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Published: November 30th -0001
17th September 2010
So after a pretty bad night’s sleep we got to Bangkok just after 6am. We got two cabs to the hostel which should have taken about 30minutes but the driver got lost and couldn’t find the hostel, eventually he dropped us off at what we thought was out hostel, turns out it was wrong so we had to wait for Tony (tour leader) to come and find us.
We were given 2 hours to shower, unpack and get breakfast before we were meeting at reception for The Grand Palace excursion.
We got the shuttle boat from stop 13 to stop 9 which cost about 30p; this was the entrance to the palace. We had to make sure we covered up as we were inspected when we entered; if you didn’t have your shoulders and legs covered you would not be allowed inside. We were given a tour guide to walk us round the palace and explain what we were looking at and give us some background knowledge about its history. I took about 40minutes and then we had some free time to take pictures.
Round the back of The Grand Palace there is another temple called The Wat
Pho. It’s one of the largest and oldest temples in Bangkok and its home to the world’s largest reclining Buddha. It was pretty spectacular!
We got back to the hostel and I had to sort my Australian visa out. I made a few phone calls to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok and eventually I spoke to the right person and she told me what I had to do. I needed to fax the embassy a copy of my passport with a few other details. Tony came with me to help me sort it out and within a few minutes of leaving the hostel, the skies opened. We took a few shortcuts down the back allies which actually made it worse as there were no drainage systems. We were ankle high in water!! We did everything we needed in the shop and hoped that the weather may have settled down by the time we were leaving. This did not happen - if anything, it had got worse! Eventually we got back to the hostel and the storm continued for a few more hours.
Me and Alanna decided to brave the weather and get some lunch from across the road. By the
time we had finished, the weather had cleared up so we decided to head down to Kaosan Road to check out the markets; however we had to be back for 6pm as we were saying goodbye to Jamila and Anne as they were leaving the group.
In the evening Alanna, Tony and I went to the stalls down our road for some dinner, we order like 5 dishes to share between us - it was way too much but it was good to try some of the local food. We met up with two new guys who were joining our tour, one was Tony’s boss and the other was her brother, we also met his other boss who is based out in Bangkok and another Tour guide from the same company. We went out for a few drinks and got to know the others which were really nice. We left around 1am and headed back to the hostel in preparation for our early start and long day in the morning.
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june scoones
non-member comment
catching up with you...
Dear Nicola, It was great to get the latest blog and to see again how much you are getting out of your travels in the Far East. It all sounds fascinating and the pictures you are taking are just great to see! How miserable to hear about your lost (stolen) passport and phone - what a miserable start to your journey. But all seems much better now and your latest blog has made my day. I can't wait to tell someone all about it! All the very best to you, with love, Grandmaxxx