I'm now (on 13/12) on the long flight home from Thailand after having an amazing two weeks. We got up at 4am this morning to get to the airport, which is now 11 hours ago. We've just taken off from Hong Kong airport so I'll hopefully be home in about 15 hours.
11/12
Today involved a lot of travelling. The day began on Ko Phangan getting a taxi from our hostel to Thong Sala pier. After walking around for about 30 minutes getting directed from person to person we finally found the right place to get our ferry tickets. We'd booked a 'ferry, bus & plane' all in one ticket so it made it a bit more complicated to start off with, but made the rest of the trip a lot smoother than it might have been.
The ferry took us to Donsak Pier on the mainland and was quite a bit bigger than the ferry that had taken us to Ko Phangan, as it was also taking vehicles (but no chickens this time!). After 2.5 hours we arrived on the mainland and it was straight on to a coach for a 1.5 hour drive to Surat Thani airport. From here there was a bit of a wait before the 1 hour flight to Bangkok.
When we arrived in Bangkok we jumped on a shuttle bus to the nearest sky train station. After a bit of confusion about which bus stop we were meant to get off at we finally made it on to the sky train and to the nearest station to where we were staying. A short walk later we arrived at our hostel, Lub d Bangkok, just off Silom Road.
We checked in, did some washing then went out for food and drinks on Silom Road. The whole way along there were market stalls and people advertising ping pong shows. We battled through until we found a nice noodle bar and a side street full of busy bars where we spent the rest of the evening.
12/12
We didn't have much planned for today and thought we'd just explore the area around the hostel. Our first stop was The Snake Farm. This is within The Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute which functions as a site to produce snake bite serums for research and to educate the public on the dangers of Thai snakes. Not only are there lots and lots of snakes to see, of all sizes and from all over the world, there's also lots and lots of information from the evolution of snakes and their anatomy to what happens when venomous snakes bite and what to do if you get bitten. Plenty of the snakes had the description 'found across Thailand', so I was definitely glad we didn't go here before our jungle trekking in Chiang Mai! Ignorance is bliss.
After the snake farm we went to Lumphini Park nearby. This was the first public park in Bangkok and is a little bit of an escape from the hustle and bustle of the fast paced city life. It's quite a big park, set around a few lakes with lots of trees and wildlife. We saw several large lizards walking and swimming around and a few turtles in the lake. We hired a pedalo and set off exploring one of the lakes getting a closer look at the lizards and turtles enjoying the midday sun. It was incredible.
As we left the park we continued exploring the local area and came across a Thai food market hidden away down a side street. Is more of a food court than a market as there were lots of tables and stools surrounded by food stalls. We just had to stop and get lunch there and experience what the locals do. Incredibly we had a full meal and drink for about £1! It was mid afternoon so was quite quiet, but you could image that it would be packed around midday.
After exploring a bit more of the area around Silom Road we went back to the hostel to get changed for the evening. We were meeting up with a couple of French girls we had met on Ko Phangnan at the half moon party. We were meeting for drinks at The Moon Bar at the top of the Banyan Tower on Sathon Tai Road. This is one of several open air bars in Bangkok and is situated on the 61st floor of the building. After a bit of trouble locating the correct tower and then struggling to find our way through the maze of a building up to the bar, we finally made it to the top around 5.30pm. This was perfect timing to see Bangkok by day and then Bangkok by night after the sun had set around 6pm. The view was amazing and it is definitely one of the best bars I have ever been to. The drinks weren't cheap but we had somewhere to sit and I enjoyed very tasty cocktails with great company so it was definitely worth it. I particularly recommend the 'Let's go to the beach' cocktail which is made with a Thai whisky and apple juice.
When we left the bar we went for dinner at a Thai restaurant further along the street called Secret Garden. It had a Christmas tree and decorations up and Christmas songs were playing in the background. It's less than 2 weeks until Christmas and this was the first proper indication that Christmas is nearly here. I think it's going to hit me in the face a bit when I'm back in England! I had Pad Tai Vermicelli noodles with prawns and crispy wontons (basically nachos). It was definitely up there with the best meals I've had in Thailand. It was then back to the hostel to pack and have an early(ish) night as we had to be up at 4am the next morning to start the journey back to England.
Final thoughts
I have had an amazing two weeks in Thailand and lots of things that initially seemed a bit weird just two weeks ago actually seem to make a lot of sense now, such as the street signs and how the traffic behaves. I could see my self happily staying for a few more weeks exploring the rest of Bangkok and other areas within Thailand. Shame I've got to be back in work on Monday! I'll definitely have to go back one day, I didn't get a chance to try sticky rice and mango or have a Thai massage this time round.
As you've probably seen from the news, over the last few weeks there have been lots of political issues in Bangkok leading to protest walks, rallies and demonstrations and at times there have been some trouble. However, in the main it has been very isolated and easy to avoid. As a tourist in Bangkok for a few days we had no disruption to our holiday and did everything we wanted to. Bangkok is a big city, so by following the news and keeping away from rally sites I felt completely safe at all times. Who knows what will happen over the next few weeks and months, but I think Bangkok will remain a safe place for tourists to continue to visit.
We flew to and from Thailand with Cathay Pacific. I'd never heard of them before and we only went with them as they had the cheapest tickets (must still have the student mentality!). Because of this and with having not flown for longer than 6 hours before I wasn't sure what the service would be like. It turned out they are Hong Kong's national airline and they were cheaper as we had to change in HK. This meant going past Thailand first, extending the journey time slightly. The service has been excellent though with good food and drink on hand whenever we wanted it. The seats are comfy and spacious and everyone has their own tv with lots of old & new movies and TV programmes to choose from. I've been going for films I've not seen before and across the outward and return journeys I have so far managed to watch Man of Steel, Kick Ass 2, The Heat, The Way Way Back, Turbo and the whole 4th series of The Middle. Helps being in the air for 14 hours each way go a lot quicker! I can't fault Cathay Pacific at all and would definitely recommend them if you have a choice to fly with them.
And finally I'll leave you with a couple of observations from being in Thailand.
Firstly it seems no one there must walk anywhere, ever. Nowhere we went was pedestrian friendly and whenever we were walking we were constantly asked if we wanted a taxi or tuk tuk. It is nice to explore places by walking sometimes!
Secondly, even though I noticed desserts on the menu in many of the restaurants we went to, we were never asked once if we wanted a dessert after we had finished our main course. You're pretty much always asked that in England. Do people just not eat them or do people usually order them at the same time as the rest of the meal if they want one?
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