An update on our “illnesses”, we proceeded henceforth to eat plenty of yogurt each day and tried our best to eat more fiber. We believe that the initial cause for intestinal unrest was due to this weird porridge we had decided to try the morning of day 2. We hanve since then been much more consistent in our daily BM’s. lol. Bring probiotic pills friends.
Day 3
There really isn’t that much to do in Bangkok, and with the pollution, it makes it somewhat uncomfortable to breathe. I heard that this is standard across most Asian cities though.
We started Day 3 off by going to JJ Market which is only open on weekends, and it was a blast! It’s like MBK on steroids and outdoors. There are alleyways and endless opportunities to buy insanely cheap goods, and also counterfeit designer thingamajigs.
I bought myself a pair of fake white Birkenstocks, which later get stolen at a hostel. They were of terrible quality, and I hope that the loss of these short live $8 Birkenstocks was a blessing in disguise.
Thomas bought 3 pairs of uniqlo type shorts for 300 baht, a 69 baht belt, and a bunch of socks. We also ate lots of food at the market, and saw some cool street food tricks. Unfortunately, I will not upload these videos right now.
We then went to go watch a movie as we heard that the Thai movie experience is something else. Before each movie there is a tribute to their king, and everyone must stand up during this time in the theater. We went to the theater in Terminal 21, which is a cute airport themed mall, (yay more malls!) The seats were nice, but apparently there are way nicer set ups. We watched American Sniper, which I thought was a very good movie! The ending was a bit sad, but I thought it was quite educational, I read somewhere that this is the most accurate portrayal of army life (for the ‘War on Terrorism’) thus far.
We then decided to go to Thip Samai, which I have been told by a coupld of sources is the best Pad Thai in Bangkok. Sure enough, when we go there, there was a line that was comparable to that of Cheeseboard on a Friday night. We got two Super Pad Thai’s which were basically pad thai wrapped up in an omelet. It was definitely the best pad thai I have had so far in bangkok. Surprisingly, I still enjoy the pad thai options I had in Berkeley more. oops.
Because we took public transportation, we were much too tired to do anything else and went home to crash.
Day 4
We visited Asiatique, which is yet another market, but it’s more of a pier, decked out with a ferris wheel and posh western restaurants and pubs lining the waterfront. We went during the day as we had a night train later that evening. Big mistake. It was a complete ghost town when we went, but based on google images, this place is quite scenic and a great photo op at night.
We then went back to MBK to chill in air conditioning until around 4 and started walking to Hualamphong Train Station.
There happened to be a blood drive going on outside of MBK and we watched what seemed like a Drill routine but more fluid and probably the most perfect synchronization I have ever seen, followed by a couple of live music performances. They were very very talented singers!
Finally we arrived at the train station, and waited for yet another 2 hours. In that time we decided to start watching John Wick. I don’t know why, but it seems that I have become very keen on watching violent movies. This movie was filled with mindless action, but it was amazing.
The train was cool, literally. If you ever book an overnight train, pay an extra 50 to 100 baht to get the lower bunk, or bring a big fleece blanket. The upper bunks were freezing cold. Other than that, it was a smooth ride down to Surat Thani.
