Day 34-40, Bangkok

Arrival

We arrived late into Bangkok on day 33 and were upgraded into a suite (again hehe), which was ideal after a long day's travel.  Having just left the madness that was India we were struck with just how quiet everything was: no horns, no people shouting and screaming, no cars about to mow you down out of nowhere. In short it was bloody peaceful. On top of that, we had the convenience of our first trip to 7-11 which was a welcome break from the hodge podge corner stores in India which have an eclectic mix of absolutely everything apart from what you actually need. We grabbed a toasty and some juice and went straight to bed! 

Day 1

The next day we woke up and took a Grab (taxi/uber vibes), to the weekend markets. It was really interesting and you could buy just about anything. We had a great time exploring the maze but the weather was a lot hotter and more humid than we have experienced so far, so we were SWEATY! 

Sufficiently parched we decided it was time for coktails and a spot of lunch. Given that it was our 6 month wedding anniversary we decided to treat ourselves and book a nice place. The one Kirstin found was unfortunately fully booked, but Cam managed to sweet talk the person on the other end of WhatsApp and got us a table. The food was lovely and the cocktails hit the spot! 

Fed and watered we needed to head back to our lovely hotel to decant our stuff and stay at our first hostel in almost 4 weeks... It was a 15 mins walk with the bags and it was at the hottest time of the day so the sweat was lashing off us and we clearly looked like a couple of chumps. A local Tuk Tuk driver stopped us for. chat and told us it was a national holiday (lie) and that there was a rare "black budha" that was open for today only (another lie) and he could take us there for a really good price (huge F*** lie). Thankfully we are wiser than we look and just wanted to get to our hostel, so we left him to go fish for some other hapless suckers. 

Folowing on from our near scam and having had a wee rest, we decided to head out to the MBK centre to try and find a bargain. All we managed was to get our steps in, but it was an interesting wander regardless and we got to see more of the city. 

Then it was time for the rugby and we took the opportunity of being in a foreign country to be super adventerous and watch it... in an Irish pub...  In fairness it was on Koa San Road, which is the party road of Bangkok. We managed to get a good table to watch the game and started to watch the close game between Ireland and Italy, during which an English lad came and sat beside Kirstin and almost immediately said he was sad because he didnt have a date for valentines. Kirstin quickly introduced Cam as her husband and look of dejection crossed the poor guys face... he was going to stay lonely this valentines. 

A few beers in for everyone and Kirstins new pal decided to tell her a story which started out of the blue and began: "between you and me, i think i had sex with a Lady Boy last night!". Ah yes, we had definitely arrived in Bagkok. We were joined by a Welsh lad who was actually normal and a good laugh. He even kept our seats for us as we looked for some street food, avoiding the fried cockroaches and scorpions we settled on a banana roti, which was very tasty, although at that point in the night and with our tummys grumbling anything would have been, well perhaps not the cockroaches.

Then we won the calcutta cup and even had some of the locals cheering with us. Everyone was in a partying mood apart from the sad lonely englishman whose night just seemed to be going from bad to worse... Celebrations over, it was back to the hostel and off to bed! 

Day 2

With Cam being hungover, there were no alarm clocks for the Lloyds on Day 2... and with the added (very valid) excuse of being an hour and a half further away from british time, we slowly got outselves up and met with Kirstins friend from her previous travels and her Partner, Drew. We had a lovely lunch at our second mitchelin recomended restaurant of bangkok, Rongros. Where we had some lovely food and all got caught up/introduced. 

After lunch we went a walk in an attempt to find a fancy bar (which was closed down), which took us through the flower market, which was beautiful. Having failed to find the bar after an 40 mins walk in the stiffling heat, the gang was desperate for beers and aperols, so we eventully settled into a lovely jazz bar which was super funky. 

After a few more beers, Cat and Drew needed to go catch up on some sleep after their journey getting to Thialand so we headed back to the Hostel for a quick turnaround and then off out to the kick boxing. A quick 7-11 snack fix and into the Muay Thai stadium we went. It was an interesting experience for sure and the stadium was really cool, but by the time the 3rd set of fighters had started, we had our fill of young lads knocking lumps out each other so went to get some food. 

