SwiftRambles

Food, fighting, and flexibilty - Bangkok, Thailand

Oops... we already published Thailand At-A-Glance but we had one more Thailand post in the works!

While in Bangkok we tried some new Thai experiences that were a total blast. 

First, we learned how to cook Thai food by taking a cooking class.  The teacher was a high-spirited 'gaysian', that met us at the Skytrain and took us to the local market to buy the ingredients.  We learned about the different vegetables and spices that are the key ingredients in Thai food. 

No, this little guy was NOT on the menu:

Spain, Egypt and Thailand At-A-Glance

Days spent: Spain = 6, Egypt = 5, Thailand = 29

Transportation taken:Planes = 4, Buses = 6, Taxis/tuktuk = 16, Boats = 8, Trains = 4, Subway = 25, Motos rented: 3

On a tuktuk in Thailand:

The Skytrain:

Markets, temples, temples, markets. Wat! Wat! - Bangkok, Thailand

After being at the beach for so long and then after the wilds of the jungle, we were looking forward to spending some time in a nice, big city.  Leaving Khao Sok, we slept with the roaches in the first class compartment on an overnight train (I hate to see what second class is like!) and then we arrived early the next morning in Bangkok.  We initially thought about staying in a hotel in Khao San Road, Bangkok's tourist ghetto made famous by the book The Beach.  However, after seeing it early the morning we arrived, we decided it wasn't our scene so we headed to a more convenient hotel right by two subway lines.  Another day we visited Khao San Road during the afternoon once the city had woken up and I have never seen a place so touristy!  We definitely made the right decision to stay in a different neighborhood.

So what did we do in Bangkok?  Well we saw some markets, and then saw some temples, and then we saw some more markets, and then we saw some more temples.... I think you get the point!

One of the first markets we saw was the MBK mall right around the corner from our hotel.  The mall had a pretty good authentic food court which we enjoyed a couple of times.  Of course, we are awful at taking food pictures (it seems we are always too hungry to take pictures first!) so we don't have any.  The mall also boasted a Starbucks, Dairy Queen, McDonald's and Auntie Anne's pretzel shop.  Luckily we managed to evade all of these places except one quick blizzard at DQ (sorry, we are weak sometimes!).  Tom was also able to shop for some new shoes:

Although heading to the mall doesn't really sound like a cultural experience we have found from our travels that it can be.  Seeing capitalism at work, watching the older white men parading around young Thai women (we estimated at least half of them had to be prostitutes given the city's reputation and age disparities) and seeing all of the mixed ethnicities that make up Bangkok was quite educational, especially the large Indian population.  The other good part of the mall was the fact that they had a Canon store.  I have a bit of dust inside my camera that has shown up in every picture for the last few months.  I have had to go in and edit it out on every picture so getting my camera cleaned was one my highlights of Bangkok.  You can see the offensive dust spot in the upper left corner of the sky here:

Dog days in the jungle - Khao Sok, Thailand

It was difficult to leave the islands of Thailand, but there is so much that Thailand has to offer, we needed to put back on our adventurous hats and brave the mainland.  We decided to head to a national park in the jungle, called Khao Sok because we read an article about how fun it was. 

We stayed in a basic bungalow that THANKFULLY had a new mosquito net.  Basically, from our travels this year, we know that the word jungle is a euphemism for "buggy".  Khao Sok did not disappoint in this regard. 

Nicer huts than the one we stayed in at our "resort":

Beach Bummin' It - Ko Tao & Ko Phangan, Thailand

After our whirl-wind travel through Spain and Egypt, and especially the not-so-fun day delay we had trying to get from Egypt to Thailand, all we wanted to do was collapse on the beach.  After arriving in Bangkok, standing between us and the beach were 3 sky train rides, a metro ride, a 5 hour wait at the train station, a 10 hour train ride, and overnight stay in Chumpon, and a 3 hour ferry ride the next day.  Sometimes travel is certainly not easy.  But we finally arrived to Ko Tao, a tiny island in the Gulf of Thailand known for it’s scuba sites and certification.  As it was monsoon season, the southeastern beaches in Thailand were most ideal weather-wise.  After settling into a little concrete room on Sairee beach, the touristy section for lack of a better idea, we were ready to hit the beach!

 

Our time on Thailand’s beaches are more aptly described by what we didn’t do than what we did do.  We didn’t take many pictures (actually none the first two weeks), we didn’t visit any tourist sites, and we didn’t go on any hikes.  In fact, we didn’t do much at all the first few days except eat delicious Thai food, go to the beach, and read.  We did spend a lot of time staring at our oscillating Hatari fan wishing for it come our way and cool us off!   

 

One of the few things we did do was go on a snorkel trip around the island. Here is a picture of our boat and then the other boat we ended up having to tow when it broke down: