The begining of Asia - Bangkok

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Sawadika from Thailand,

We began our time in South East Asia in Thailand, in the capital called Bangkok. We stayed in Bangkok for 5 days and will return later in our trip as there is so much to see. It is great to be in a country that 'feels' different again. Here are some differrences about Thailand from England. The weather is very hot and humid in Bangkok, it's a different type of heat from just being in direct sunlight, the main language is Thai, the money they use is called Bhat and they are 7 hours in front of England's time.

One of the main differnces that you instantly notice is that there are food stalls everywhere. These stalls have lots of different names but them are very small stalls that sell hot food, normally they specialise in one dish. Since we have been in Bangkok we have tried some really yummy food. The first morning in Bangkok we found a little stall and ate a chicken noodle soup for breakfast! It felt unusual for us as we are used to eating cereal or toast for breakfast, but noodle dishes are eaten a lot here. It was really yummy and filled us up for ages so we decided we would have noodle soup the next day for breakfast aswell!

We found a little local food market in an area of Bangkok called Sukumvit. The market is in the road but you almost forget the road is there. We had some satay chicken, a green curry with aubergines and for pudding sticky rice, sweet mango and coconut milk. Although the combination for pudding sounded funny and we thought rice would be really filling, it was really tasty and is now one of our new favourites! As you can see we are really enjoying the food here.

What was really funny about his evening though is that suddenly we heard a car beeping it's horn. We wondered what this meant and then suddenly 5 men came and moved our table (and some others around us). The car turned down a narrow road that we had not noticed. All our chairs and tables were placed back in the road as before and we were told to sit back down to finish our meal.

There is a main river that runs through the middle of Bangkok, it is called Chao Phraya River. There are lots of different boats on this river as it acts as another road and takes people to different piers. We caught the local taxi boat (we knew which boat it was because it had an orange flag on it) and went as far up the river as we could. When we reached the end we got off and had a little walk around a market, then caught the boat back down the river, looking at all the temples as we went. We were suprised by the amount of fish in the river, everywhere you looked you could see fish jumping out of the water. Sadly though there was lots and lots of rubbish floating in the river as well.

The next day we decided to visit Wat Arun or The Temple of Dawn. This is the oldest Buddhist temple in Bangkok and from the river looks like a beautiful detailed black point. But when you get closer to it is it even more detailed than you imagioned. The outside is not black at all, infact the walls are covered in lots of coloured ceramic pieces that make patterns of flowers, animals, soldiers, demons and statues of the Hindu god Indra riding on Erawan (a three headed elephant). It is a really beautiful building with so much detail. There are also 2 flights of very steep steps that you can climb to look out over the river and some of Bangkok.

We also visited a massive weekend market called Chatuchak. This is the largest market in Bangkok and has over 8000 stalls (although this number seems to change based on what you read). They have everything from clothes, shoes, food, stationary, furniture and material to pets. The strangest thing we saw was bags of live fish and turtles in pots just sitting on a pavement. We walked around it for a long time and got a little bit lost as it was so big, but it was good to just see the types of things they sell.

There is still so much more to see here in Bangkok, but we have run out of time and are heading to Malaysia. We will explore more when we come back.

Hope you are all having a fantastic holiday. The time seems to be going so quickly.

Take care, See you soon.

Miss T

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Comments

[Mrs G]

Ah Becks, it's bringing back so,so, many memories. You haven't mentioned the juice, you must try if you haven't already. How much was the accommodation? I'm in happy land.

[Miss Thomas]

Hmmmmm juice. We have tried 2 types. One was a weird fruit that looked a bit like a pear on the outside but was harder and had small seeds. I don't know the name but it was yummy. And I have fallen in love with Limau ice! It's basically lime juice squeezed and heated with water and sugar then ice cubes out in it. (Well I think that is how they make it)! It is super refreshing in the humidity though! And our accomodation was 350 Baht each per night in an 8 bed dorm. So it's super cheap but the hostel is a little bit more out of the way which is why it was cheaper. The one we stayed in to start with was 450 Baht each but was more central!!! The budget is starting to look ok again! xxxx

[Phoebe]

Great news. At the moment I am in Amsterdam

[Miss Thomas]

To Phoebe
Have a lovely time on holiday the Potter family! And anyone else who has gone away over the Easter break. Miss T