Bangkok; Snakes, Food, and Sickness

Now that I have finished my review of the horrible hotel.. I can finish the rest of our time in Bangkok. I won't mention it again, even though it was a horrible, horrible place and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.. moving on.

Our first day in Bangkok we headed to the Snake Farm. The Red Cross put together this Snake Farm to try and find antidotes to snake venom. They had a bunch of snakes in enclosures and then they do a snake show as well. I am not a big fan of snakes at all but it was definitely cool to experience. I spent a lot of our time there gasping, and squeezing Rick's hand/arm in fear but I would recommend the Snake Farm to anyone. Definitely worth a visit.

Next, we were starving so food was on our minds. We headed to a restaurant called Taling Pling, recommended by our guide book. The food was very tasty and the area we were in was very nice. There was a beautiful Christmas tree which really made me miss home. We had went to that area to visit the Erawan Shrine. We actually ended up walking past it the first time as we were expecting a huge display but it was nice when we found it. It was small, but beautiful and it has a very cool story behind it. It was originally built because the hotel that was being built beside it had consulted a monk who had told them they needed to build it to counteract their bad karma. Then in 2006, it was vandalized by a man who was then killed by the crowd because they were so angry that he destroyed it. It was rebuilt to what it is today. However after seeing so many massive temples and the like, we both found the shrine very underwhelming.

That night, we went back to our hotel and I wasn't feeling so great. But we had already booked the Escape Hunt for the next day. So we went to bed early and woke up early for our day.

Escape Hunt is a mystery-game where you are the detective. They have three different types of games, two where you are in a room and trying to find a murderer and another where you go to a mall next door and try to solve a bomb mystery. All games have an hour time cap on them so we spent our time running through a shopping mall trying to find who was going to set off the Bangkok Bomb. We succeeded! It was very exciting and we felt pretty accomplished afterwards. They gave us tea and we took some pictures. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone. The only downside was they advertise that they take credit cards and then when we got there, they said their credit card machine wasn't working that day. When I got home, I read that other people had the same problem which leads me to believe that it wasn't just a problem that day. Maybe they don't want to accept credit cards because they don't want to pay the fee that businesses have to pay which is fine, but then don't advertise that you accept credit cards. Say upfront, cash only.

After we had finished our mission, my sickness was back in full force. I think the excitement and running around kept it at bay but after Escape Hunt, I felt like crap. We went to eat lunch at the mall and headed right back to our hotel after as I was feeling pretty feverish. We spent the rest of our day lounging in our hotel room, me sleeping and Rick watching movies. I felt a bit better around dinner time so we went out for dinner. Only to feel worse while eating and afterwards.

The next day was our day of departure but our flight wasn't until late afternoon so first we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. I think this was one of my favorite parts of Bangkok. I really wish we would've went here when we first came to Thailand as every souvenir we had seen all over Thailand was being sold here at a fraction of the price. Live and learn. Regardless, it was a great way to spend our last day in Thailand and we really enjoyed ourselves while spending our money.

Next we headed back to Taiwan and the countdown officially started for me to come home.

Back to Bangkok; Riverview Hotel

After Koh Phi Phi, we were back in Bangkok for a few days before our flight back to Taiwan. We wanted to stay in a different area and at a nicer place this time so we paid some more money and booked at the Riverview Hotel. 

Prior to arriving, I already wasn't too fond of this hotel. I had been emailing them every day while we were in Koh Phi Phi asking for directions on how to get to their hotel from the smaller airport. They emailed me back but didn't answer any of my questions, told me they would get back to me, told me that they would never forget to respond to my emails. And then they just stopped responding. So we arrived in Bangkok, unsure of how to get to the hostel. We called them, they told us if we would've asked beforehand.. they could've sent a car to get us but now they can't... Um.. I did ask beforehand. I emailed for a week straight. I tried to get past it, miscommunication and a language barrier, moving on.

We checked in and headed to our room. I have never been so disappointed. The pictures and descriptions shown on their website are so different from what is actually given to you. The floor was concrete and there was a horrible smell. We tried to make the best of it. Since we had gotten there pretty late, we went to the hotel's restaurant. Which was possibly the one redeeming part of this hotel. The view from the restaurant was amazing. Again, the food was subpar but the view was great so we had a good time. When we went back to our room, it had started to rain and come in through the window, making the smell 10x worse. I had fallen asleep so Rick went down to complain to the front desk and they said we could switch rooms in the morning.

In good spirits at the restaurant

Beautiful view

By the time the morning came, the smell was unbearable. Rick went down to inquire about switching rooms and of course, completely different staff. They had no idea what we were talking about and said that since the rain had stopped, we couldn't switch rooms. I was so frustrated at this point, I was looking at other hotels in Bangkok to switch to. Eventually, Rick kept talking to them about the smell and how horrible it was, it really was bad. They switched our room... to a dorm room. It was definitely nicer than our last room but we had four single beds to ourselves.. it felt very weird.

