Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2013
The Grand Palace, Bangkok
It was especially packed for the New YearOur next stop is Phuket, Thailand! And also this is where I made a slight booboo in our itinerary… I accidently forgot to book our hostel for the night we arrive! WHOOPS. We had to walk the streets of Patong Beach, Phuket with all of our shit through the throngs of party and beach goers, not to mention all the Thai people advertising ping pong shows. After we found a place to through our backpacks I headed straight for the beach even though it was already dark outside.
What surprised me most about Patong is the fact that many parents find it acceptable to bring their kids out on Bangla road. That is THE main party street filled with half naked girls, ping pong shows and crowds of drunk people. The night life here puts Hanoi to shame! The beach in Patong is over crowded. We rented a bike and drove around and found other beaches with less people and more beautiful. OH and how could I have forgot to mention this from the beginning?! I had no idea that Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand ALL drive on the left had side of the road and the first 2 also use
British electric outlets! Haha didn’t do my research very well, did I? So this was my first time driving on the left side of the road and it wasn’t too bad except for the round abouts where I had to go the opposite way. That just blew my mind and then when I finally got back to Vietnam I accidently went the wrong way around a round about here…
Anyways, Phuket… Our hostel was just down the street from Bangla road, so it was prime time for party time! =] AND the hostel was nice, a great place to meet other travelers and CLEAN! It’s definitely recommend- Bodega hostel in Patong. Also the trip out to Kho Phi Phi was longer then they told us by about an hour! But wow it was beautifulk out there with spectacular snorkeling. I would recommend staying at least a night out there, and apparently there are cool fire related parties on the beach at night! Feelings adventurous? Participate in some good ‘ol fire jump rope.
After a good base tan of 3 days in Phuket it was time to make our way to the infamous Bangkok. This is where I would
My Thai Angel
Help me find and contact her!! be spending New Years Eve, Hangover 2 style. Our hostel was 2 short streets from Khao San rd, the backpacker’s haven. This was also a fantastic accommodation choice and would strongly recommend it (NapPark Hostel). With nearly 5 days in Bangkok we had plenty of time to explore. The floating market a few hours out of Bangkok was nice but definitely all touristy shit. The canal tour we bargained for outside the Grand Palace was a decent deal. Bangkok: the Venice of the East. Saw some of the coolest temples and buildings walking around. Near the Golden Mountain there is some gothic looking huge temple with black steeples. Wow. Amazing.
The street food if Bangkok was memorable. Try all! There’s this soup type thins they put with rice noodles. The broth is made out of fish and coconut which I like neither of those things but seriously was one of my favorite dishes! I also decided to try a scorpion, BBQ style. Still not as gross congealed pigs blood but still involved the gag reflex. It was crunchy, very crunchy. There are also crickets and other sorts of weird things to try.
Soon after the strike of midnight,
mom
a hard bargainer our trip took an interesting turn. The Universe wanted to test our spirit. First, I ended up with about 10 stitches after falling and getting shanked on Khao San rd on NYE. BUT I do have to say I have a Thai angel!! This amazing soul escorted my drunk ass to the hospital, helped me fill out paper work, talked with the doctors and waited, helped me pay because I didn’t have enough money, and then made sure I got back to my hostel. I can’t for the life of me remember her name and I just have a photo. I wish there was some way to get in contact with her and thank her properly and then some.
Following this, we missed out flight to Saigon, Vietnam because I didn’t have the correct visa paperwork. UGH. We spent the day at the Vietnamese Embassy waiting for a visa, my mom left her laptop computer in a taxi and our new flight was delayed due to fictitious bad weather, and therefore we missed our train to Nha Trang as well. Shit happens.
Finally in Nha Trang, I was glad to be back in Vietnam. All the currency conversions
NYE
on Khao San rd, Bangkok were hurting my head and I know how much things should cost, no fooling me! Although Nha Trang is one of THE hot spots for tourists, I don’t see why. I think it is over rated. It’s a nice beach but nothing special, beside super high prices. The city has a few cool temples like Po Nagar and a huge Buddha. Po Nagar is a Buddhist temple unlike any other temple or pagoda in Vietnam; it’s worth seeing. We rented motorbikes and drove up the coast. It was a nice drive and we eventually found an awesome waterfall, Ba Ho. It was a nice drive out of the city and a worthy destination. Dispite the fact that I don’t think you should go swimming with fresh stitches, I took the chance and hopped in the pool below the falls. It was refreshing and had no adverse effect on my stitches anyways so YAY. The nightlife in Nha Trang was lively but with lots of reports of girls getting their drinks spiked. Beware.
Finally it was time to return home to Hanoi! I was more then excited. I know where all the good food is, I have a means of
sardines in a can
Khao San rd madness transportation and my own bed! Only one problem-over the past 2 and a half weeks the weather took a nose dive. When we arrived at the airport I nearly froze my ass off. I mean it was so cold that the classes I was supposed to get back to teaching had all been cancelled. My mom and I spent a whole day wrapped up in all our warm clothes, huddled on my couch watching tv series on the computer. For me this was the end of my holiday but my mom still had to see my foster home city. We half heartedly explored the Old Quarter and spent some time at my favorite salon. The first things I ate when I got back was chicken street and the best bun cha in town and of course the breakfast staple of Banh My Trung Pate and my favorite plain yogurt.
Holiday statistics: 6 cities, 4 countries
1 lost swim suit
1 lost laptop computer
1 flight missed
1 train missed
1 mistake on the itinerary
10 stitches
0 sickness
3 massages
1 skipped city (Saigon)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.145s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.114s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Theresa
non-member comment
Fantastic Adventure
I had the best time traveling with my daughter. I love the hostel life style, young adults, exploring new things. She did a great job planning this adventure.