bangkok, thailand

day one:

it took me about 30 minutes to figure out the taxi situation at the bangkok airport (it is very technological and I had just woken up), but I finally did, and met my very little-english speaking taxi driver. 

inside the car, we were silent for a  bit and then I asked for music. "thai music? you like?", and I replied "yes! thai music!".  it was the cheesiest thing, and the sweetest at the same time. but what made it so fantastic was that mr. driver sang the whole way over to the hostel, and it took about an hour (LA has nothing on bangkok, traffic-wise). he would sing and speak to me in thai and giggle as if I understood him (maybe he was making fun of me?) and I would giggle back and say "thai music is so pretty!" and so on. never ending giggles with my friend (that probably charged me too much?) 

after checking in and having some iced (instant) coffee on a street stall, where the lady couldn't understand why I didn't want condensed milk and sugar in my coffee, I went to explore a little. 

the hostel owner recommended going to the chatuchak weekend market. with a "you'll get totally lost and end up getting a taxi" tone, he gave me round trip public transportation instructions that involved taking a bus, the sky train and the water (boat) bus. I didn't really feel like shopping, but he had challenged me (or I had challenged myself?) so I went to the market, to prove a point (to myself!?)

I got off the bus "when you see a bunch of people", like the hostel dude told me, and there I was, in the middle of the madness. 

but not the kind of madness that you see at the mall during christmas time (is that a thing? I don't really go then...). it was a mix of crazy and normal and good smells and bad smells and words I couldn't understand and some gringo talk and almost getting run over by motorbikes and pretty things and weird things and all the cliches that might come to mind when people think about a market somewhere in asia. 

it was fun, and scary and I bought some traveler hobo pants, a vintage shirt (that I could've found in long beach) and I ate some suspicious pad thai. 

after that I took the sky train and the boat along the chao praya river. (saw the sunset and all)

point made. 

day two:

after falling asleep at 8pm at the hostel common area (and eventually making it to my bed), I woke at 6 am wanting food.

 

most of the streets were empty, but I ran into a market that was setting up. 

I had some "yum yum" sticky rice (like the thai lady said), stuffed with some red banana and beans and wrapped in banana leafs. 

tasty sweet treat followed by another one, I had some something that had coconut pudding and corn inside. (I shared half, no judging) 

after walking around for a while, pretty confused, I decided to get some (real) coffee, read my guide book and plan my day. 

wat phra kaew and the grand palace:

now, this was like going to disneyland, the real madness. so many tourists completely unaware of the people around then, but hey, this place was beautiful and I was too excited to care. 

wat pho:

after more getting lost, eating some more sticky rice at the park, being interviewed by these fancy highschoolers, almost getting scammed by a tuk-tuk driver (who got mad at me for calling him out on his BS), i got to wat pho. 

here are some pictures:

thai massage was invented(?) at wat pho, and the walls in some areas are covered with these drawings, showing thai massage teachings. 

then, after visiting some other temples, I decided to look for food. vegetarian food. but I was no longer in the touristy area, and the places had the menus in thai and people didn't speak english. so, There I was, eating crispy pork noodle soup on the sidewalk. I didn't eat the pork, but it was fantastic and spicy. 

wat arun: 

while on the boat to go back to the hostel, I see there is a sign for a boat that would take you across the river to visit wat arun. 

at this temple, you can go up to the main chedi and get a view of the city and the river, including the grand palace. 

steep climb, people. 

after all the bangkok madness and thinking that I don't have too much time to travel, I decided to take the night train to phitsanulok. there were no beds left and I had just spent two days walking. it hurts. hello thailand.