Luckily, our hostel had a good deal on a bus right into Bangkok next to Khao San Road - The backpacking district.
So instead of doing Hua Hin then Bangkok, we just reversed it :)
We walked around Khao San for a while looking for a place. We finally found Lucky House, one of the ones I had researched. It had no windows, but it had everything else :) 400 Baht a night! That's pretty good for Bangkok.
We were suppose to meet our friends, but that fell through. But the plan still got us out of Khao San Road, on the BTS, and in Northern Bangkok at one of the biggest markets. We missed our friends again and ended up at Paragon Mall in Central Bangkok. Then we got in contact with one of our friends and he was back at Khao San Road. So... all in all it was a very productive day! If the plans would have never originated, I'm sure we wouldn't have gone far -- so it was a good thing either way :)
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| Riding the BTS! |
As the boys partied the night away, I snuck back to the room to get some sleep. Brian knew the time we were suppose to get up, but somehow he disregarded the plan. I sorta figured.
I got up early though, and walked the empty Khao San streets at 10 AM. I found an Internet cafe to start research for Hua Hin and was on a search for breakfast. As I was walking, I noticed two Thai women trying to console a farang looking pretty hammered on the sidewalk. As I got closer, I realized it was our friend. Brian had lost him last night and returned home. The Thai girls were so happy I knew him and they got to leave. We stumbled down the street and he hoped on a bus home.
I continued my search for b-fast and a cheap ride to Hua Hin. Toward my walk back to our hostel, I found a travel agency that had a good deal. It took a minute for me to realize I wasn't in the typical Thai travel agency. I had stumbled upon little Israel.
I got the okay from Brian to book the tickets and he stumbled out of bed to eat with me.
We went to the Royal Palace. I thought I was conservatively dressed, but I still had to borrow clothes to enter the palace. You just have to leave a 200 Baht deposit per item you borrow. I had a skirt and Brian had a pair of pants. Tickets are 500 Baht each to go. Honestly, I understand it's one of the must do's in any tourist agenda.... but it's nothing special. The Forbidden Palace in China is still unbeatable in my book.
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| Jade Buddha... most valuable in Buddha in Thailand. |
I was hoping on jumping on a canal tour from the palace, but in all my navigational skills we couldn't find the freakin water. However, we did stumble upon other temples like the largest reclining Buddha.
Brian was totally temple'd out at this point and only wanted to return to Paragon mall to watch a movie. I should mention Paragon is a huge, beautiful, EXPENSIVE mall in Central Bangkok. We hitched a cab and were on our way.
Catching a cab in Bangkok is a joke. You cannot find a honest cab driver. No one wants to run their meter. We got lucky once in the very beginning, but that was it. All it did was make us angry because we knew how much the ride should be... So your best bet is to wait and wait and wait until one decides to do a meter... which might or might not happen... or negotiate a price. Brian gets very frustrated by this process. He likes to just say 'yes' to avoid confrontation and not cause a scene. Haha... I, on the other hand, don't mind causing a scene :)
This is where my phrase, MAI FARANG ... KHUN KRUUUUU came about. Which means I AM NOT A FOREIGNER/TOURIST... I AM A TEACHER! aka Don't rip me off, I educated your children. Phrase must be said with indignation.
It gets alot of chuckles... but it works :)
Unfortunately I was on the phone at the end of the ride, and Brian didn't understand that he was dropping us off a couple blocks away from Paragon. I don't blame Brian. I couldn't multi-task the situation, but it worked out. We found MBK which is another big mall in Bangkok. I was ecstatic because I never thought I would be able to visit so many malls in Bangkok with Brian.... But wouldn't you know he said, "Babe I love going to malls." I asked him to repeat that statement on camera. He refused :)
He finally got his movie, and we finally got to meet up with our other friend who is a teacher in Bangkok. We ate at a delicious all you can eat BBQ near her house and called it a night.
The next morning, we ate at our travel agency's restaurant. I want to go to Israel now. It's moved up my list. Their hummus changed my life. I am currently trying to find a reason to go back to Khao San just to eat more :)
We crammed into a car that took us to the bus station at Victory Monument. The ride to Hua Hin wasn't bad, though it did take a solid hour to get out of Bangkok traffic.
We didn't document Hua Hin very good. I don't think we took any pictures come to think of it... haha... it was the end of the trip... we were done with cameras I guess :)
We did go to a traditional Thai dance show which was very nice with a complete dinner set!
Hua Hin was nice but very expensive. It is the town where the King currently lives. It's sorta like Pattaya but not a big nightlife. It's by the ocean, but you can't see the sun set because of it's location. Honestly, I prefer Pattaya to Hua Hin.... way cheaper.... way nicer....
Anyway, we only stayed a couple nights and then headed back to Bangkok. Luckily once we stepped off our bus at Victory Monument another one was going to Pattaya. No lay over time! SCORE!!!
It was wonderful walking back into our apartment. We never realized how good we had it haha. We had a week left of vacation. We thought we might leave again to take advantage of the time, but we just lounged around and enjoyed the week before school started again.
We went bowling and saw a couple movies....
Halloween also happened at the end of the month. We went to the downtown parade to see how Thai's do it. It really isn't that big of a holiday here, but they tried. It was about a 5 minute parade. I don't know what walking street was like because we went to a Middle Eastern dinner with friends, but I'm sure it didn't disappoint :)
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