I set off on my Malaysia Air flight to Kuala Lumpur and it too was completely empty! Can't have been more that 20 people on. Not sure if this is because of the missing Malaysia Air plane or not. Was so sad thinking that all those people had heard the same safety announcements andstill they are lost somewhere. We landed in Kuala Lumpur and I had just a couple of hours wait until my next plane. Some fast wifi was nice to have! But back to the shock of squat toilets. Very glad they also have western ones! My next flight to Bangkok was full which made a change! The airport was enormous at Bangkok but made it though surprisingly fast. Immigration was easy and my bag was first out. So I then had to get to the hotel! I took the train and it was pretty easy to work out. I first had to take an overground one and then change to an underground. The train platforms are so weird I did not think I was in the right place at the airport stop. It just looked like a corridor and there was no one else there. Turned out the train comes in behing glass walls. The train was nice and it was easy to get tickets and find my way around. I got to the hotel and it was amazing!! Luxury in comparison to where I've been! I got to my room which I was sharing with a girl called Steph and I had a double bed!! And real towels!! And air con!! And a TV!! My excitement would have been palpable if I wasn't so exhausted! I got a shower and had a nap. Bliss!
We had a meeting with or guide Andrew in the evening and got to meet the other people in out group. There are 10 of us and a bit more adult that my previous travel companions. It was so weird to have adult conversations! I felt so young, even though I'm not the youngest. Steph is 23 and we have a 25 year old guy. The oldest is mid 40's. It's a really nice mix. We went out for dinner and had some cheap food. I definitely chose the wrong thing, I had a sweet and sour tofu dish. It was delicious, but of course everyone else's looked better! We then went to the hotel roof terrace and hung out for a bit. Great views and a great hotel.
In the morning we had an amazing breakfast. Waffles and pancakes and eggs and bacon and fruit. Yum! I should have had more but didn't have time. There was some much else to eat and try!
We checked out and met our Thai guide for the morning. Miss Or took us on a canal boat along the Chao Praya river and through canals.
The canals were cool as people live right on canals in a right mixture of houses. Some are like sheds and some are nice.
We arrived at our stop. It was called a pier but just seemed like a stop at a restaurant and shop. We walked to the temple we were going to visit, Wat Po. Is was huge and beautiful. There was an enormous reclining Buddha! It's feet were covered in mother of pearl artwork on the sole which was so beautiful.
We walked around the temple and learned how people would bury dead peoples ashes under a Buddha and pay the monks to pray at it. There was a lot of Buddhas!
After the temple Miss Or left us and we had a free afternoon. Some of is went to the famous Khao San Road which is like a street full of markets and backpackers.
We stopped for lunch and then went shopping! I did some haggling and bought some new harem pants and a handbag which I've been coveting for a long time! A little embroidered cross body bag. We spent ages on the road then needed to get back in order to shower before getting on the sleeper train. It was so hard getting a taxi! Everyone wants to rip you off and refuse to use the meter. We got one finally and paid more than we should have but was great to be back in the air conditioned hotel and get a shower! Bangkok is so hot and sweaty!
We left our hotel for the train station where we caught the sleeper train the Chiang Mai. It was a 15 hour trip! It was surprisingly comfortable and spacious. The seats were big and the air con was good. We chose our food and got delivered an amazing four course dinner! They even have us a table cloth on our storable table.
The food was good. I had non spicy soup which was mainly cabbage, a chicken and cashew stir fry, duck red thai curry and then fruit. Best train food I've ever had! They came and put the beds up pretty soon after and they are surprisingly spacious! The lower bunk is much bigger my mines not bad! Even got some straps to make sure we don't fall out! So here's to a good night!
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