Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok

Thailand is everything I thought it would be: hot, humid, insane traffic, friendly people, amazing temples, scam artists, tiny streets, unfamiliar tastes and smells, long train rides, cheap food, hard beds, unbelievable sunsets, and best of all: an adventure every day.

I arrived in Bangkok, a little shell-shocked, five days ago following an 11 hour flight from Auckland. I stayed at Shanti Lodge Guesthouse in Thewet, and I highly recommend it.

My birthday breakfast

After a somewhat ambitious walk to Khao San Road and back, I crashed hard and woke 12 hours later on my 37th birthday (yaay me!). I decided that I would find a way to see Wat Pho, even though travel in this city of 12 million people scared the crap out of me. I managed to get kinda/sorta lost on the way to the river taxi pier, but this was a good thing as I met a lovely Argentinian couple along the way, and we ended up spending the day together visiting not only Wat Pho but the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew as well.

Martin, Mayra and me

Bangkok’s heat is unbelievable. It is so hot and muggy, your sweat sweats. A lot. Spending our first day in Thailand wandering from wat to wat may have been a bit foolhardy, but we saw some of the most incredible things. Thai architecture is very ornate and opulent. No expense seems to be spared on temples or palaces, something that is a little jarring when you see how poor the countryside is.

The next day I travelled solo to Ayutthaya, the ruined former capital of Siam. Id been wanting to go there for ages, ever since I started looking into coming to Thailand. I stayed at Cheung Lumni Village, which was beautiful but sort of isolated for my tastes. I dont think there was ever more than 10 people staying there, which was meant it was nice and quiet. It also meant that it was difficult to meet people to do things with. I ended up renting a bicycle for the day and riding around town to see the ruins.

Wat Phra Mahathat

The ruins did not disappoint. They were incredible, and it was very easy to imagine how the ancient city would have looked before it was destroyed by the Burmese almost 500 years ago. I spent a full day sightseeing, and only made it to two locations: Wat Phra Mahathat (home of the lovely nestled Buddha head above, and Wat Phra Si San Phet. The Historical Park is HUGE.

I had originally intended to go to Sukkothai after Ayutthaya, but the relative loneliness changed my mind. I took the morning train to Chiang Mai, and arrived in that northern city twelve hours later. Im staying at Libra Guesthouse in the Old City, and its lovely, however there is morning construction near by that does not endear itself to me. I will stay here at least one more night though, as I like the convenience of already being in a place (I hate my luggage and am loathed to move it again any time soon).

Related posts:

1. Haere ra, Aotearoa!
2. Australia, take two
3. The houseguest
4. South Island Road Trip — Punakaiki, Karamea & Heaphy
5. South Island Road Trip — Fox Glacier, Lake Matheson & Hokitika