Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are and whatever time zone you may be in ;)
I must say, I am most impressed with our 11h hour flight to Bangkok. I was really dreading the flight in a way, as I could have gone one way or another. Audrey was awake until about 2000 Frankfurt time and then she fell asleep until about 0200 with food breaks. The plane landed at 0300 (0900 local time). She never really cried, only shortly when mummy had to go to the toilet and she was hungry, but apart from that she was so happy to be there and to communicate with the other passengers on-board. Especially a little Thai toddler who was about 1 year old and running up and down the isles. Audrey definitely got more sleep than both of us. I had a very short power nap and Victoria got about an hour.
The 767 had recently been refurbished with a new cabin including a new in-flight entertainment touch screen with a highly welcomed USB port for charging your devices. The crew were very nice for German standards and they always praised Audrey for smiling and one even said they couldn’t believe how happy she was :) Something I also valued a lot for such a long journey in a sealed cabin at 43,000 Feet (approx. 13 KM) above sea level.
We arrived at 0900 local time in a very warm and humid 28 deg heat, that we felt as we departed the aircraft, but quickly entered the air conditioned terminal. It was quite a surreal experience entering quite a different world with Asian structures dotted around the terminal and generally very happy people (apart from the Europeans :).
Arriving at passport and visa control and we were surprisingly quickly redirected from the crowds to a very small queue for disabled, elderly and families! Great. It took us 10 min to sort out the visa and another 10 to wait for the baggage. 30 day visa with no fees.
The first thing we purchased was a sim card as recommended by our friend Chris who we will be staying with in Bangkok. Thanks Chris and Tang! It cost 400 baht (approx. 10 EUR) for a 4GB data tariff! Compared to Germany you might be lucky to get a 1GB tarif for that price!
After that we quickly queued for a taxi (we had to grab a ticket with a number from a machine that tells you which box to wait in) and 2 mins later it arrived to pick us up. Off we went and quickly asked for the air con. About 45 mins it took to Chris’s house, with quite a bit of traffic towards the centre of town.
Our first impressions funnily enough was that of a similarity to Moskow in Russia. The wide roads and style of driving was similar (any space or lane goes), the high rise white flats and a slight sense of chaos :)
We arrived after going through a maze of roads leading to Chris’s house. We had to help the taxi driver with Google maps in order to guide him, as even with Thai written instructions he was lost. Chris later mentioned that it is often tricky for drivers to find his house. Most taxi’s don’t have GPS to navigate. During our stay in Bangkok, we even got told once to get out of his taxi after showing him where we wanted to go with my smartphone! He didn’t even want to look at it. Some say this technology is the work of the devil, as this guy seemed to think so. In a way, it might be, but to get to the restaurant using GPS it’s hard to argue against it, right?
Anyway, we settled in to Chris’s place and met his wife Tang’s mum, who quickly took Audrey and ran upstairs to play with Nico, Chris and Tang’s son. Great! Time for a beer. Chris, as I am, is a beer fan and he served a great IPA brewed in Thailand called Happy New Beer. Superb on a world class scale. We decided not to go to sleep and try to hold it out until the evening in the new time zone, however as the day went on it became more and more difficult. On the way to Que Pasa, a Mexican restaurant that Chris recommended, I had a little nap in the car. There was no choice :D
There we had a super tasty Burrito, Taco and my first Thai beer, Singha. I prefer to buy only locally produced beers wherever I go as I don’t agree with unnecessary long distances some have to travel. Tip of the day: Buy local ;)
The first night was a bit rough as we slept like a baby from 2200 until 0200 and then we all woke up. Audrey seemed very lively so I went downstairs with her to play for a bit until she got bored and tired. We put her to sleep and then I couldn’t sleep, mind very active and eyes wide open for a few hours. Oh well. Jet-lag :)
One day later and we visited a huge market in Bangkok, just outside of the centre. Lots of action going on and our host Chris took us to one of his favourite spots to eat some crispy chicken. Delicious, with some nice yellow rice. This permanent market is huge. Many shops inside the main area are accessed via small alleys that criss-cross each other. If you need something, you will find it here for sure, somewhere, somehow :) There are no departments nor index, so you just need to know where your going or just calculate some time to look for it.
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Later on, Chris set us up with a Canadian guy called Tim who he was friends with, who just happened to be up for joining us for a trip through town and could meet us spontaneously at the sky train station we got out at. We decided to head to Wat Pho that has a huge reclining Buddha. Tim lives in Saudi Arabia, but has ample experiences in Bangkok and knew his way round. One of his tricks was to take the canal boat through Bangkok to dodge the heavy congestion. Considered a tip in Bangkok, if you want to get around fast, consider using the canal/river boats and the sky train. Not only was it a nice experience to ride on the canals, but it was a nice breeze of air to cool oneself down.
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When we arrived at our destination we quickly realised that the sun was very hot and Audrey needed some protection from the blazing sun, so we quickly hopped into a taxi that took us to a local market where we bought a UV umbrella. This worked a treat and we are continuing to use it nearly every day.
After another nice boat trip down the Chao Phraya River, we arrived at Wat Pho, a truly amazing temple that amazed me, given the size of the Buddha inside. My goodness, it basically fills the entire temple. Audrey was again a big star, with people taking pictures with her, Indian men trying to grab her and security guards all welcoming her while always having a big smile on her face, especially when she saw the Buddha and felt the energy of his presence. She was so excited to see him!
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The temple and surrounding buildings were astonishing. Such amazing architecture and lots of gold. It was a real pleasure to be there at such a time, just before the sun was about to set.
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In the evening we met up with Chris and Tang again at the Tawandang German Brewery in Pak Kret. When we arrived it was like, from what I could imagine, arriving at a high class casino in Las Vegas. Security at the car park entrance, roundabout in front of the giant building and a wide staircase before the entrance. When we got inside I was surprisingly greeted by rows of tables on two levels in front of a giant stage when there was non-stop, live performances taking place. We had a great selection of food, including a Schweinshaxe (crispy pigs leg) but, Thai style with a spicy sauce to go with it. Tasty! The beer was also pretty good. The Hefe-weizen was ok, but the draught beer was better.
I was gob smacked by the scale, professionalism of the artists, camera men, sound crew and hosts of the show. It was one good act after the next with a small group of primary artists performing many roles. Absolutely amazing considering the show was for free, the price of the food made up for that though. For the two of us we ended up paying 2200 baht (approx. 55 EUR) for the night including all drinks. Expensive judging by the prices we normally pay for food in Thailand, however it was worth every penny.
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Next day after what seemed like a good nights sleep, Audrey was up for action as soon as she woke up, so we proceeded to play downstairs and get some breakfast while we were at it. Today was a lazy day so we spent most of it at Chris’s place where we had some fun in the garden and in the afternoon, Chris invited some of his ex-pats over for a super tasty grill session with superb IPA and delicious food.
On the last day in Bangkok, we took a taxi to the nearest and most convenient river boat station at Wat Soi Thong to Wat Arun. Just over the opposite side of the river to Wat Pho, we got off at the same stop and took another crossing ferry to the other side. This temple and it’s gardens are absolutely gorgeous. Again, Audrey gained much attention with Thai, Chinese and other foreigners. It seemed she also enjoyed seeing the Buddha again judging by her response to the environment.
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Catching the ferry back to the other side led us into a nice rooftop bar called the Eagles Nest with moderately priced drinks to watch the sunset over Bangkok and the Arun Temple. Stunning :) The day after we fly for 1 hour to Chiang Mai.
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As always you find more pictures from our travels in the gallery here -> Bangkok
