Will and I hate long flights. I take that back. I don't hate them like Will does but spending 20+ hours in one spot definitely sucks especially when you're short like me and your feet don't touch the floor. I don't mind watching movies or reading books but every once in a while even I get a little stir crazy and I consider myself a pretty patient person. Our flight left Dulles today (or yesterday since its been forever ago) at 10pm with a 13 hour flight to Dubai where we had a quick hour layover before another 7.5 hour flight to Bangkok. I must say that both flights went as smoothly as possible and I couldn't believe I slept for about 9 hours straight (pretty much) during the first leg to Dubai. However, as much as the sleeping helped pass the time for the first flight, I was wide awake on the next flight from Dubai to Bangkok. It kept me right on my normal sleep schedule which made getting to Bangkok quite the adjustment.
When we landed in Bangkok, it was super early but we grabbed a cab and experienced the ridiculous traffic the city is notorious for. Also, they drive in between lanes and in shoulders on the regulars. Yes, it is that bad. Seriously. By the time made it to our hotel it was around 8:30am. Our hotel welcomed us with welcome drinks and this funny sign.
Way too early to check in, most places weren't open yet and we both knew we'd be getting tired soon. However, we knew we just had to stick it out for the longest day ever to put us on Bangkok time and set us on the right timeframe for the rest of the trip. After leaving our luggage with the hotel, we made our way to Central Embassy/ Siam Square/Paragon Mall via sky train. It is an area of malls that are interconnected that have super high end luxury stores. However, we weren't there for the shopping, we were there for Eathai. Many of you may know about Eataly (Italian food stalls/coolest grocery store ever by Mario Bitalli) in NYC and Chicago. Well this is their Thai cousin. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the general area or store but we got some yummy eats!
After that, we went walking around a few other malls in the area. Bangkok is filled with shopping everywhere!!! Super high end stuff and then everything inbetween. There are also an insane number of food stands everywhere and they are all so cheap. I'm convinced that no one must do their own cooking because everywhere there is selling some kind of delicious street food for like one U.S. Dollar. We even had fun snacks like this salted sesame waffle and Thai macaron flavors like Thai tea and mango sticky rice! Will also got coconut ice cream which was delicious and refreshing!
Afterwards, we made our way over to Jim Thompson's house which is now kind of like a museum. Jim Thompson was an American entrepreneur who fell in love with Thailand and helped push the Thai silk market to where it is today. We didn't seem too interested in doing the tour of this random house that was built in the original Thai architecture style. However, according to Tripadvisor reviews, it was something we shouldn't miss. In the end, it was pretty cool to see this old house made of teak but it wouldn't have been a tragedy had we missed it.
Next, we made our way to Khao San Road. This is the area where all the backpackers go. There are lots of bars and cheap hostels and it's often featured in the movies. We definitely took advantage of the street food here and had Pad Thai for about $1.50 usd.
At this point, I was tired, I still had airplane grime on me, and we still had time to kill before our evening plans. So I did the logical thing and told Will we should get a message. My feet in particular were killing me so I got a foot and leg massage and Will got a shoulder and back massage. It was around $7/hour and it was the best use of time and money for the day. I fully intend of getting a food massage every day that I'm here! After that we hung out at a little restaurant and drank fruit smoothies to try to help keep us from falling a sleeping at the table!
We were exhausted and had officially been up for almost 24 hours. But we couldn't sleep because we had plans. We took a tuk tuk (little motorized trike type thing) to the Stadium. Will is a big follower of Muay Thai fighting so he wanted to watch a local match while we were here. We got ringside tickets which are way more than what locals have to pay and everyone will tell you something different regarding whether tourists have to sit in the VIP/ringside area or if they can sit in 2nd and 3rd class with the locals. Either way, we decided to just go with what they said and sit in the VIP section. This was probably a good idea because like my research had told me already, the locals in the 2nd and 3rd class seats get really rowdy because they bet on all the fights. People have money in their hands in the air and there is lots of yelling. Usually the first round is just the observation round but by the second and third and fourth, bets are being made left and right. Watching the kickboxing was really cool. The fighters were young but good. The first match ended in a knock out and I didn't feel bad the kid was probably only like 15 years old. The second was super close and the third ended because of an injury to the knee and the fighter couldn't get up after a bad kick to the knee.
At this point there were a few more fights to see but Will and I were exhausted. We finally made it back home via tuk tuk and got to our hotel room and showered the day off of us. Even now, I'm trying to keep up with this blog (since it sucks when it piles up) and I have found myself falling asleep and typing the most ridiculous nonsense. It's definitely needed a number of corrections.
Now, I'm off to bed, on Bangkok time, ready for the day tomorrow.
*pardon the weird layouts, fonts, & photo justification that might occur. This was written from my iPhone and the blogger app stinks!
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