On the 28th of January we were on a flight to Bangkok, Thailand.
Bangkok is an amazing, crowded, big, fast and hot city.
Walking around shows you how big it is and how easy to get lost in the crowd. This is why we decided to take a water taxi to the floating market. The Pharaya River is big and kinda wild. We had to hold on tight in the traditional boot not to go overboard. But I think it is the nicest way to travel through Bangkok. The Talin Chan Floating Market is outside of the city and very serene. After that we went to the temple, Wat Pho. This temple is next to the grand palace and is famous for the enorm reclining Buddha(liggende boeddha). This Buddha is almost as big as the temple self, therefor walking around you can only see pieces of it at a time.
Besides the temples and the markets there is another really good thing in Thailand: Good Food
I have to say, before coning here I was scared of all the spices, bugs(still am…) and basically everything I thought to know about Thai food. But because of Stefan my experience dus far is really good!
For the good food you only have to walk to the road, but for good food and a nice location, people and music we went to Khaosan road. The road it self is very busy with a lot to see but the little side street is where all the nice restaurants are with lovely decorated terraces. The best surprise was the good live music (thus far it all sounded like very bad karaoke)
Because we really enjoy wandering over markets we had to go to the biggest one: JJ Market with over 15.000 stalls. There is one big street out side with stalls and you think this is lovely… But… then you notice that the buildings behind the stalls are also part of it and you go and have a look… Insane… There is just enough room to walk between the variety of goods they have to offer, from art to fake fruit and everything you can think of. I think we havent even seen 10 percent of the market itself.
On Monday we arrived in Chiang Mai. We wanted to take the train but because of the Chinese new year they were completely booked so we took a flight.
Arriving at our apartment we were happy to see our good friends Feisal and Ksenia who took us out for a lovely Thai-Italian dinner.
Chiang Mai is (like everyone told me) completely different from Bangkok. It is not as hot, busy and big. This city has a nice layout with the center being Old Town, surrounded by the leftovers from the old city walls. There is so much to see and do and so little time.. For now we have been to the Warorot market, a big in door market with a lot of little stalls where you can get anything you want. (I bought new earrings and two sarongs 😉 A Temple called Wat Saen Fang, a Live Jazz bar, a rooftop bar with amazing cocktails, a Spanish tapas bar with live music (the owner Chris knew Stefan from last time he was here and welcomed us like we were all good old friends) and a variety of good breakfast/lunch and diner restaurants.
