Thai trip: Bangkok

Good evening dear readers,

Today I’d like to start with the first chapter of a series of blogposts about the trip to Thailand and Cambodia that my boyfriend and I took in January. We traveled 18 days in total, so I won’t do only one blogpost about this journey, as I’ve got a lot of stories and photos to show you.

On our first day (night I should say, as we arrived in the evening) we checked-in in our hotel in Chinatown, had a well-needed shower (we traveled from Milan to Bangkok with a 2-hour stop in Dubai) and then hit the street to have dinner. We were extremely hungry and I had found a nice street food “restaurant” on the Lonely Planet bookguide, my dear companion during my travels, so we went there. We had Thai beer and noodles: it was absolutely delicious. The atmosphere, the food, the traffic, the suffocating heat, the noise, people from all over the world… Keep in mind that we left freezing Lake Como, in the middle of winter, so it was surreal to be able to wear hot pants and a top, really.

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I think that the day you first land in a new country for a journey is one of the best, because you have all the experience ahead of you, the curiosity, the expectations… When we left our hotel room to stroll around Chinatown I had that feeling that I love about travels. It’s so exciting that it gives me addiction.

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After our dinner we had a little walk (during which we had seen two massive rats. As in Chinatown the streets are full of food stalls there is so much food waste on the pavement and obviously rats are very common) but we were so tired that we soon got back to the hotel to go to bed. By the way, after seeing the huge rats on our first night, I never walked calmly again for the following 17 days.

The following day we had a very long walk around Chinatown and Little India, which we hadn’t seen in the daylight. I must say we weren’t very impressed, so we took a taxi to go to the Royal Palace. That area of the city is extremely different from Chinatown: cleaner, less crowded, less noisy but also very touristy. For lunch we went to a vegetarian restaurant that was recommended on the Lonely Planet but unfortunately we didn’t eat well, but I’m always happy to spend my money in a vegetarian restaurant, because of the ethics that they spread and that I share.

The view from the rooftop in the morning

The swimming pool of our hotel (we never used it!)

On our last day in Bangkok we went to the more modern and luxurious Sukhumvit with the subway (the best subway in the world I’ve ever been in: sparkling clean, precise, cheap). We had lunch in a very nice place that I had found on the Lonely Planet guide (this time they were right!) and my boyfriend went to the hairdresser to get his hair cut. Then we took the subway back to Chinatown to get our luggage and then go to the station, where our night train for Chiang Mai would leave.

We only spent two and a half days in Bangkok and to be honest with you I personally wouldn’t go back. It didn’t impress me and it’s not my kind of city, so if I’ll ever go back to Thailand I think I would skip it (maybe I would go on a river market first though, I’m ashamed of not having been to one). Maybe we stayed too shortly, obviously you can’t visit a huge city in 2.5 days, perhaps we didn’t find the right spots of Bangkok and you could give me some great advice, who knows?! My boyfriend and I were just very happy of having booked the night train to Chiang Mai because we knew that up there the setting was very different.

What did I like about Bangkok?

The sunrise that I saw from the rooftop of our hotel. I just couldn’t sleep because of the jet lag so I took the elevator and went up to the last floor, alone, as my boyfriend was sleeping. I loved that little moment for myself, on the empty rooftop, seeing this immense metropolis slowly waking up and the red sun between the skyscrapers. It was really emotional (maybe because of the lack of sleep…ha!)
The Sky Bar of Lebua Tower (the one that you can see in the movie “The Hangover Part II”). It’s ridiculously expensive but that night was what I loved the most of our two days in Bangkok. You’ve got a breathtaking view of the city, it’s one of the highest rooftops in the world and there still was this suffocating but marvellous heat. There was a woman singing live, with this great voice, and the orchestra, and going up the 67 floors with the luxurious elevator and the hostesses with their chic, elegant uniforms… What a beautiful memory. If you’ll ever go there keep in mind that they accept only smartly dressed people, remember this when you pack your luggage! Unfortunately we didn’t see the sunset because we spent 1.30 hour in our taxi (the traffic in Bangkok is crazy), so if you want to get there in time to see the sunset just leave very early from your hotel.