Bangkok - Better than expected but where are the people?

Bangkok was the place I was least excited about in my travels. Everyone basically said to come but only for a few days MAX (they all emphasized not staying longer) - no one really had good things to say. I think everyone feels obligated to visit given it is where the flights fly into and it is the biggest city in Thailand. Luckily, I had a great time! Given I didn’t have many plans I walked almost everywhere racking up well over 20 miles across the two days here. Being here 2 days now I am still confused by the city - where is the true city center?  My hotel for the first two nights was down a dark alley and there was no one around ever. I walked home Saturday night and in a 30 minute walk I only passed two people and a few cars. Can you imagine walking in New York City for 30 minutes and not seeing any people? It is massive from just a sheer size standpoint. 

The big highlight of my trip to Bangkok was a floating market and orchard farm tour hosted by Pook via Airbnb experiences. It was incredible. She took us on this canal boat to 2 markets and an orchard farm. Many of the vendors at the markets bring their goods via boat or even sell the items via their boat. We tried so many things! My favorite being the coconut rice pancakes. I was completely stuffed after the first market and extremely stuffed after the second market, but then Pook announced that we would end with a 5 course meal. I was grateful to be gluten free and not able to try everything at a certain point because it was so much food. One surprising thing was how sweet everything was. I felt like everything we tried was loaded with sugar.

Following the market I went to the Grand Palace and the Wat Pho temple (reclining buddha temple). Both were very cool to see and beautiful, but I wished I knew more of the history. At the Grand Palace the guards had bayonets, which I didn’t know people still carried as a form of protection! Next I went to get a Thai Massage because how could I possibly be in Thailand for more than 24 hours and not get a massage? I went to this place that seemed sort of sketch down an alley but it was wonderful!

I closed my first full day in Bangkok off with a Disney themed night at a jazz club and then a cocktail bar in Chinatown, which I selected based on how comfortable the chairs looked!

Day two was so lovely because I saw the things I wanted to see on day one so there was no pressure to “tourist”! I went to a few malls to find a bookstore (4 massive malls were all next to each other) and all of them felt so high end. I loved all the clothes but they didn’t appear to have anything above a size x-small or small. Where do size medium and above shop in Thailand? Guess you can’t be fat here…odd given everything is soaked in sugar!  At one of the malls there was some celebrity everyone was there to see. It was very thrilling to see how excited everyone got even though I had no idea who it was. Growing up in Port Huron I never got to experience a celebrity mall visit (shockingly Hillary Duff never stopped by Birchwood Mall) - thus it was thrilling to experience! After the mall I headed to a vegan cafe for a vegan gluten free mouse cake and mac and cheese. One would think vegan gluten free mac and cheese in Thailand wouldn’t be very good, but shockingly it was great! Wishing my gluten free girlies - Gabby and Sydney were here to experience with me! 

Given I have to wake up super early I headed back to my hotel early. My taxi driver was on the phone with his girlfriend/wife (unclear) the entire 25 minute ride on SPEAKER phone!  t was in Thai of course so I couldn’t really understand but I did pull out my Google Translate App and the fight appeared to be about someone not doing the dishes and his mom had to do them...YIKES! Google Translate needs to get better at understanding poor audio of couples fighting in taxis because I need the translation! 

I was shocked to find how incredible the hotel pool was - love me an infinity pool overlooking the skyline. Also, for elite members there was free dinner and drinks! Thank you Marriott for the VIP treatment as always! I would be more than happy to get paid to travel to all the luxury Marriott hotels and experience them - just putting that out here.

I did not find/nor did I look for the Red Light district but I did see some great looking dispensaries with fun exteriors. Fun fact: weed is legal in Thailand! No mom, I didn’t smoke weed here by myself (I know you were thinking it). ​