Lat Phrao

Dear travel journal,
Today we explored the sight's of bangkok. After a little sleep in we all met for breaky, moved all of our bags into two rooms and headed out into the big wide world. Down to the river taxi and we went for a bit of a boat ride down the river. We got off at the edge of China town and headed in to explore. We walked all through the markets with stalls packed in close together selling a million and one different things, food venders along the roads and a gold shop or two on every corner. Seriously you want it, it can more than likely be found somewhere in the markets. We tried tasty pomegranate juice and weaved our way through China town and down to a massive temple with the biggest gold Buddha inside and a smaller one with a smaller but still big Buddha. While we were there a lady had finches locked in tiny cages and it was 100 bar (thailand dollar) to give them freedom. I wonder if they ate homing pigeons or randoms that catch every day. Back through China town and onto another boat. Smaller local river taxi this time. These guys wait for no one, on and off really quick. We had to jump to make it cause the boat started taking off as we were getting on. Then we got off at the grand palace. The area was swarming with people, both military and civilian. The compound with the jade Buddha and golden temple are closed due to the mourning of the king. They had a memorial set up for locals out the front of the jade Buddha and they were very strict on who they let in the sign the memorial. There were stalls set up giving away free food and water and haircuts and all sorts and massive screens over an oval playing tributes and locals all watching and areas set up to allow people to sit and prey. People were giving out black bows. All thai are support to wear black for the period of mourning and if they aren't wearing black they should wear the bow on their shirt as tribute instead. Then we moved on to khon San road. Its the main backpacker areas with stalls and backpacker hotels and bars. Into a side street and through a door/passage way and into a cute little cafe and had a nice lunch. Then we jumped on a local bus for about an hr and half back to the hotel, which was quite fun. Back near the hotel Dana, euan and I walked through the markets and got some fruit and snacks, and water at the 7-eleven. And euan headed back to the hotel and we found Dana a vegan food stall where she got some take out for dinner. Back at the hotel we showered, packed up and headed down to the lobby. Once checkout we piled into a van and we were off to the overnight train to Chiang mai. Talk about hectic. Traffic was chaos and when we got there, there were just people everywhere. We got sorted and headed down to the platform. The train was running a bit late so we waited on the platform and I made everyone stand for a group picture. While we were there the national anthem came on. It is played at 8am and 6pm everyday over the TV, radio, police stations everywhere. Its the most surreal experience. Every single Malay stops, stands still where they are, sings the anthem to themselves and once its done just starts moving again and goes back to what they were doing. Not long after that we boarded the train. There are little sectioned off booths with two seats in each and one on either side of the carriage the whole way down. Its quite roomy really. We were all in the same cart but spread out so Jane sweet talked a bunch of people to move so that we could all sit next to each other. We chatted and had dinner off the train menu and at 9.30pm they came round and made our beds. The chairs slide down and made a bed and a top bunk flipped down from the wall and with sheets, blanket and pillow they were really quite comfy. They even have curtains across the front and window so its a little private cubicle. Our big bags are slid under the chairs our little bags with our pillows and we were good for bed. Train curfew is 10pm. No talking or walking around (except for the toilet). The toilets are interesting. There is strictly ni using a toilet when stopped at a station, wanna guess why? Yep, they open up straight onto the track... It's been an interesting day of local travel and culture. Let's see what tomorrow brings xoRead more