We spent a little over a week in Bangkok and we thoroughly enjoyed our time! We did a lot of cool things like: three days of cooking classes, a day trip up to the old Thai capitol Ayutthaya, toured around Bangkok and even went to two movies! The people were so friendly & helpful, Bangkok was very modern and had all the amenities we could ever need, most things were very cheap, the food and sights were great! We didn’t really see a whole lot of Thailand, just Bangkok and Ayutthaya, and it’d be great to go back and see the rest someday. There were a ton of tourists and expats there, just a massive amount. Jacquelyn and I had been lamenting the fact Americans have been far and few in-between in our travel but there were many Americans in Bangkok and we’re good for awhile.
Thailand is the only country in the area that was not colonized by Europeans. The British were on one side (India, Myanmar) and the French were on the other (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam). The British and the French decided that Thailand would be a good buffer zone to prevent conflict between their colonies. Despite never being colonized, they definitely picked up some British habits like driving on the left side of the road. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and there are pictures and paintings of the King doing different thing like: pointing at stuff, holding swords, playing with his dogs, looking serious and taking photographs, all over Bangkok. Thailand is set up for tourism. All sorts of US brands are available, there’s many places that are a short flight from Bangkok and there’s a ton of guides available for anything a tourist could want to do.
We took three days of cooking class because Thai food is very yummy. We also like spicy food and have a fondness for Thai chilies. It’ a different type of spicy than other chilies. During our cooking classes, I added a lot of chilies to my Tom Yum soup and everyone was coughing once I started cooking my soup, even our Thai instructor. I was happy that I had a stuffy nose that day because I didn’t mind the noxious chili fumes. In another instance, Jacquelyn ordered Tom Yum soup from a street vendor; that soup is best described as “pure burning” and was more chemical weapon than food. Instant eyes watering, instant nose running, not delicious. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything that spicy. It hurt going in and out. That said, Jacquelyn finished it while I was running some errands. On my return, I found her staring at the wall. She didn’t say much other than, “I finished the soup”.
Our day trip up to Ayutthaya, the old Thai capitol, was very neat. It started by taking a $0.40 train ride two hours to Ayutthaya. We had read tourists could easily hire tuk-tuks in Ayutthaya to tour all the important sites so we didn’t do a whole lot of research on what we wanted to see. We found a driver who seemed nice; I asked him to “bring us around” while making a circle gesture with my hands. He nodded and we were off. It turned out to be a great tour and the driver was a really cool guy. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish the tour with him because his tuk-tuk died so he recruited his friend to bring us back to the train station. His friend had a pimped out tuk-tuk with a huge stereo system, very funny.
Overall, our time in Thailand went very quickly. It was too bad because it was such a great place to visit, everyone was so friendly and helpful. I can understand why Europeans and Americans flock to Thailand and why some even settle in the country. I don’t blame them, there’s a lot to love about the country, the people, and their culture.
Enjoy the photos!
Chris W.