Woke up very early, around 4am, so I started the day with an independent breakfast while Jono caught some Z’s. While eating at our hotel’s breakfast buffet I met Sarah, who is doing the same tour as us tomorrow who also had the day to kill today.
We decided to all catch a tuk-tuk to the #flower markets as it was still early by 9am. But our tuk-tuk driver insisted that it would be better to catch a boat there. Once we got to the boat we figured out that we were being jibbed because he then told us the markets were closed and that we should do a canal tour this morning for the low low price of 800Baht each. After quite some discussion we convinced him to take us to the flower markets for 100baht and promptly left him there.
The markets were quite amazing. Although there wasn’t the amount that I expected there was definitely lots of beautiful blooms there, as well as a whole bunch of other amazing, and disgusting smells to experience. From fresh chilies, ginger, cabbage, coriander and mint to orchids, roses, baby’s breath and lavender, fresh and frying fish, mince and other assorted meat the markets made for an impressive morning.
We then wandered around for a while, trying to get a sense of direction we stopped in Starbucks for an iced coffee and wifi access. The coffee wasn’t that great and there was no wifi but we did seize the opportunity for a good bathroom break and somehow wandered into the Indian district, then Chinatown. In Chinatown, Jono and I were ushered out of many of the shops – we assumed that it was because we either looked like serious tourists or were just too big for their wares!
By about 1pm we figured out why #Bangkok is all about the #nightlife — it is too hot to do anything with the sun out! With sore feet and sweat-drenched shirts, we hailed a taxi back to the hotel. The taxi driver had no idea where we were staying, I ended up using his google maps to enter it while he drove around and we enjoyed the air conditioning.
We retired to the pool for a swim on the roof before going out for lunch at Greenhouse Restaurant. I got a pork pad see ew and Jono continued on his spring roll tour of Bangkok, ranking theirs as #2 and the Marceroni Club as number 1.
In between dinner and lunch, I went and got eyelash extensions for about $20. These ended up lasting for about two weeks – looking absolutely amazing up until day 15 when then they fell out in clumps with my real eyelashes. I’m sure I will be writing a blog post on lash regrowth serum in the coming weeks.
We then spent the evening wandering around the area near our hotel. This was the night where we discovered the joys of the infamous #BangkokBuckets in a little bar around the corner and the life-changing experience that came in the form of #TomYumGoong in a little #Thai restaurant on the corner behind our hotel.
I genuinely believed that the food we were eating in #tourist trap restaurants was good. But I had no idea. This little bowl of heaven was choc-a-block of flavour, prawns (and no doubt a heap of MSG) and was only about $3AUD. But man was it tasty and man was I happy that I discovered this dish on my second day. Unfortunately, no dish on my trip quite lived up to tonight’s Tom Yum Goong.
The second evening was also the night when Jono learnt the perils of the infamous #BangkokBucket after a late night trip to #KhaoSanRoad… Eight buckets (it was a buy two get one free – mine was free) and a couple of hours later, I was searching the internet for information on the closest hospital to our hotel because I thought he was going to die. If you ask him what happened that night, he will tell you that we weren’t informed of the fact that Thailand’s #RedBull isn’t like western Red Bull – it’s smaller, syrupy and 4 x stronger. I’ll tell you that the seasoned Carlton Dry drinker, couldn’t handle the cheap Thai Rum… Anyway, here’s how our night progressed – buckets pictured.
This blog post is a part of a series I wrote while on the Contiki Asian Adventure Tour.
Paige Penning 