Bangkok Day 1, a Large and Vibrant City... and Might I Add Hot!

Bangkok was a wild adventure and jammed packed for three days. In addition, some learning lessons to take away for future travel, those mainly occurring in our last 12 hours in the city. But before I give you the details, let’s start from the top. 

We had an early flight from Koh Samui to Bangkok, a wake up call around 4am to pack up and get to the airport. It was cute at the airport, it felt more like a strip mall than it did an airport (picture to the right is right outside our gate). A new flight experience for me was Bangkok Airways had free refreshments for us at the gate. So we had unlimited water, coffee, tea, and some morning pastries to enjoy before boarding. Not only did we eat and drink then, but also had a full meal on the plane. Sadly it was chicken fried rice so I didn’t eat it, but the service was quite outstanding. Bangkok Airways took us safely from our island paradise to the bustling city that would take us by storm. 

One great perk of Bangkok and being back in a city is that traveling around by cab is easy and cheap. We got a Grab, the Uber of Southeast Asia, and it was only about $8 to get from the airport which is about 30 minutes outside the city to our hotel. And split in half, $4 felt like pennies when you typically think of transport to and from the airport. We got to our lovely hotel, Nanda Heritage Hotel (photo to the left), checked in and then we on our way to explore the city. Again, our hotel was $30 a night so only $15 each!

I’m not sure if this is your gut reaction when you are in a new city, but Izzy and I had a strong inclination to walk to a coffee shop we had in mind, a breezy 30 minute jaunt away. Except it wasn’t breezy and instead hot, humid, and sticky. We were covered in sweat from the heat and even some particles of dust from the nearby construction we passed along the way. At least we can say we saw a new side of Bangkok, we were in the old city center, District 1, where most of the main attractions were along with the traditional city housing, this being the small and tightly packed homes. We walked roads too narrow for cars and homes lined next to each other.

We finally made it to the cafe, White Dragon Cafe, and relished in the AC as the thought of caffeine surging through our veins creeped into our minds. We also got some comfort food, avocado toast, that satisfied the hunger we summed up during our walk. We chatted, reflected on our lovely Koh Samui stay, ate, and then worked a bit. Izzy had some work for her classes and I took the time to dedicate towards my personal projects. After almost two hours, we realized the day was passing and we better get moving. We picked a temple to head to, the lucky Wat Pho was chosen, and walked there, this connection much shorter.

Wat Pho (six photos below) was such a lovely temple, ornate structures and architecture I’d never seen or experienced before. I geeked a bit when I saw my first monk, a man draped with the iconic burnt orange robe. Little did I know I would see more, many at the temples I’d visit. We went to the temple close to closing time so we had most of it to ourselves. But, because we got a late start to our temple hopping, this was our first and last for the day because the rest closed early like this one, around 5pm. 

The whole time we were in there we had no water, and it was an uneven amount of water intake and what was leaving, sweating pounds off our bodies. We hustled to the nearest 7-11 and got some water and snacks. In addition to the mega size water, I decided it would be a good idea to also get some cold soy milk, drink it as a snack and get in some protein. It was such a large carton it really filled me up, I was definitely satisfied for the time being.

We didn’t know what to do next, moreover what direction to walk, so we headed towards our dinner spot. We ended up just eating right away because we had nothing else on the agenda we could do because it was either very far or closed for the day. Full from the soy milk that I regretted chugging, I was not hungry for our meal but knew I should probably still eat. I was praying it would take a while to get ready or it would have modest proportions. Neither of my wishes came true. This massive meal of mine came out within minutes of ordering and it was served in a dish that resembled a literal tree trunk (the photo to the right, the two bowls took up the width of the table). I picked for the protein, my favorite vegetables, and for some reason the French fries were speaking to my cravings. It was tough for me to make any progress and I put the task on Izzy to finish what I couldn’t. She did some serious damage, but we both left that restaurant busting at the seams with rounded bellies. We even had leftovers we took out back with us out of pity and hope we could summon the hunger one day to finish what we started.

From the food coma and the early wake up call, we went back to our hotel and vegged in our beds the rest of the night. One fun thing about our night was we were both a bit delirious from the dehydration and stuffed full from the food, I don’t think I laughed more and was in such a silly mood than that night. At least we made some fun out of our poor planning regarding timing and eating.