Not in a good mood.

Our dorm room

Our dorm room

Urinal, anyone?

In the end, I wasn't impressed with this hotel in the least bit. Usually when someone has so many complaints about a room, a hotel will offer a better room. Instead, we were given a dorm room. I would NOT recommend this hotel to anyone. They claim to be in China Town but they are really on the outskirts of China Town. Not a convenient location at all and the staff speak little to no English. Very poor customer service.

Here is the link to the hotel so you can be sure NOT to book there.

The Worst Hotel Experience Ever

Travel Travel Travel: Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Koh Phangan

We left Chiang Mai bright and early to get back to Bangkok where we then had to wait until 9:00 to start our 12 hour bus-ferry trip to get to Koh Phangan for the Half Moon Party. A mistake we made when planning this trip is we booked all of our accommodations first and then booked our transportation around the country; not knowing that it would sometimes take a full day to get places. Live and learn.

We decided to make the most of our almost full day in Bangkok. We went to the Siam Paragon shopping mall where they will watch your luggage for free, presumably so you are free to shop as you please but as soon as it was safe, we were out of there. We headed to the Jim Thompson House. When we had first been planning our time in Bangkok, we had originally ruled out the Jim Thompson House but after reading a bit more about it, we were both really interested and excited.

Eating in Bangkok

It was only 100 baht to get in but because we were both under 25, it was half price. We headed in and were told we had to wait a half hour for the next English tour which we were fine with. We decided to head to the restaurant, and I would definitely advise against this. While the admission price to Jim Thompson is cheap, the restaurant was so expensive! 300 baht ($10 CAD) later (for only TWO drinks), accompanied by rude and slow service, and we were on our tour. Now that I am reading this, I think living and travelling in Taiwan has made stingy...

The house was beautiful and the story of Jim Thompson was interesting. I am glad we changed our minds and ended up going here. If you are ever in Bangkok, I would highly recommend making a stop here. There are two souvenir shops here and they are very different. The one outside of the actual exhibit is ridiculously expensive for all different kinds of silk, purses, Christmas ornaments; not really worth it unless you are very into silk. However, the store inside is definitely worth a visit. They sell reprints of the original paintings that Jim Thompson collected for very reasonable prices.

After our souvenir buying, we were off to explore a bit more. We ended up just walking the streets for a bit before heading to where we were taking the bus to Koh Phangan. We decided to go there early to check in and eat some dinner. We booked our combination bus and ferry ticket through Lomprayah. After booking this but before the trip, I had read some horrible reviews online about Lomprayah and I was actually terrified for this trip. I insisted we buy a lock for our suitcase and was scared to fall asleep for the fear that someone would mug me. But this was not the case, it really is true that more people take the time to write reviews if they had a bad experience. Our experience with Lomprayah was not perfect (how could it be with an overnight bus ride and a ferry ride at 5AM?), but it was nothing even near the horrors I had read online and subsequently scared myself with.

Exploring Bangkok

Carrying around luggage made Rick crazy

Waiting for our bus

Finally on the bus

Sketchy rest stop

Long lines

13 hours later.. we were in Koh Phangan.

Bangkok: Part One

Our first day and a half in Thailand was spent in Bangkok. We got off the plane and headed right to our hostel on flt he legendary Khao Sf them had to be spent there. We were both really glad once we got there.

From what I had read online, I was a little apprehensive but it turned out to be a really cool atmosphere. Khao San Road is considered a haven for backpackers. Hostels lining the streets along with food stalls, sketchy travel agencies, and cheap goods for sale. The perfect place to start our Thailand vacation.

Perusing the goods

Our first night was spent walking the street since we got there pretty late we didn't want to go too far. So we enjoyed some food, did some shopping, and enjoyed some buckets. We have noticed in Thailand that it is super popular to, instead of buying a drink normally, to get a super size of it on a bucker. So that is what we did. Nothing is better than a super sized Pina Colada.

For our second day in Bangkok, we had planned to do the floating market. Our hostel sets it up for people staying there so when we asked about it the night before, the worker said to ask his boss in the morning. We woke up at 9 to find out they leave for the floating market at 7. Considering the change of plans, we decided to go to the Grand Palace and Wat Po. It was only a 15 minute walk and off we went.

We thought it was hot in Taiwan but the heat in Bangkok was on another level. On our walk, we ran into a lovely Thai woman who told us all about her British husband and a private boat tour we can take that will bring us to the Grand Palace. We had heard so many things about people getting scammed in Thailand so we were very apprehensive but we ended up taking her advice. She hailed a tuk tuk for us, negotiated the price down and told him "no shopping, no stopping!" Another scam in Bangkok is that a tuk tuk driver promises you a cheap and fast ride, then he stops at 20 little stores along the way that he gets a commission from. The woman told us if he stops, we should go right to the police. Lucky for US, he didn't stop. Brought us right to our destination and soon enough, we were on our own private boat tour.

