Bangkok

We set off through the humid streets, the smells of exhaust, rice and urine mixing on the air. People sat eating fragrant seafood soups for breakfast whilst dogs and cats crept or slept under foot. Lacklustre calls from tuk tuk drivers rang out as we headed for the peace of Wat Pho, a temple complex of ornate structures and gardens renowned for its 46 metre long reclining Buddha.

We moved as if in slow motion through the decorated halls, the golden Buddhas reflecting the light as the air around us refused to budge. We found cool tranquillity in the shaded calm of one of the temples, sitting down to reflect under the gaze of the Buddha as locals came and went to pray. The intricate detail of the designs in pottery and glass throughout the complex continuing to impress us.

After a lunch of Pad Thai, freshly cooked in front of us at a street stall, we crossed through the city to another site of religious and cultural significance, The Golden Mount. The deep ring of giant bronze bells sounding out as we past monks in saffron robes to climb the 300 steps around the mount’s coiling staircase. At the summit, the city lay out before us, a contrast of old and modern, new and decaying, 14 million lives moving around us.

We sampled more street food through the day, Kim dining out on fresh coconut ice-cream and a banana and Nutella pancake. In the evening we met our Stray tour leader, Keo (pronounced Gow), and small group with whom we will leave Bangkok with tomorrow. Like with Kiwi Experience in New Zealand this is a ‘hop-on, hop-off’ bus so the faces will change along the way. So far there is Jacob and Poppy, a couple from New Zealand and England respectively. However Poppy has lived in New Zealand for years and has even appeared on the country’s reality television show, ‘The Bachelor’ (http://www.womansday.co.nz/celebrity/celebrity-…). There is also Thomas from Holland who is travelling for 6 months after finishing school.

Content with dinner and Chang beers we wandered back through the busy streets full of the lights and smells of cooking street stalls to prepare for us departure from Bangkok in the morning.Read more