Thailand - Bangkok - Day 2

Our 2nd day started off bright and early and I mean early; we were enjoying Lebua's mouth watering breakfast by 6am! Pancakes, waffles, omelets, pastries, french toast, sushi, fried rice, etc. You name it, they had it!

After breakfast we set out for more sightseeing beginning with a ride in the local boat up the canal to our first destination, Khao San Road. Khao San Road was made famous by the popular book (and now movie), "The Beach", and was high on our list for that reason. Thankfully the road lived up to our expectations! It was bustling with backpackers, Thai vendors, scam artists and crazy people from beginning to end. The vendors tried to rope us in, the scam artists insisted they take us to the "Big Buddha" and the Thai vendors pointed out Heather's booty and how much black men must love it.

Khao San Road

The side of a building we saw during our walk

One of my favorite things to do is to wander and get lost which is exactly what we did next. And what do you know, we wandered across several massage places! We got one 30 minute massage for 150 Baht (US $4.68) and enjoyed it so much that we waltzed into another one down the street for another 30 minute rub down.   

Golden Buddha

Next we went to Wat Saket, The Golden Mount and then from there to Wat Traimit, Temple of the Golden Buddha. The nearly panoramic views of Bangkok make every one of the 320 steps to the top of the golden mountain worthwhile! For some reason our quest to find the Golden Buddha became quite challenging. First, we had to madly negotiate with our tuk tuk driver to not get ripped off and when we finally reached our destination after our crazy ride, we were quite puzzled by what we saw. The Buddha in front of us was simply nothing like what we'd seen or expected. You'd think that the world's largest solid gold Buddha that spans nearly 4 meters tall and 3 meters wide and weighs approximately 5.5 tons would be something to see! Turns out that our driver had dropped us off in front of the the Chinese Buddha and failed to point out that we needed to cross and walk down the alley to reach our destination. When we did finally see the golden statue, we were happy we went through the hassle as it really is something to see!

At the end of the day we made our way back home to take some time to explore our hotel. Sky Bar at The Dome Bangkok is Lebua's soaring open air rooftop bar with truly one of a kind panoramic views of of the city. We've never seen anything like it and couldn't stop taking photos! Each restaurant and bar at Lebua State Tower is simply divine. 

The view from Sky Bar

Thailand - Bangkok - Day 1

Lebua State Tower

With our 2 stop layover, 2 overnight flights and over 30 hours of traveling, we arrived in Bangkok just in time to start our day. We had our guide book in hand and knew exactly where to go and what to do to ensure we didn't get ripped off from the moment we stepped off the plane. Everything went as planned, our taxi started our meter just like we knew he should and it said just the right amount, he told us about the tolls and we paid them as we'd read... only to find that once we pulled into our hotel, Lebua State Tower, that he took us a round-a-bout way to rip us off! Our biggest mistake was likely not telling him to take us to some nearby dump instead of one of Bangkok's finest 5 star hotels! We chose to brush it off since - hey, we're in Thailand and omg, we have a luscious suite with breathtaking views of Bangkok! (By the way, their food is fantastic!)

Since we were surprisingly refreshed despite the time change, we ventured out to visit the main points immediately. The first stop; Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (or in English, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha). Heather and I agreed that the Grand Palace stood above everything else we've seen in beautiful color and sparkle! The pictures simply can't capture the grandness of it! 

Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Big Buddha

We experienced a slight detour prior to entering the Palace, however. If you're ever in Thailand and someone "official" tells you that it's a Buddhist holiday and the sites are closed until noon, either go along with it (like we did) or listen to your brain scream, "scam!", over and over until you've successfully ignored the official. One minute we're about to see the Palace and the next we're being ushered into a tuk tuk to see Wat Indraviharn's 32 meter high Big Buddha, a free attraction and definitely not on our list of go sees.  Soon after we were taken shopping! Shocker. And like the suckers we are, we each purchased a custom tailored suit. After the tailors and the jewelry store, we managed to convince our tuk tuk driver to return us to the palace.

Reclining Buddha

When we finally tore ourselves away from the palace, we visited the other main sites, Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha Temple) and Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn). One word to describe the Reclining Buddha... huge! By the time we took a charming boat ride across the canal and saw Wat Arun, we realized that no other temple could possibly compare to our Emerald Buddha's although both were absolutely still worth a visit. 

Pee-eew!

By this time we realized we were starving so we walked along the market holding our noses due to the awful stench of the dried fish to look for our first authentic Thai meal of the trip at Coconut Palm Restaurant. Finding a place was quite an ordeal as we'd done so much research and were both very frightened by the traveler's diarrhea stories we read about. (Until this point we'd eaten only granola bars and pop-tarts.) The food was nothing special so we were just glad to quiet our tummy's. 



Later that evening, after we trekked at least 10 blocks too many to hail a cab, we slept like logs. The time change had wiped us out and we were ready to call it a night as soon as we set foot in our fabulous suite - but we knew we'd be refreshed for day 2.  

Thailand Itinerary

The countdown is on! Heather and I leave for Thailand in exactly six days... and counting. Who would have thought that when we talked about how badly we wanted to go nearly a year ago, it would be a reality in such a short time? We've been preparing and holding out for this adventure and now it's nearly time to live it!

Everything is booked and ready to go. Here's a snapshop of our itinerary: We'll start in Bangkok where we're staying at "The Hangover" hotel, Lebua at State Tower and then we'll take a short flight to northern Thailand where we'll tour Chaing Mai and possibly even stay with a Hill Tribe family. From there, we'll head south to the Andaman coast to stay in Phuket and to visit the famous island, Ko Phi Phi, where "The Beach" was filmed. Shortly thereafter, we'll visit the Gulf coast beaches of Ko Tao, Ko Samui and Ko Phangan. Most importantly, for those of you who know me, you know that I'm all about new experiences; anything to cross something else off my bucket list! So what line item will I be crossing off? Getting my open water scuba diving certification. Be prepared as we begin to unravel our new and exciting experiences along the way!