Hello again family and friends! This is the site for my new travel blog that will follow my travels through Thailand. This time I will be accompanied by my good friend, Brent Whitley. We will be traveling for 15 days. I will try to update this site as much as I can throughout the trip. Happy New Year everybody and see you when I return!
-Alec
January 13, 2010
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Across the Pacific
January 12 - 13, 2010
Days 1 & 2
We’ve arrived in Bangkok around 2am. After flying for 18 hours, we were exhausted but could not wait for the day start. We slept for about 3 1/2 hours, had our complimentary breakfast, then walked outside into the fast streets of Bangkok and began to explore.
The most efficient way of getting around Bangkok is by using the Skytrain. A new and smooth rail service that takes you from the venice-like canals to the busy marketplaces of downtown within minutes. We bought one-day passes and made some stops around the city.
At 2pm we met up with a tour guide who showed us the largest temple in Bangkok which held the famous Reclining Buddha. When we walked into the temple we were not expecting to see a golden buddha that was stories tall. It was HUGE. After visiting the temple, we made a stop at one of the most famous tailors in Bangkok. Knock-off suits, slacks, shirts, etc. for good prices haha. Then we had heard about this big, popular show that is a must-see for everyone who is visiting Bangkok called, Siam Niramit. Our temple tour was ending when our guide told us about this. It sounded interesting enough. So he got us tickets for the show.
We had no idea what we had coming for us. Siam Niramit was the best theatre experience I’ve ever had. Me and Brent were speechless. Siam Niramit is a live theatre performance telling the historical/mythological story of the birth of the Ancient Siam Kingdom, it’s civilization’s heritage, customs, and traditions passed down over the centuries. No dialogue. Just music and dance! 500 costumes spanning the centuries of the culture. The Guinness World Records recognizes the theatre it’s performed on as the highest theatre in the world. There were live animals on the stage, a river of water with people swimming in it and rafts passing through it, rain, and so many large set pieces. We weren’t expecting that at all. Afterwards, I bought the soundtrack.
Today, we left our unnecessary items in our hotel room and told the front desk that we’d back next week. We took a 2-hour taxi ride from Bangkok to Hua Hin. The hostel we are staying at now were already expecting us. We checked in then began to check out the city. It’s way more calm than Bangkok. The beach is only a 15-minute walk from our hostel. We rode horses along the beach for awhile then went into the Night Market for some dinner.
Tomorrow, we wake up very early to catch the train that will take us to Kanchanaburi.
