Travel for Two: Bangkok

Bangkok: The Gateway to Southeast Asia

Kilometers Traveled: 17,728

Countries Visited: 5

Cities Visited: 11

Number of Tuk Tuk rides: 2

We are two months into our travels and we are starting to run into a dilemma neither of us expected; being on vacation is exhausting. I know you're wondering, "how can they be complaining on a once-in-a-lifetime trip?" and we are not expecting any sympathy but just merely wanted to make an observation. During our travels it has been really difficult to fight the urge to see (or do) as many things as possible. Usually the argument goes: "We don't know if we'll ever be in [insert place here] again so we might as go see (or do) [insert tourist thing here]. Looking back, I think this behavior stems from our habits from taking shorter vacations back home. A typical two week vacation would involve a 6-10 hour flight, visiting 4 or 5 cities and a full itinerary along the way. We would get back home completely exhausted after supposedly going away for some R&R. We recently had the realization are not going to get much out of this journey if we are going to carry on like this for almost a year. We have discovered that the most important thing about traveling is not collecting sights like baseball cards but having the freedom and spontaneity to just wander around, i.e. changing your plans on whim, taking the road less traveled and slowing down. So with that in mind, we are trying a different mindset in Southeast Asia. We are breaking our vacation habits and we are truly traveling.

Our original plan for southeast Asia was to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Indonesia in one month but now we have pushed that that timeline out to at least two months, starting SE Asia's major tourist hub, Bangkok. After spending a month in an undeveloped country like Nepal, we arrived in Bangkok like a couple of country folk seeing a city for the first time. Wow skyscrapers! But after the shock of seeing buildings higher than 6 stories wore off, we found Bangkok to be a very modern and cosmopolitan city with all of the comforts of home. In fact, we sort of made it our home for six days while we relaxed at our a guesthouse outside of all of the more crowded Bangkok neighborhoods. And for the first time in our travels we had a friend meet us on the road!

The Chao Phraya - the main river dissecting the city.

Our Oasis

Ahhh, sacred idleness. Tucked away in the Thewet neighborhood, the Shanti Lodge sits as an oasis for the weary traveler. This is where we spent most of our time in Bangkok either reading, writing, listening to music and just unwinding after the mountains of Nepal. They had amazing food, juice, and an atmosphere that just lured in you to chill. It made us forget about the oppressive Bangkok heat during the afternoons.

Our couch for six days. I think it still has our butt imprints.

Photobombing some juices.

OK, We Did Some Tourist Stuff Too.

Due to the heat and our lack of energy we tried to limit our sight seeing as much as we could but we still took in some of the major sights. A few days after we arrived in Bangkok, Minnie, a good friend from Seattle, joined us and we had some unforgettable experiences.

The Golden Mount Temple, aka Wat Saket, provides great views of the city.

Wat Intharawihan - a standing Buddha covered in gold sheet.

Wat Pho or reclining Buddha also covered in Gold. Absolutely massive but we were getting Buddha'd out by this point.

The ornamentation of the Wat Pho was amazing.

Time for a refreshment, oh look a ... Starbung Coffee?

Khaosan Road. Bangkok's backpacker haven and a messy, debaucherous tourist spectacle.

A word of caution for travelers: Beware of overly friendly locals offering cheap tuk tuk rides. It usually involves a scam of some sort. We were a target on our first day.

Special guest star Minnie taking a river boat with us to see the palace.

The river boat is the best way to get around Bangkok and it's a good way to take a break from the heat.

We weren't properly dressed to get in to the palace so we decided to go get drinks instead. FYI - no exposed knees or shoulders are allowed on the premises.

Bangkok's Siam district is home to countless super malls and the city aquarium.

On a recommendation from a friend, one night we took a tuk tuk to Victory Moment to see some live Jazz at Sky Bar. We never found the bar but getting lost made for a memorable night.

Amphawa Market

On the weekends there are a couple of traditional floating markets on the outskirts of the city. One day we decided to head out to the Amphawa floating market, which one of the last authentic markets usually frequented by locals. It was an adventure taking the minibus to get out there and back - we didn't know minivans could go so fast.

Roaming the market was the highlight of our stay in Bangkok which included eating fresh seafood and a sunset firefly boat tour. Minnie reminded us that it was today was also Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. An auspicious occasion to see some fireflies.

Boats selling seafood and other treats.

We ordered barbecued squid and and some Thai wontons

Bastyr Buds.

The market starts at 4pm and is lively mix of young locals and a few tourists until 9pm

Sunset ride to see some fireflies made for an unforgettable evening.

Cooking Classes

The next morning we were up bright and early to take a Thai cooking class (Silom Cooking Class for those who are interested). Our hilarious and informative cooking instructor, Kuhn, taught us about the art of cooking some of the more popular Thai dishes. The class included a trip to the local market to learn about how to choose our ingredients and making five dishes: thom yum soup, pad thai, papaya salad, masamam curry, and mango with sticky rice.