Heading South to Phuket

People in Thailand are so friendly we have yet to encounter a rude or not smiling person! Sad to leave Bangkok but knowing we still have loads of adventures ahead of us J and I  boarded a plane to the south of Thailand.

Well if we thought Bangkok was hot it has nothing on Phuket. A wall of humidity greeted us at Phuket airport but then so did our smiling Thai transfer that was taking us to our hotel the Andaman Seaview Hotel. Where we discovered that not only did we have a room but an entire suite complete with towel bunnies and flowers on our beds. Rocking it! Big up to J  for organising this one.

Arrival sunsets seem to be our thing in Thailand as we topped off our first night in Phuket with a rainbow, sunset walk on the beach and dinner at a very fancy restaurant on the rocks by the sea. Then last but not least we treated ourselves to pedicures. This is the relaxed life.

A sleep in at our palacial accommodation was devine not to mention our breakfast where there was everything on offer from bacon, eggs, fruit, cereal, yoghurt, waffles, curries, rice and  the list goes on and on.

Plan for the day: off to Phuket town to go and check out the architecture and shopping. To get there we needed to get the equivalent of a tuk tuk down here which is like a little half loaf van like the one in the movie 'Under the Tuscan Sun' that the Polish workers pile off of. Imagine a truck but a mini me version with the seats along the side and no glass in any of the back windows so that air can flow through.

Phuket town was interesting especially as there was a Vegetarian Festival on the go so there was so many street food stalls and red lanterns hanging about. It was also so hot it felt like we were actually in huge sauna. So much sweating!

Walking around we passed by the food stalls and got some steamed dumpling type buns that had black beans and pumpkin in them. We also managed to find the old town which was great for photography but not so great for avoiding taxi drivers hoping to drive us anywhere. 'No thank you we have seen the big Buddha, yes and the monkeys and no thank you no shopping' become the words of the afternoon.

Fails of the day include us wanting to catch one of the cute red 'Honey I shrunk the truck' vans but accidently getting a normal car taxi. People really shouldn't sleep in cars that aren't theirs. Note to self ask a taxi driver which car is his first before agreeing to get in.

Wins of the day were getting a yummy meal just 10 minutes before the special finished for the day and for the win Miss J and her excellent bartering skills when buying a new handbag!

Arrival Bangkok

There is much to be said about embarking on an adventure knowing that there is a friendly face waiting for you on the other end of a 15 hour flight.

Life long friend and travel companion Jenna.  Not only an amazing friend who to be honest I can't even remember how we met as our friendship has always just existed in the fabric of my memory. Together we plan to explore as much of Thailand as we can before she leaves me to jetset back to South Africa and her job and I carry on to what will hopefully be a trip around Vietnam and Cambodia. But I'm getting ahead of myself...first Bangkok!

Art of miscommunication and its abundance. After checking into our hotel we found ourselves a little bit hungry and needing to break some big 1000 baht notes so we went into the 7 Eleven next door where  we discovered delicious looking sausage and cheese toasted sandwich. We ordered with glee and salivating anticipation only to receive sausages in a bag smothered in melted cheese. Lesson one learnt more hand gesturing and broken English is needed. Maybe learning some Thai would be good too.

Catching the river boats on our first night we got caught in the tourist net by getting the blue tourist boat for 40 baht when we could have gotten the orange boat for just 14 baht. You know what they say about hindsight...it's a #*$*

Oh well Bangkok 2 J&T  0.

Actually to be fair it all worked out pretty well the blue boat cruise was not as crowded and we could sit and enjoy the views while we stressed over whether we were about to miss the central pier stop. After a couple of false alarms we found the right stop and a short walk later we were ascending the 64 floors to the sky bar at the top of the Lebua State Tower like slightly underdressed superstars. Two expensive cocktails later we were sitting catching up while the sun did it's thing and set dramatically over the sprawling city of Bangkok. For just one night we lived the highlife literally.

J&T  64 - Bangkok 2

Being 64 floors up can make a girl hungry so next order of business was some dinner so off we went to get a taxi to a market and food area.

'You want tuk tuk 150 baht'
J: 100 baht
Driver: yes

And with that exchange and our first thai negotiation we were off in what I can only describe as a cross between a golf cart and a motorbike with a cart stuck on the back that would never have passed a road worthy test. Zipping and weaving through the traffic we hoped to goodness this guy knew what he was doing. Of course we were taking photos and selfies that our driver decided he would turn around and join us for! Who says you need to keep your eyes on the road when driving. Our first tuk tuk  ride and a massive check on our Bangkok to do list!!

Next item food with J ordering her first ever phad thai with roasted pork. Having had it before myself I decided to go with a soft shell crab version. Which as it turns out is in fact a small crab deep fried. He came sat on top of my phad thai looking at me. Let's just say I gave it a good ole  try but a lot of his limbs got pushed to the side.

Day two in Bangkok brought our first full day of exploration. Our goal was to visit the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha Temple, Wat Pho and anything else we could fit in. So it was off to the boats again this time buying orange tickets to make our way to the Grand Palace.

It was a feast for the eyes! So much mosaic, patterns, colours and different textures you almost didn't know where to look. The only thing I can think of from Europe that has this much colour, design and patterns are Gaudi's pieces in Barcelona.

The Grand Palace is a big complex of buildings and has been used for about 150 years as the official residence of the King. Inside the complex you find the Emerald Buddha Temple also called the Wat Phra Kaew. The Emerald Buddha is actually made of jade. When it was discovered it had a clay layer over it so no one knew there was anything underneath until the Buddha's nose flaked a bit a revealed green stone which they mistakenly thought to be emerald at first hence the name. It is quite small and located up high on a pyramid type altar but the Buddha is carved from a single block of jade which is cool.

What we have learnt about temples so far: they are called 'wat's '. They have strict dress code rules that are not always enforced. Although we enjoyed the Grand Palace J and I both agree that a guide or the audio guide would have been more helpful to actually know the significance of what we were looking at. Wat Pho was awesome to visit. It sits just behind the Grand Palace complex and is a UNESCO world heritage site. At this Wat there is a huge golden reclining Buddha who is chilling out. It's so big!! And the rest of the buildings are in all different stages of decay it was amazing and so much more relaxed than the Grand Palace. It kinda left like we were walking around scenes from the Tomb Raider movies.

Finding the local flower markets proved more difficult than we thought and on the way J discovered a Boots store! Which made her body lotion and my sunscreen (without whitening, yes they have ones that do that) dreams come true! The flower markets then just miraculously appeared in the roads behind the Boots. Where flowers cost only R3.25 / €0.30! A flower lovers paradise.

Question of the night: the difference between street food and a restaurant on the street?

Same same just different me thinks!

Bangkok, we didn't know what to expect from you. It was like a proper old school blind date and but after just two days our vote is you get a second date.