We left Hong Kong and headed to "Land of Smiles", which is what Thailand is often known as. I knew the second I stepped off the plane that I was going to love Thailand. How did I know this? Because it was a wonderful 80 something degrees outside and sunny! This southern girl couldn't and still cannot take the cold weather in Huangshi much longer. I think my blood is just too thin for it! We were so happy to be back in a warm climate and get to wear shorts again rather than 5 layers and a coat! The first stop was Bangkok, which actually translates to "city of angels". After checking into our hostel, the three of us headed out to explore and get some dinner. We walked to what we thought was the popular and renowned Khao San Road, only to find out days later that the next street over was the actual Khao San, to look around. The street we wound up going to was filled with fun, decorative Thai restaurants and shops. Below was the Macaroni Grill where we had dinner. I only remember the name because it was that good!
Here are some pictures of the restaurant, with all of its paintings, fun fish lanterns, regular lanterns, and they even had a waterfall (sorry, no picture of that).
The first of many smoothies to be had by us in Thailand. Seriously, I'm pretty sure we had a fresh fruit smoothie every single day we were there. This one is pineapple and it was my favorite!
After dinner, we walked around a bit and went into all of the fun touristy shops to play around. They had so many fun hats that we tried on, beautiful artwork, elephant pillows, elaborate fans, and so much more. Cam and I were excited about all of the shopping possibilities and by the end of trip we each got a few mementos and keepsakes to remember our time in Thailand, including fans and artwork.
We found an elaborate temple close by, made up of several buildings and statues. It was the first of many, many temples and Buddha statues that we came across during our time there. It was very interesting to see and experience how the Thai people worship Buddha. You have to take your shoes off and leave them outside with a pile of other people's shoes to go inside and walk around. This is a picture of the reclining Buddha at this temple.
The next day, Cam and I decided to be early risers and go and have breakfast back near Khao San, while Aaron slept in. We also went for a tuk tuk ride, a form of public transportation in Thailand as well as Cambodia and Vietnam. The best way for me to describe it is a partially open carriage/seating area pulled by an attached motorcycle. It is a really fun and cheap way to travel there, but you have to be careful because many people will try to rip you off if you are an unsuspecting tourist!
Just being random and silly while exploring Bangkok.
Cam and I also went for a long-tail boat ride down the Chao Phraya River. There are also many forms of public transportation on the water. Just this one time, Cam and I got our own boat because it is so cheap. There were so many beautiful and scenic buildings and landscapes to see from the water. Camille and I joked that we had to take the long-tail boat because we thought it was funny how many methods of transportation we would use on this one trip...it is kind of a ridiculous amount. If you want to know, by the end of trip we rode: cars, trains, subways, taxis, vans, tuk tuks, long-tail boats, row boats, speed boats, vans, kayaks, elephants, airplanes, sky trains (an above ground subway in Bangkok), and a trolley. I think that may be all of them!
Just relaxing and taking in the fresh air!
Some of the building we saw from the boat!
A picture of our boat and driver pulling away after she dropped us off at a dock near our hostel.
Since I have a ton of pictures from Bangkok, I decided to split it up into two posts! So the next post will be the other half of pictures of the rest of our time there!
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