Songkran

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A few iPhone shots from today’s adventures. We decided we would walk because we wanted to avoid traffic fumes and tuk tuk’s, which really is unavoidable in Bangkok. So, after walking around in circles we jumped in a tuk tuk to Lumpini Park. I forgot to negotiate a price, so was charged 200 baht for a 5 minute journey. Ridiculous! Always remember to agree a price before jumping in a tuk tuk because they will charge you whatever they want. Once we had had enough of Lumpini and it’s dragons, we walked again for miles, found a cash machine, grabbed a coffee yen (coffee ice, yen in thai means cool or cold I believe), which you should try. I don’t often drink coffee but coffee yen from 7/11 is so delicious and costs about 50p for a medium cup. Also, another thing to bare in mind is the amount of plastic that 7/11 staff try and push on you. Straws and a bag for a bottle of water? They really need to up their game! I have my M&S fold away bag with me so we can avoid having to use single use plastic bags whilst we are here. What we are finding difficult is avoiding plastic bottles though, as the tap water here in undrinkable, we have to buy bottled water. Any ideas on how to avoid this? I actually think that the Thai’s are good at recycling plastic though, I’ve seen separate bins dotted about the city, so hopefully they’re becoming aware of whats going on in the world. Anyway, back to yesterday… after walking around in the heat, we decided to grab the Metro to the station nearest to the Grand Palace which is almost directly across from Wat Arun. I’ve never been to see Wat Arun before, so we caught the ferry boat over which was only 4 baht per person. It was so busy. Unbelievably busy! My thinking was that it may have been a little quiet around lunchtime as it was the hottest time of the day but I guess there is never a quiet time to visit one of Bangkok’s most popular tourist sights. I forgot to mention, that this weekend was Songkran, which is Thailand’s new year water festival. I’ve experienced it so many times and have usually been in Pattaya or Phuket for it but here in Bangkok it just felt too much so we tried our best to avoid it, which we did pretty well with until we reached Sukhumvit Road and we get absolutely drenched before walking in to the hotel. I do love it and it’s an amazing experience for anyone but when I just wanted to see more of the city, the last thing you want is to walk around soaking wet! Today we are getting ready to head up North to Chiang Mai. I’m actually very excited as I’ve never been before and I get to see my Mum who I haven’t seen for about 3 weeks, so I’m looking forward to that! First thing is first though, breakfast! If you saw my post from yesterday then you’ll understand my excitement for breakfast here at the Akyra. Catch you soon, L.

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