0030. Thailand (part 1)

A year ago today, AB and I were shedding some tears during our last sunset in Krabi - we didn't want to leave! It was our honeymoon, emancipation trip. We're not actually married but it felt that way - the elation of leaving nyc and the joy of our new life starting. Free of the shackles of a home and jobs, we'd hopped on a plane to this place that had been endlessly gnawing at my brain. All these memories feel as fresh as if they were a week ago.

Bangkok. And arriving like a zombie in the middle of the night - oof.

Exhausted, but oh so happy to be there, we had directions to our rental in English and Thai but we still couldn't find it. Based on AB consulting an app (highly recommend since you can download the map and you don't need wifi to use it - maps.me), we got out in an alley knowing it was close-by. There was a garage and a couple of people who despite not knowing English tried to help us. Luckily, two younger (English-speaking) samaritans appeared and even though they didn't know where it was pointed us in the right direction - to the elevated subway where we finally saw the building name across the street. Wooo, we were definitely getting ready to curl up in that alley.

We didn't really have a plan for Bangkok, we figured we'd stay a couple of days to acclimate and then make our way north. Part of what took so long to finalize this post is that while this blog is about travel, we're not travel bloggers, just a couple of monkeys who really wanted to go to Thailand. Our travel style is slow. We prefer loose itineraries where wandering and getting lost is encouraged as opposed to running around and checking all the boxes. We acted like we were (lost) locals and it was our weekend to enjoy the city. Wander, eat, repeat.

[ day 1 ]

After an amazing nights sleep (read: very late start), we woke up ravenous and took the subway to a restaurant I'd read about. Bangkok's first public park was right down the street so with full bellies we made our way there. Lumphini park is a lush oasis in this giant city and we walked around for a couple of hours, touching trees, people watching, and testing out the outdoor gym. AB thought a monitor lizard was a giant snake which was very sweet. Next, we made our way to one of the night markets where I got awesome vintage levi's (which have since been stolen in said suitcase). The market was buzzing with people and it was fun to explore while still being outside. Navigating the city by train is very easy and it was nice to at least have that semi-figured out. AB had read about a noodle place but we didn't make it in time so we popped into a random spot around there. Even though it was our first day we tackled it like champs and walked about an hour all the way home. We got to see the city and river all lit up and walked by spots we wouldnt have seen had we taken the train.     
             

These small shrines were all over the country / Giant leaves! I would have loved to bring that home.

                    [ day 2 ]      

We woke up ready for some wats (temples in Thai). We walked to the noodle spot for lunch stopping by the pier park to watch people playing takraw. With full bellies we walked around the area and to the river to get a longboat to Wat Arun - a gorgeous tiled temple consisting of a main prang and several others. The detail, patterns, and colors are so beautiful! We spent a long time there walking around and just taking in every little thing. One of the best parts of wandering temples is that meditating is so easy. I've never meditated but it was so nice to take a moment, close my eyes and just quiet my brain down from the stimulation of being in a new place. Monks were chanting and I felt so lucky to be there halfway across the world in this beautiful Buddhist temple. We took the cross ferry over to Wat Pho - one of the oldest temple complexes in Bangkok with darker colored prangs and a giant reclining Buddha. Afterward, we stopped in Saranrom Park on our slow walk to the best pad thai ever (and I'm not really a pad thai person - it's called Thipsamai). We walked home again cooling ourselves off with ice cream and cold beer along the way. Long walks in new places are the best - we saw a cool outdoor temple which I do not know the name of and even though we were exhausted we went for a swim in the building's pool - we were the only ones there and the view was amazing. It was the perfect end to a fun day.

         [ day 3 ]

As soon as we bought our flights (sometime in November) AB said, "Darn it, the Eagles are going to the Superbowl this year because I wont be here." His mom is from the Philly suburbs and he grew up an Eagles fan. Of course, he couldn't miss it. We had an early morning (12-hour time difference) and our friends facetimed the game. It's funny to know that we were part of their superbowl experience as a phone propped in a box even though we were all the way in Asia. Football is my absolute least favorite sport but I was happy to support AB and the underdogs. We had a slow, relaxed morning at 'home', ate some pad thai leftovers and got on the train to the airport to fly to Chiang Mai. It was a quick couple of days and while we enjoyed it we had so much to look forward to and didn't feel sad because we'd be stopping by again soon.

There are so many things to see and do in Bangkok, had we not been looking for a restful time we would have hit up more spots. As we were, this laid back approach was exactly what we needed to start out our adventure. Next stop - Chiang Mai!