Our first tuk-tuk ride

  

Personal boat tour

Our driver took us on an hour long boat ride. It was a really cool way to see the city of Bangkok. We went through some locks with other boats when I didn't think that any of us would fit but they always made it work. We stopped at a beautiful temple called Wat Khun Chan. Took lots of pictures. Then we were finally at the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace was beautiful and I thought that before we even went inside. When we got there, there were recordings playing warning visitors about the scams that occur around the area. Apparently an important looking person will approach you, tell you that the Grand Palace is not open today and you should do some other ridiculously priced tourist thing instead. Luckily, we had no one try to convince us of this. I personally feel like I would have been easily convinced.

Once inside, you had to be wearing the proper clothes to go in. We thought with my long dress that I would be okay but that wasn't the case. No shoulders allowed so we headed back to the entrance and borrowed some clothes for me to wear over my dress. For $200 Baht (around $6 CAD) you can borrow clothes and when you return the clothes, you get your money back. It was 500 Baht ($16-18 CAD), a little expensive from what we are used to in Taiwan, to get in but we think it was worth it.

Every building was so beautiful. Words really can't explain. Even the grounds were breathtaking. We both found it really humbling to be there. I think both of our favourite part was surrounding most of the buildings was a covered walkway with a massive, continual Buddhist painting lining it. There were so many different scenes and none of them were the same. We had a lot of fun talking about the paintings and making up our own stories about what was happening. Under each one was an explanation in Thai, so we will never know the real explanation. Like I said, words can't explain the beauty so I will post pictures here once we get back to Taiwan.

All I will say for now is if you have the chance to go there, you should 100% take it.

Our next destination was Wat Pho. I was very excited to go there because I had read it was a little more low key than the Grand Palace which I liked to hear. We decided to walk there, we both seem to have a huge distrust in tuk tuk drivers as well as taxi drivers. We are so scared of getting ripped off so we have been avoiding them at all costs.

The walk didn't take too long and it was pretty straightforward. We had arrived. To enter the main temple, I had to again borrow some clothes. This time it was a large bath robe, kind of amusing. Then we took off our shoes and saw the Reclining Buddha. It was so massive and so surreal to see right in front of our eyes. Seeing something so big that people believe so much in can really make a person feel small.

After finishing our time with the Reclining Buddha we spent some time walking around the beautiful grounds and admiring the other buildings and structures. One of my favorite things about Rick is he can have fun where ever he is.

Reclining Buddha

Before finishing our time in Bangkok, we decided we had to see a Muay Thai match. Having heard, read and watched so much about it, we didn't want to miss our chance. Off we went to the Ratchadamnoen Stadium. It was actually pretty expensive and we bought the cheapest section but it was definitely a night to remember. Our third level was full of local Thais who were drinking and gambling on who they believed would be the winner. It was very cool to be there and while it was expensive, I would still recommend it to anyone visiting Bangkok.

We spent the rest of our night figuring out how we would get to the airport the next day as we were headed to Chiang Mai at 10AM. After that was figured out, we ate, rested, shopped on Khao San Road and said goodbye to Bangkok until four days later when we returned for a day.

While in Bangkok we stayed at Charaondee Boutique Hostel on Khao San Road. I would recommend this hostel to anyone who wants to stay in this area. Free breakfast of coffee or tea and toast. They also offer more choices for breakfast if you want to pay a small amount. There is free WiFi along with a computer for anyone to use which I found really helpful. It can really be a pain always using your phone to access the  internet. Regardless of what you may read about Khao San Road, I always felt safe at the hostel. Rick, braver than myself, even left his passport and electronics in the room during the day and nothing was taken. Very affordable price.

Thailand... Six Hours till Takeoff

I just finished packing our suitcase and decided to take a break before I pack my carry-on. Our flight to Bangkok takes off at 4:30 and arrives at 7:20. We will be staying in Bangkok for one night before heading to Chiang Mai for three days for elephants, ziplining and more. Then we are headed to Koh Phangan for the Half Moon Party. After that, Ko Phi Phi for four days of relaxation, beaches, scuba diving (for Rick), and monkeys! Then back to Bangkok for a few more days before we come back to Taiwan.

Getting super excited! All of our confirmations are printed out and ready to go. Suitcase is packed. It was really hard fitting two weeks into one little suitcase (FOR TWO PEOPLE) but I have to say, I am pretty proud of myself.  We didn't want to bring too big of a suitcase because of all the travelling we are doing so one little one it is.

Atlas is staying at a friend's house. It is kind of sad how much I am going to miss him.... :(

ANYWAY

Thailand. Two Weeks. I'll try to update as we go whenever I have time and/or WiFi. We both really needed this vacation to recharge us for working six days a week. By the time we get back, only two and a half months to go on our contract!!!!!!!!!!

Off we go, gooooood bye!