Bangkok!

This was my very first time in Thailand and I was so stoked. The ship anchored in Laem Chebang which, like many of our ports, is pretty far away from the city. The bus ride into Bangkok took about 2 hours, leaving only 3 hours to explore the city. We managed to take quite a few modes of transportation throughout the day- Skytrain, river taxi, tuk-tuk and a normal taxi! We first stopped by Wat Pho and saw the country’s largest reclining Buddha- and let me tell you it was massive! 46m long and 15m high! Connected to it is the Wat Pho Thai Massage School and if we had time I would have definitely got a massage- an hour long massage only cost 250 baht which is less than 10 bucks! We then headed to the Grand Palace but apparently there was a special event going on and only monks were allowed in- bummer! As we were standing outside the Grand Palace trying to decide what to do next, a man who looked like he worked there came up to us and suggested a few other places to visit. He hailed us a tuk tuk, got us a cheap price and sent us on our way- how nice was that?! Well, actually not as nice as we thought. In my Lonely Planet I was warned about tuk tuk drivers who get commission by taking you to their friend’s silk or jewelry shop…and that’s pretty much what happened to us! We were told we were going to a market but when we pulled up to the place it was like a warehouse. We told him to just take us back to the hotel we were meeting at, but he just shook his head and refused. So we were stranded in this random area of town trying to hail a cab to get back to our bus. Fortunately it all worked out in the end- we even had time to eat some yummy Pad Thai before heading back to the ship. A few of the girls I was with said they didn’t really enjoy Bangkok but I found it fascinating! I really want to go back again one day and explore it more!

xoxo D