"One Night in Bangkok and the World's Your Oyster"

As a last fun vacation on this side of the world before the big move back to the USA, Andrew and I decided to go to Thailand! We wanted to go somewhere fun, relaxing and new, where neither of us had been before. We had the amazing opportunity to travel with Andrew's sister Laura and her fiance Tim for most of the trip which was very special as it will be a year before we see them again for their wedding back here in Australia next April.

Andrew and I started our trip in Bangkok! In preparation for the trip we watched Hangover II the night before leaving so the theme song was stuck in our heads the whole trip and in such a big, busy, bustling city I kept tight hold of Andrew to prevent getting "lost to Bangkok!"

The hotel we stayed at was called Siam@Siam and was very fancy with amazing customer service. We didn't even have to push the button for the elevator as there was someone constantly waiting there to call the elevator for you when they saw you coming! The room was beautiful and had a gorgeous view of part of the city.

On our first day in Bangkok we met up with a personal driver who took us all around the city. His name was John and he was lovely and told us lots about the culture of Thailand and pointed out bits and pieces of the city (including the helicopter scene from Hangover II on top of the dome building which we were very excited about) as we went on our adventures. He took us first to a train market (literally, vendors scramble to get themselves and their goods away from the tracks where they are set up when the train comes rumbling through) where we saw tons of Thai food and goods for sale. I had to have a tough stomach particularly when I saw blood being splattered about by a lady chopping up a fish (well I should say hacking at it with a clever) right as we were walking past. Those of you who know me know I'm not a fan of seafood or raw meat in general and gag walking into the meat section of a market! Not my finest hour.

After the train market we headed to a floating market. We hopped into our little No. 21 boat and putted around to all the vendors and stalls that are set up along the canals. Every canal we went down we heard shouts of "shopping shopping" and "buy something, looking looking!" It was a bit intense but was a pretty cool experience. Andrew got a couple of singlets and I picked up a couple of lucky elephants. Andrew also tried Thai "Chang" beer while we floated along. It is ridiculously hot in Thailand (like walk out your air conditioned room door and start sweating immediately) so we kept trying to layer on sunblock but then proceeded to wipe it right off trying to keep the sweat out of our eyes! We stopped at a temple along the canals on the way back but didn't last long in the heat. There are offerings set up all around the temples and photos of the King (and Queen but King in particular) all around Thailand. Apparently he is an avid photographer as well! Often times the photos around the city have him with a camera around his neck!

John brought us to one of his favourite little lunch jaunts after the floating market where I had my first "Thai" Pad Thai (delicious!) and Andrew had the most delicious steamed fish I have ever tasted. (Maybe they bought it from the fish lady at the train market...) The food all over Thailand was simply delicious. I even had a bottle of Est! (Pepsi)

After a long morning of adventuring we stopped at a tailor shop where Andrew had a suit and some pants and shirts and jackets made. I got in on the action with a gorgeous light blue Thai silk cocktail dress and a long (as in long enough for me) striped maxi cotton dress! So excited to have a maxi dress that is long enough for me! It was pretty cool to walk into the store and just pick out a design from a catalogue and then pick out a fabric that you liked and voila... take some measurements and 2 days later here's all your clothes! Pretty woman moment although I got 2 articles of clothing to Andrew's 10 maybe? Hahaha, maybe it was his Pretty woman moment! ;) He did need some new work clothes for the big move and new job in the US and I have seen the finished work and he looks very handsome in his new clothes! Here's a photo from the day after we got back from Bec and Ben's wedding where I wore my new dress and Andrew his new suit!

Our last stop for the day was another Temple called Wat Pho. Wat Pho is home to the largest gold Buddha in Thailand and absolutely beautiful buildings. The decoration and colours are amazing. They even gave out free water there (probably to prevent all the tourists who are not used to the heat from fainting all over the place) but it was a welcome treat by the end of the day. To see the Buddha you have to take off your shoes and guys have to wear a shirt with sleeves and girls have to wear a long dress or pants and cover their arms (also probably why they gave out free water since you have to wear hot clothes in the hot weather!) It was crazy beautiful to see the golden Buddha though and I'm pretty sure the Buddha's pinky toe was about 3 times the size of my head. Huge! Also, the walls of the temple are adorned in beautiful paintings that cover every square inch of the walls.

We were so exhausted after our first day that we stayed in the hotel for dinner. Luckily, one of the hotel restaurants happened to be up on the rooftop and offered stunning views of Bangkok. Pretty cool.

Day 2 we ventured out with John again to see the Royal Palace. The King and Queen don't actually live there (although one of the princesses does apparently) and it's mainly used for royal functions and political events. It's a huge place with guards and I'm pretty sure it was the most crowded place I've ever been to. There were tourists EVERYWHERE! It was extremely hot and busy so we didn't stay too long and there were certain places you couldn't use your camera (and their were guards watching so I definitely didn't risk it... no thanks Thai jail, don't really want to visit you.) but we got to see the royal thrones (very decorative) and the Emerald Buddha and a bunch of traditional and historic Thai weapons.

Our last big thing to do in Bangkok was Muay Thai boxing. We sat very close to the ring which was pretty cool. No knockouts but the tradition that goes along with the Muay Thai was very interesting to watch. Each fighter has a series of warmups that incorporate traditional Thai movements to get themselves ready for the fight. The locals all sat further back and it was crazy to turn around and watch them all shouting and betting. Our driver had actually warned us ahead of time not to get involved in the betting because it gets so intense. I even saw a sign posted below the stage that asked women to please not touch the stage as it was considered a sacred place. There weren't too many women in the audience either. It was a fun night watching a new sport.

The next day (after our new duds got delivered to the hotel for final fittings!) we headed back to the airport to head to Phuket and to meet up with Laura and Tim. We saw a Dunkin Donuts which we couldn't resist! They don't even have Dunkin here in Australia! I was impressed.

I loved Bangkok much more than I thought I would. We were so busy for the couple of days that we were there though and I was very much looking forward to relaxing a bit more in Phuket and catching up with Laura and Timmy who we hadn't seen since New Years!