Weekly #1: Arrival in Thailand (Bangkok & Ayutthaya)
Here it is, our first weekly world trip recap from Thailand! After months of preparations and two weeks of holidays spent with my family in the Netherlands, we’ve now really started our travel adventure. From the first day on it felt different than every other holiday. Knowing that we have tons of time, makes me feel more calm, relaxed and super happy. And I keep saying this but it still feels unreal to us to just go travelling for a few months. Will this feeling ever get normal?
Thursday: Travel Day from Amsterdam to Bangkok
2 January 2020
The day of departure and saying goodbye has come. I’m leaving with tears in my eyes and a smile on my face at the same time. I will miss my family and friends a lot but I’m also very excited for the unknown and for everything that we will get to see, discover and learn together during our trip. I hate saying goodbye and it wasn’t easy but it was very nice to say goodbye to our loved ones in person.
We left Amsterdam on Wednesday January 1st (I couldn’t imagine a better start of the year!) and we arrived in Bangkok on the Thursday after a quick stop over in Abu Dhabi. The flight went well but I didn’t do so well. After two hours I got sick. I did expect to get sick during our travels but I didn’t expect it to happen even before we arrived... Luckily, Kai and the flight attendants from Etihad took great care if me and I felt much better again after landing in Bangkok. Later I found out that many people back home had the same virus so I guess this was just some bad timing.
We arrived in Bangkok by night and got a glimpse on a few illuminated temples from the taxi. So exciting! We can’t wait to visit them from the inside!
Friday: First Impressions of Bangkok
3 January 2020
We decided to take it slow on our first day in Bangkok. We’re still a bit exhausted from the flight and we have to get used to the temperatures a bit. A good 30 degrees difference from the weather in Amsterdam! Despite jetlag we wake up early and from our hostel room we watch the monks passing by and collecting food. I didn’t expect to see this ritual in the middle of the city. So special!
We went for a stroll in the old part of town (where we’re staying) and got a glimpse of some of the most beautiful temples from the outside. Wow, from the outside they already look very impressive. So much gold, so many shiny details and so big! We decided to visit the temples tomorrow early in the morning and went on with our stroll. We visited a quiet flower market, the crazy MBK center with it’s 2,000 stores (grouped by category and all selling the same stuff), some local supermarkets, the backpackers street Khaosan Road and took the express boat to get around. A quick, cheap and fun way of transport.
Our first impression of Bangkok: yes, it is a busy city, but the chaos seems to be organized. We got used to the lack of traffic lights quickly and loved the street food stalls on every corner. It seems to be a city of contrasts, full of tradition and modernity at the same time.
Saturday: 3 Temples and China Town in Bangkok
4 January 2020
At 8:30 AM sharp we are standing in front of the entrance of the Grand Palace, crossing our fingers that we will escape the crowds and heat a bit. Wishful thinking… It was very busy (later we learned that also many Thai visited the Wat Phra Kaeo temple in the Grand Palace because of the new year) and hot as soon as the doors opened. But also and mostly incredibly stunning! These temples look exactly as beautiful as on all the pictures online but are so much more impressive in real life and from close by. The details and decorations are absolutely beautiful!
After the Grand Palace we continued our temple tour at Wat Pho to visit the 50m long golden reclining Buddha. We head to China Town for lunch and now we really get why people are calling Bangkok a chaotic city. So much traffic, so many people! But also such great food! For sunset we visit Wat Saket and the golden mountain to enjoy the serene atmosphere and 360 degrees views over the city.
Sunday: Bangkok Bike Tour with Co van Kessel
5 January 2020
Another early morning today, as we’ve booked a bike and boat tour with Co van Kessel starting at 7 AM. The beautiful morning sun lit up the still relatively quiet streets of Bangkok. A good start of the day! With our group of 8 other tourists (all Dutch people!) we biked though China Town, watched the locals setting up their food stalls, took a few boat trips, visited a floating market, biked through many living areas and passed by mango, banana and jackfruit plantations. We were amazed by the many beautiful smaller temples we saw along the way and all the friendly Thai people that waved and smiled at us. I’m 100% sure we have seen areas of Bangkok that we wouldn’t have seen without the tour. We also learned some interesting things from our tour guide Sandra: Thai kids go to school with three years old, Chinese is the most important language to learn after English and when it comes to dating, Thai women also want to pay their part for it. It was a great experience and we would recommend anybody to take this tour!
In the afternoon we went to the nearest hairdresser we found, so that Kai could get a fresh new haircut. Afterwards we walked towards the Chao Phraya river for a sunset view on Wat Arun. that we enjoyed with some fancy passion fruit smoothies.
Monday: Wat Arun & Fancy Skybar
6 January 2020
We had our first night of some good sleep. Seems like we beat the jetlag, yeah!
After a slow morning we took a 40 minute bus ride to visit the best rated camera store in town so that Kai could have his sensor cleaned. Then we enjoyed a refreshing boat ride to Wat Arun, to see the temple from close by. It might be my favorite of all temples that we’ve visited in Bangkok. All the details in coloured ceramic are simply stunning and so different from all the other temples that we saw. We ended the day in Above Eleven, a fancy rooftop bar in the neighbourhood of Sukhumvit, for some great views on the Bangkok skyline. A perfect night to end our stay in Bangkok.
Tuesday: Arrival in Ancient Capital of Ayutthaya
7 January 2020
We spent 5 nights and 4 full days in Bangkok, enough time to see quit a bit of the city and we’re up for something new. At 10:05 we took a train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya and we arrived in the ancient capital around 90 minutes later. As there are no regular taxi’s in this city, we decided this was the right time to ride a tuk tuk for the first time. It was quite an experience, hanging half out of the back of the car with all of our luggage.
Ayutthaya is an extremely old city, that was founded in 1350. Interesting fact: by 1700 Ayutthaya had become the largest city in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants! Unfortunately huge parts of the city where destroyed by the Burmese in 1767. The remains of the once flourishing city are spread all over town and we rented a bike for 50 Baht (€1,48) to get a first glimpse of the city. We visited the ruins of the Wat Mahathat temple, known for its overgrown Buddha head. We headed to the night market for some food. So far, the food has been absolutely amazing in Thailand!
Friday: Another Day of Biking in Ayutthaya
8 January 2020
It was very easy and comfortable to get around in Ayutthaya by bike so we decided to do the same today. There are lots of temples spread out all over town and it wasn’t easy to make the choice which ones to visit. In the end we went for the most well known ones: Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Phra Si Sanphet and Wat Lokayasutharam, and saw many more along the way. We had some great smoothies and food at the night market and also bought our train tickets for tomorrow. Our next stop will be the UNESCO heritage city of Sukhothai. Many travellers told us that Sukhothai is even more beautiful than Ayutthaya, so we can’t wait to see it with our own eyes!
I am planning to write a recap of our travels every week on the blog so I hope to see you next week! If you want to see more of where we are now, you can follow us on Instagram.