Rather than catch a shitty minibus this time around I thought we'd take the first class bus option that leaves from Pattaya, An easy 20 baht songthaew took us to Pattaya, and rather than spend the extra 10 baht we walked to the bus terminal .. in hindsight the one kilometre or so in the heat would probably have been easier on the back of a ute...
A further 117 baht and we were on our way back to Bangkok on a comfy, air conditioned, roomy bus.
The new hostel we were staying at - Bodega Bangkok - has exceeded our expectations. Priced really well in a 14 bed dorm, this place has a seriously cool atmosphere.
Run by a couple of brothers from the US, it has a bar and nightly beer pong competitions. The place is littered with art and designs from people that have stayed here in the past eighteen months its been open, and the owners are happy to sit at the bar and have a chat with guests.
Needless to say last night was spent mostly at the bar...
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Last night Fitzey and I got talking to an Aussie girl from Geelong and she joined us on the hostels provided "do it yourself walking tour" guide.
It was an intense day of walking, catching different forms of transport and seeing a bunch of the sites that Bangkok has to offer. We left around 930am and didnt return until after 6pm.
The first part of the tour consisted of catching a ferry down the canal to get to Wat Saket - Golden Mountain. Upon arriving at the port, we saw a ferry come and go within seconds as people very quickly jumped on and off - I was a little nervous in the speed in which the stop occurred!
It wasnt actually hard at all, they do come to a relatively complete stop... The ferry ride itself was easy, jump on and a bloke comes up and asks for money, paying the (13 baht) fare.
Hopping off and a quick walk later we made it to Wat Saket.
For a small fee you walk up the spiral staircase lining the side of the building and are treated with a very nice view of Bangkok from the top. Inside are a bunch of Buddhist statues and related artefacts.
Leaving here our next stop on the tour was Khaosan Road - the renowned backpacker area that some have coined the "backpacker central of the world".
We thought what better way to make the experience more authentic than to catch a Tuk Tuk!
A Tuk Tuk is not exactly the safest way to get around in the world, as it is essentially just a motorbike with a kart on the back (see the green one in the photo above).. I hailed it down, asked how much, and managed to haggle the price down from 60 to 30 baht for the three of us - probably still a bit rich in hindsight!
From here we wandered around the Khaosan road area, grabbing a cheap (50 baht) but amazing lunch from a local street-side vendor and checking out the various market stalls. Some of the wares sold in these stalls were pretty shady stuff - from nunchucks, to butterfly knives, machetes, throwing stars and tasers - with some even built to look just like an iPhone - crazy!
After Khaosan, we walked to Wat Pho to see a massive 46 metre long reclining Buddha statue..
We then caught a long tail ferry to another stop - another different type of transport!
This operated much like the busses here, jump on and buy a ticket when the person comes by.
From the river we caught a BTS Skytrain and walked around Lumpini Park; we sat by the water for a little and managed to see a metre long monitor lizard cruising around the water and bank.
If you look closely in the photo above you can make the lizard out in the water..
From here we caught the MRT subway back to the hostel, concluding the days outings! A rather intense day if I do say so.
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