went! You'd think giving 20 bikes to tourists would be a terrible idea but no one got lost or hurt! Bangkok is known as being the "Venice of the East" though I'd have to disagree even though I've never been to Venice. The river was quite dirty and crocodiles (not the huge ones but still big) were everywhere! We biked around this jungly area with small paths and our guide told us to concentrate so we wouldn't fall off the path to be greeted by a croc - she wasn't kidding!

Tight alley ways with our 20 Dutch friends on bikes

'"Venice of the East"

Our time in Bangkok had highs and lows but overall I love Thailand; the people, food, temples, history - it was all amazing.

On Monday we flew to Hong Kong and while we were waiting at our gate, a group of Chinese girls were taking SO many selfies. It was ridiculous and hilarious. Stace and I started to get in their pictures and take selfies ourselves and the girls caught on. Welcome to Asia!

Selfie!

New friends!

I fly home on Thursday...I can't believe it. I feel like I've been here forever and I've gotten so accustomed to the lifestyle here that it will definitely be an adjustment going back home! I'm so incredibly thankful for every minute of my time here, good and bad, as I've learned so much about myself and how to be on my own!

Thanks for reading and see you soon!
Love
Whit