Thailand: Bangkok // Day two: Chinatown, fried scorpions and KhaoSan Road

Our second day in Bangkok was much, much shorter than the the first. Our little jet-lagged bodies didn't wake up until the morning was almost gone and so we decided to catch yet another river taxi to Chinatown to seek out some of the notorious street food in the area. 

Bangkok's chinatown was nothing like our very own Soho's delights. It was crammed full of chinese markets, offering every possible type of goods you could imagine - from towels to live animals. The pricey chinese restaurants you find on London's streets are replaced by street stalls with questionable hygiene ratings and interesting looking foods. I was feeling brave at the beginning of the day and so tried a few different offerings, the best of which being a marinated chicken skewer thing. Then, we wandered for ages before chickening out of eating at the stalls and finding an air conditioned cafe instead!! 

With our feet throbbing, we headed back. This time we opted for the more expensive (and luxurious) boat. 85p bought us an empty boat with seats and a TV - sooo worth it after an afternoon traipsing round the city.
Steve decided to flag down the boat before taking a running jump. This naive move nearly saw him taking an unexpected trip into the dirty river, much to my amusement and the horror of a pair of dutch tourists behind us!

That evening, we gave each-other a pep talk, committed to being braver and headed out on to KhaoSan road determined to try the street food. It was delicious and pretty much sealed the deal for the rest of our food exploits for the following month.

Steve posing with our hotel

Now feeling like locals, we 'enjoyed' an extremely painful street massage (I wish we had photos of Steve's face!) and found the nearest insect seller before washing the rotten things down with yet more cocktails - we were on holiday after all!

Thailand: Bangkok // Day one: River taxis, temples and chaos

I am finally getting around to uploading some of the thousands of photos we took on Asia trip this summer. For the first time in my life, I was unpacked from this trip on the day we got back (a minor miracle, Steve will tell you!) and my photos were quickly edited. However, since then the madness of rainy camping and the start of term has meant the photos have sat on my computer waiting to be shown.

South East Asia is one of the most photogenic places I've ever been. Around every corner, there is a new sight or strange happening. It's such an alien culture from my own and I LOVED soaking it in and trying to capture it. I'm not going to pretend that I've done a great or even sufficient job at that- far too many days we left my camera at the hotel, throwing ourselves into just 'experiencing'. From those adventures, we only have a few rather rubbish go-pro pictures to show you a tiny glimpse of what we saw. However enjoy!

We started our adventure by flying into Bangkok. After a short moment where we were convinced our luggage hadn't made the trip (that's what you get for checking in five hours early on the departure side!) and the most terrifying taxi drive of my life, we arrived on a deceptively quiet KhaoSan road. It seems that at 6am, this road is peaceful. As you'll see, this is not the case later on where it becomes a metropolis for the rowdy, eccentric and eclectic side of Asian tourism.

We quickly dumped our big bags at the hotel and jumped on a river taxi toward a couple Bangkok's infamous temples. In my opinion, river taxis are the best way to travel in Bangkok. They are cheap and pretty much everywhere you need to be is on the river. You do become very familiar with the other people on the boat. Read: you're squished like sardines. But it's awesome seeing the sights of Bangkok from the river. Added bonus: I avoided another awful taxi journey.

After a minor detour (my fault!), we found the Royal Palace. This place is a must visit when in Bangkok. The workmanship on the building is incredible and SO extravagant. It is touristy and it will be busy. You will be fighting selfie sticks and will inevitably be blocking someone's photo but I found it so interesting to see the Buddhists worshipping in the temples and it was worth the huge crowds and overpriced ticket.

After the royal palace, we headed to see the reclining Buddha which is a short walk from the palace. This is far cheaper to get into and less busy. As with many of the temples in Bangkok, it is a current place of worship and so it is important to follow the dress codes (modest clothing, no legs or arms showing for Ladies) and take off your shoes. I think this adds to the sense of sacredness in the place.

By this time, we had been awake (aside from sort naps on the plane) for over 36 hours so we headed back to our hotel to enjoy the rooftop pool - such a God-send in the centre of the muggy, stuffy city. Before heading out in the evening monsoon rain for awesome padthai and cocktails.

8 things I've learnt in two days in Bangkok..

1. Thai airways is an awesome airline. Steve hasn't stopped talking about the flight since we got off!

2. When it comes to Bangkok traffic, there are no rules! Sure, there may be road markings but don't be fooled. You are free to drift in and out of lanes as you please and, if you don't like any of the lines on offer, feel free to make up your own by driving slap bang in the middle of two or on the edge of the road. No one will bat an eyelid. 

3. Thai drivers have unfailing trust in their brakes. Seriously, no margin for error. 

4.Tuk tuk drivers are the worst of them all. 

5. The cheapest, and probably safest,  way to travel is in the crowded river taxis. 30p for a single journey or 85p if you want to upgrade to seats and a boat with a tv (luxury!). 

6.Thai food is every bit as amazing and cheap as you imagine. 

7.Even the insects taste like prawn ( maddie says!). Steve says that his scorpion tastes like disgusting gone off meat and crushed sea shell and he still has the taste in his mouth : photos of that adventure to follow. 

8. The Buddhists are serious about their places of worship. I have never been places more elaborate, more intricately created or extravagant in their rituals. Absolutely incredible!! I wish I could show you inside but it blew the outside decor away and made it look distinctly average. 

We have had an incredible welcome to Thailand and fitted so much in to our first couple of day - we even had a few hours every day in the hotel's rooftop pool. 

Today was particularly incredible with quite a free bucket list items ticked off and the best spring rolls I've ever tasted but I'll leave that for another post. Poor Steve is tuckered out and snoring away beside me. 

Tomorrow we fly to Siem reap (Cambodia) for part  2 of our little adventure. 

Off on an adventure...

Bags are (over) packed, currency hidden in a million different places, our mission to find blue passport photos is completed... We are ready to go! 

Asia, we are coming for you! 

Croatia: Dubrovnik // Exploring King's landing...

As it's only 4 weeks until we fly away on our Asian adventure, I thought i'd better try and catch up on the posts about our incredible trip to Croatia.

Both Steve and I are pretty huge Game of thrones geeks, we just love it. Therefore, it will come as no surprise that exploring historic Dubrovnik was high on our priorities. The magnificent, historic old town of Dubrovnik is where they film all the scenes set in  Kings Landing (we even saw some filming while we were there! We couldn't get photos - boo!).

So, when the second day of our trip was overcast and looked a little bit miserable, we set off to explore/act out all our favourite scenes! Fortunately, we did show some self-restraint and did not join the hordes of tourists wearing Game of Thrones t-shirts.

A Game of Thrones tour was one of our tingly options. Ultimately, we decided to save that voucher for something even more exciting in Cambodia this summer and decided to go it alone on our own self-directed GoT tour...