Hello everyone!
No posts for a long time, but hey… I've been in Thailand!! It was my first time out there and it was bloody amazing! So how did it go? What did I see? As I have down before I will break it down to you, but I was there for 3 and a half weeks so I'll have to ale a few posts.
We did quite a journey, hitting as many spots as we could whilst still enjoying the environment. We took every mode of transport available out there to get around and definitely some gruesome journeys. The food was epic, the prices for for and accommodation were cheap and I would definitely do it again!
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| You will see shrines everywhere! |
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| Tuk Tuks are the way to travel short distances, always barter! |
Bangkok is a crazy city, it swallows London, and there are various different areas to it. So much so that a cab drivers and Tuk Tuk drivers are hesitant to do long distances. On arrival we took a cab to Khoa San where we were staying, a long trip but cost us around 370baht (under £10). Alternatively if you were say going to the downtown area where a lot of fancy hotels are, you can get the sky train for a couple of pounds!
We decided to book Airbnb for the first couple nights as it just relieved us of the stress of finding somewhere as soon as we got in. Khoa San is generally the recommended area for tourists as it has a great collection of markets, food, commercial business, travel options (apart from railway) and things to see such as temples. Everything is on sale from tazers and knuckle dusters to harem pants. I also saw a woman turn water into wine... impressive!
We learnt pretty fast that it was bloody cheap, generally we just marked it up as £1 to 50Baht. A good pad thai from a street vendor [and it was damn good] was 45Baht! 45 fooking baht!!
After 2 nights in Bangkok we departed to Kanchanburi, a somewhat sleepy town North-West. It was a 3 hour train journey from Thonbury Train Station, with scenes and sites that you could only experience on a train; forestry and foliage, shanty towns, random bits of graff, and random humble traders selling their daily edibles.
Kanchanaburi is a really nice town. As you get out of the station pretty much just walk straight, straight, and straight some more and you get to this nice little strip of bars, resturaunts, tattoo shops and accommodation. Generally [mostly affected y the tourist seasons] you don't need to prebook, we simple rocked up to different guesthouses and asked for spare accommodation. We managed to find a nice guesthouse with shared toilet and showers for 300baht a night. There was a bar around the corner that was literally called "Get Drunk For 10Baht", really friendly people and the amazing Erawan Falls.
We all know about the many beautiful wonders of Thailand, and a lot of them are National Parks, so their beauty is maintained. The Erawan Waterfalls are an amazing thing to see. You will find many travel services in Thailand that will be selling tickets for bus trips to places of interest, so it's just a case of trying to find the cheapest deal. Erawan falls is broken up into 7 levels to the highest point. Generally the further you get the less tourists but it's not a stroll through the park! Climbing up and down rocks, holding onto a few tree's for support, wadding across bits of water but visually it's epic.
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| The ruins of Ayattayah |
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| Great scenes on the sleeper train |
The plan was to visit Ayutthaya, however it was decided to just go for the day. The final destination would be Chang Mai (The City of The North) via the over night train/ sleeper train. Roughly 8 hours was spent until we caught the train and renting bicycles was a great way to spend the evening riding around the town. There's some great architecture to see, brilliant places to eat and drink.
Overview:
Bangkok:
- Great for a couple of days, after that get the fuck out.
- You may as well see the ping pong show- it's going to be in a seedy strip club! Appx- 500Baht
- Every one is on a hustle. Ask taxi's to turn meter on for long journeys.
- Tuk Tuks a great way to get around, ask for price before you get in, slash price to half and barter from there!
- Most of the cocktails will contain loads of sugar water, try not to waste your money.
- Looking for strippers, ask for Nana.
- Where to stay: Koah San is good. Downtown for the fancy hotels.
- You will find great skate spots.
- Great walls to paint along canal.
Kanchanaburi:
- Go check out the waterfalls, it's worth it!
- Go to Get Drunk for 10Baht, it's worth it!
- You could travel back to Bangkok to get the train to Chiang Mai, or just go to Ayutthaya, I'd recommend that.
- Accommodation- roughly 250-350Bt.
Accommodation: Rock up to a place, ask if they have rooms.
Taxi from Bangkok Airport to Khoa San: 350Bt
Pad Thai: 45-60Bt
Sleeper train: 400Bt/480Bt (dependant on wether you want the bed or not)
