Bangkok really knows how to overwhelm you, but its amazing how quickly you feel okay with your surroundings.I arrived mid afternoon into Bangkok with just me and a 13kg backpack. Taxi rank - crazy!! but the most efficient taxi service i've ever come across. So pat on the back to the 'official taxi rank'.
NOTE: Aspiring bangkok travellers- use the official service, have your accomodation and number written down, they'll call ahead for you, its safe and easy. Price; a half an hour journey will be around 200 thb + 50thb for driver and about 110thb for 2 toll roads)
I arrive at my hostel but don't expect your driver to pull over much or park for that matter. You'll be pointed to your hotel/hostel and its time to pay and dash through traffic. (I dont think all trips would be so haste). I walk in and hands down.. the most bright, clean, welcoming hostel i think i've been to (and that's a lot!) http://www.saphaipae.com
First day in Bangkok, i met a lovely american girl named Kayla and the sweetest chinese girl named Jo Xian, we ventured to the BTS train station and stopped off to take the ferry to the Maharaj Pier, this is where we walked to The Grand Palace and The Temple of the Emerald Buddha. As i was arriving here i remembered i had been here before!! A school trip when i was 17! A trip through memory lane assured me that the site is just as spectacular to me at 25 as it was when i was 17.
NOTE: On visiting the Grand Palace and a lot of temples for that matter, Be sure to cover your shoulders and knees and no tight pants. If you do get there however and you dont abide by the rules you can easily pay a 200thb deposit and borrow a sarong and/or shirt for your visit!
NOTE: tourist ferry is 40thb per ride, or if you can find the local ferry, you'll save a whopping 25thb, do the maths!
Its time to play chicken for the next few hours as we roam the streets of Bangkok, dodging cars, bikes, tuk tuks, small trucks loaded high to illegal capacity in most other countries, will only become natural.
Its getting late in the afternoon and we meet up with Jo Xian's chinese friends in Chinatown! As the lights become alive, so do the streets and the abundance of street stalls serving everything under the chinese lanterns from fruit to pigs snouts to the contents of intestines in a soup of course!
