Surviving is maybe a bit dramatic but there certainly moments here it felt like an apt expression. Before coming to Bangkok received several warnings about various scams to watch out for and other suggestions to take extra caution. The only reason we're here is because after all the warnings they would finish with, 'but it's a really cool city!'. So here we are! Getting to the hotel from the airport via taxi was easy thankfully. We're staying at the Marriott Appartment Suites in Sukhumvit, an area rich with shopping, eating and nightlife. Bangkok is a bit more costly than the other areas of Thailand so having a kitchen has been a nice change and a good way to save money, groceries are very resonable. After 6 days in Bangkok I'm really happy we decided to stay at a nicer hotel that has a pool, gym, kitchen in the room etc. If you are someone who dislikes large crowds (like myself) having a safe haven to retreat back to was incredibly great. On top of that it was just really nice to wake up everyday, make ourselves a nice breakfast, use the gym, have a swim and a steam before we head out for the day! Almost made us feel normal after 4 months of living out of hotels. When people think of Bangkok one of the first things that comes to mind is the shopping! There are an insane number of malls located around the city to chose from. We decided to check out Terminal 21, a half hour walk from our hotel and one of the largest malls in Bangkok. I don't usually like malls but we thoroughly enjoyed this one. It's themed like an airport and each floor of the mall is a city around the world! They've included airport like signage and amazing small details on each floor so you know what country your in without seeing a sign. A double decker bus and tube signs in London, a 3 story oscar statue leading up to Hollywood (where the movie theatre is) and tiled 'streets' to wander through Istanbul. Even if you don't want to buy anything it's fun to get lost in this mall for a couple hours. We would suggest you head down to the Carribbean to get some incredible baked goods and treats or head up to San Francisco to have a birds eye view over Bangkok while sipping a fancy latte. Our second day in Bangkok we headed to the Grand Palace. It's a huge complex of buildings and official residence for the King of Siam since 1782. When we arrived it was absolute chaios of cars, police and people. We found an entrance, got body scanned and countinued through. Upon getting through the other side there were hundreds of people wearing black scurrying around. There were also hundreds of tents set up for these people. We later assumed they were here to pay respect to the recently deceased King or perhaps to the new King. It was a bit confusing tying to figure out where we were meant to go in all this action. We were starving when we arrived which didn't help matters and had a bit of a hard time finding food. I was getting pretty hangry and the crowds were insufferable, thank god we found a Subway or I'm pretty sure Chris would have sent me home, lol! We were feeling a bit better after lunch and headed into the Grand Palace. I was advisded my lulu tights were no good and I needed to borrow a skirt. As we lined up to borrow one of the free skirts they offer we were shuffled aside with a couple hundred other people so that the Princess' presension could make their way in. They had soldiers and trumpets going building up our anticipation only for a few cars with tinted windows to quickly pass through the gates towards the residence. 2pm is apparently not a good time to visit the Palace, although I doubt there is ever a good time. We got the skirt and went to line up for tickets (500 baht each, bit expensive) and the masses of people seemed to be growing. I decided it wasn't worth it for me to go in because I was miserable in the crowds and inside the palace temple was even worse. Chris thought about going in on his own but he decided he didn't feel like dealing with the crowds either. We got some nice pictures from the outside at least and of the crowds. There was a bit of drama trying to get back to the hotel. We hailed down a taxi and told him where we wanted to go and he laughed at us and drove away. The hotel was 45 minutes away and apparently nobody wanted to deal with the traffic. We got another taxi to stop told him where we wanted to go and got the same reaction. Before he drove away I offered him twice the fare (500 baht instead of 250) which he happily excepted and took us back. At that point he probably could have talked us up and we would have said yes lol. Our last couple of days in Bangkok we kept it pretty low key. We watched Rogue One at the Terminal 21 theatre. The Thai subtitles were easy to ingnore and the theatre was super comfy. We also spent a ton of time searching for sleeping bags! We need them while in Africa but apparently camping hasn't caught on in Thailand yet. After searching several stores we finally found Outdoor Unlimited a few metro stops away from our hotel which had all sorts of camping gear including sleeping bags.
Over all Bangkok hasn't been my favourite place, cities usually aren't to be fare. It does derserve some credit however for being a very interesting city with something for everybody. Chris and I both agreed we'd probably have enjoyed Bangkok a lot more if we hadn't spent 2 months in South East Asia prior. Temples and markets all start to blend together when thats all you've been doing for that long. I'm sure if we come back in the future we'll have a much different experience with fresh eyes. Thailand, and all of South East Asia for that matter was incredible. We really loved the people, the food and the sights. Now we're onto Stage 3 of our journey, Africa! We have a week in Zanzibar split between Stonetown and a beach region before we meet up with On The Go Tours for our trip through to Vic Falls! First we have a looooong day of flying ahead of us!
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