We had spotted another michelin recomended Pad Thai spot near the hostel so set course for that... We are so glad we did, it was without a doubt cams best bite of the trip so far. It was so delicious and topped with iberian pork belly, pork jowel and pork crackling... it was incredible, rich and filling, so much so we were quickly asleep after eating it. 

Day 3 

We had a super early start this morning, as we had our tours of the main attractions in Bangkok. The first stop was the royal palace, which we had driven past the previous day. From the outside it was impressive, from the inside it was jaw dropping. Cam had been before but even still was left in awe. The complex is really big and filled with impressive murals, shrines, demon statues and more. All of it stunning. We were left to wander and we sat in front of the jade budha to soak in the atmosphere. Everything was beautifully decorated and covered in gold. 

The tour was then split up into groups to jump into.our first Tuk Tuk of the holidays. Ever the codependents that we are we stuck together to make sure we weren't split up (we also didn't want to be with the annoying people in our tour). We ended up being sat with an Italian woman who looked like she was about to wet herself as the Tuk Tuk raced through the streets. 

We arrived at Wat Pho or the temple of reclining Buddha. Once again, this was a stunning building, this time however, it housed a massive golden Buddha that was lying on his side and looking rather pleased with himself! The statue was truly impressive with the greatest artistic detail being on the feed where there were some impressive designs inlaid in mother of pearl. 

We were blessed by a monk and had a wander around the grounds seeing even more Buddha statues, again, all of the buildings and statues were incredible. 

It was time to sail across the Chao Phraya river to the final temple stop, Wat Arun. Wat Arun is an incredible structure hundreds of years old in the middle of the city. The colours and the actual scale and design of the temple were really a sight to behold. Before reaching the temple we crawled under the kings bed. It was as bizarre as it sounds, but we literally crawled under the kings old bed frame in a ritual that is supposed to bring you good luck. 

We climbed Wat Arun and got a closer look at the three levels of statues that held up the monumental structure: some woman, some angels and some demons. It was really really cool to be amongst the beautiful temple. 

Back across the river, we walked to the flower market again, as we had been there the day previously we dipped out early and went to a local place recommended by the guide for food. We had a pad kra pao (pork mince stir fried with basil and chilli) and a curry noodle soup which were both super tasty! 

-Photos of pad kra pao and soup 

On the way into the restaurant we had spotted a massage stall doing super cheap massages so we thought we would give it a shot. Expecting the usual Thai massage, we were surprised when the masseuses brought out hammers and chisels and began knocking lumps out of us... In all seriousness, this technique (called Tokyo Sen) was actually really nice and managed to relieve a lot of the tightness we had accrued from the long car journeys over the last month or so. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlC8ChuNJxc

Loose and limber we found ourselves back at the hostel. Cam took the moment of quiet to visit a local barber. Whilst it was a risk as you never know how well they are going to cut your hair, it was too hot in Bangkok to not have the Barnett clipped. As it happened, the woman sorted Cam out and he wasn't scalped! 

Freshly trimmed and well rested we headed out to meet Cat and Drew for a couple of drinks and some food. We tried to get into another Michelin restaurant but Cam was (for the first time in a while) told it wasn't happening and was unable to charm us in. Alls well that ends well as we found a class wee Thai spot where we had an amazong massaman curry. 

After some food, the jet lag was taking its toll on Cat and Lewis so we bid them a good night and a fare well. We were still full of beans however so went wandering to find a rooftop bar. Eventually we found Aether which was on the 44th floor and had a full 360 panorama of the Bangkok skyline. It was amazing, but also a little scary as it felt like a strong gust of wind could blow us off at any minute!! We had a drink and then slowly wound our way home. 

Day 4 

After a lateish night we decided not to get up too early. As per usual, Cam woke up first so in order to give Kirstin her rest he went and found an outdoor gym. On the way home he picked up some snacks from 7-11, one of which was a custard and green tea croissant which was delish! 

Kirstin, very excitingly had a phone call regarding a job in Australia, so we hung about the hostel until that and then headed out for the days adventure. Today the main adventure was a food tour in china town. 

