Bangkok

After months of planning, days of packing and tearful goodbyes at the airport I began my adventure. Two flights and several movies later I arrived in Bangkok.

Bangkok was the first stop on my round the world trip four years ago. I remember it being a huge culture shock arriving in a busy, humid city. This time I knew what to expect as I arrived to the chaos of Bangkok airport. Surprisingly, I was through immigration in ten minutes, straight in my taxi and on my way to the hotel.

I joined the rest of my group from Xplore Asia at the H-residence hotel in the Sathorn area. We were spending the weekend there before heading to Hua Hin for our orientation week. For those of you who don't already know, I've come to Thailand to volunteer teaching English. I organised my trip with Xplore Asia, a company who organise teaching and volunteering placements throughout Asia.

The view from my hotel rooftop

My time in Bangkok was spent sleeping off the jet lag, getting to know the other people in my group and being a tourist. Having visited Bangkok before I had already been to lots of the tourist hot spots so I spent time visiting some of the places I never made it to on my last visit, including the Grand Palace. The tuk tuk drivers will tell you that the palace is closed and try and take you to buy silk but I wasn't being fooled by them again, the palace was open! We got to the palace by taking a boat down the river. I don't even remember seeing a river on my last visit!

The most important rule when visiting temples is to have your knees and shoulders covered. We forgot about this (blame the jet lag) but luckily you can hire long skirts and blouses at the palace for about 200B.

         

Lebua Sky Bar

On our last night in Bangkok we went to a roof top bar with incredible views of the city. Apparently this is where they filmed some of The Hangover 2. Drinks were quite pricey in here compared to other bars but it was worth it for the views.

Namaste x