What we had was:

1. Kah moo, made of pork knuckle in a Chinese spiced stew. Very tasty. 

2. Thai fishcake, a lovely texture and flavour, probs cams fav of the tour. 

3. Pork satay, from the same place as the fishcakes and probably Kirstin's fav. It was skewers of pork BBQd and dipped in a peanut sauce. 

4. Chicken hotpot, again from the same place as above, a clear flavourful broth with noodles and eggs in addition to the chicken. 

5. Golden curry, kinda like a curry from Chinese back home...

6. Fish bladder soup, this was a freebie that wasn't supposed to be included. Texture of the bladder was awful, best not to be described. The soup was kinda like a grave you would put on a roast. 

7. Prawn dumplings, an (ex) Michellin rated restaurant, they served two prawn dumplings which were delicious. I suspect the Michelin guide has tightened things up in Thailand as there were loads of stall that had Michellin recommended until recently. 

8. Guay jub, a peppery soup traditionally served with offal but we had it with pork belly. Very tasty for cam, not so much for Kirstin. 

9. Soy sauce ice cream, a really rogue call but it was absolutely delicious. A must get when in Chinatown. 

10. Prawns, soup, clams, morning glory. We finished the savoury off with a mix of nice seafoody bits. It was enjoyable. 

11. Mango sticky rice, cam enjoyed a lot. Kirstin thought it was okay but was expecting it to be more like rice pudding.

12. Doughnuts with pandan custard. "No notes" Kirstin Lloyd - 2026. Worthwhile. 

Following the food tour we wandered around china town and found a lovely rooftop bar that was on a slant. So much so Kirstin rolled her cocktail down the bar instead of it being mixed, see below vid. 

We tried to get into another rooftop bar but clearly didn't look fancy enough (not helped that cam was in a tank top) and ended up in a witchy/harry potter vibe themed bar. Full of cocktails we had a long but lovely walk home enjoying each others chat (best part of the night).

Day 5 

Today was world cup tickets day. So we were up at 0730 to get in the queue. Just as well we got up so early as we only had to wait 4 hours to secure tickets... But at least we did in fact secure tickets!! Having stared at a laptop screen all morning it was time to go for lunch, we wandered for a while (place we wanted was shut) and settled for a place which was okay. Disappointment didn't last too long however as we managed to get some coconut pancake things which were really tasty. 

Slowly we got ourselves turned around and went for a lovely walk through Lumphini park and managed to spot tonnes of lizards which was really cool. 

We went for another wander in a shopping center and Kirstin found a Uniqlo. She decided to get some local patches sewed onto her bag, in the meantime it's contents were put into a plastic bag. Which would have been fine, but we ended up wandering into a fine dining restaurant which used to have a Michelin star. We were probably the scruffiest patrons to darken their doorstep but we had a lovely meal regardless. 

We finished the night off with a tuk tuk home, and he drove like a maniac...

Day 6 

Our final day in Bangkok started with another tour, this time it started at the train market. A market in Southern Bangkok which disassembles 4 times a day in order to let a train through. We grabbed ourselves a Thai Ice tea and watched the market transform and train go by. 

Next stop was the floating markets which were really cool and very aesthetic but most of the stuff was too big for us to take home unfortunately. We had some food and then made our way to the final stop of the tour. 

Ayutthaya was the former capital of Siam (effectively the Thai empire) it would have been absolutely incredible to see in it's hayday but unfortunately it was torn to pieces by some invading Burmese. Regardless it was still an incredible experience to see all of the ruins. 

We were delivered back to the MBK centre where Kirstin went on a hunt for a jade ring, which she found. And we wandered the shops for a wee bit. We then wanted to track down a famous Thai Ice team spot, Chongdee. We successfully found it and it was really tasty and served with doughnuts, so Kirstin was dead happy. 

We decided to get another pad Thai from the amazing place we had visited the other night but were bitterly disappointed when they said they had run out... What followed was an aimless wander trying to track down somewhere nice for our final meal of Bangkok. Unfortunately we ended up just having food at the hostel. Which in fairness was quite nice. 

We did some final planning for the rest of our Thai trip and then it was off to bed. 

We had an absolute blast in Bangkok and we weren't really ready to leave as we felt there was so much still left to do. Alas, it's off to Chiang Mai to explore what the rest of Thailand has to offer. Bangkok, we will be back!!