We started our first full day in Bangkok with a nice lie in...missing the free breakfast in the process. We (Nicola) had read up on things to do in Bangkok and we decided as it was the weekend, to visit Chatuchak Market, the weekend market. We figured, the best way to discover the sights and sounds of a city is by visiting a local market...and we certainly saw some sights!
We took the underground metro (an underground station was conveniently located outside our hotel) and for 40Baht (just less than £1) we bought a single ticket that took us almost to the end of the line at Chatuchak Market. We were presented with a real hustle and bustle, with the pavements full of people and market stalls selling all sorts of crazy looking food and drink, not to mention weird dancing robot toys.
We were feeling hungry after missing our breakfast (as it was by now around 1pm) so decided to enter the market at the first entrance and we stumbled upon the art section of the market and a little Japanese restaurant (Kinkoru) which served delicious noodles and dumplings.
With full bellies we entered the melee in the market. After walking through the art section (there were lovely paintings and statues but none of that could fit in our rucksacks so we moved on before temptation struck) we came across the animal section (live animals)...which was quite an experience. We saw all sorts of animals; puppies, kittens, tortoises, and even a squirrel dressed as a cowboy!
We tried and tried to worm our way out of the rabbit warren that Chatuchuk market is, but only managed to stumble across an indoor market that was holding a rabbit beauty competition...bizarre! There were loads of Thais looking around, waiting for the competition to begin and we were lucky (if that' the word) to hear an American judge describing one of the entrants as thus - "good coat, nice build..." whilst manhandling the poor thing.
We finally managed to find our way out of the market and as we were leaving we saw a man pass on a motorbike taxi holding a live snake!
We were thoroughly market-ed out by this point, as the heat and humidity combined with the craziness of the market took its toll so we headed back to the hotel.
Around 6pm we met the other members of our tour and met our tour guide (Sek) and headed to a nearby restaurant for food. I had a list of things I wanted to try in Thailand and one of those was a Red curry, and when I ordered the waitress asked "medium or spicy"...as I'd like to think I'm not an idiot, I opted for medium. It almost blew my head off!
We took the underground metro (an underground station was conveniently located outside our hotel) and for 40Baht (just less than £1) we bought a single ticket that took us almost to the end of the line at Chatuchak Market. We were presented with a real hustle and bustle, with the pavements full of people and market stalls selling all sorts of crazy looking food and drink, not to mention weird dancing robot toys.
We were feeling hungry after missing our breakfast (as it was by now around 1pm) so decided to enter the market at the first entrance and we stumbled upon the art section of the market and a little Japanese restaurant (Kinkoru) which served delicious noodles and dumplings.
With full bellies we entered the melee in the market. After walking through the art section (there were lovely paintings and statues but none of that could fit in our rucksacks so we moved on before temptation struck) we came across the animal section (live animals)...which was quite an experience. We saw all sorts of animals; puppies, kittens, tortoises, and even a squirrel dressed as a cowboy!
We tried and tried to worm our way out of the rabbit warren that Chatuchuk market is, but only managed to stumble across an indoor market that was holding a rabbit beauty competition...bizarre! There were loads of Thais looking around, waiting for the competition to begin and we were lucky (if that' the word) to hear an American judge describing one of the entrants as thus - "good coat, nice build..." whilst manhandling the poor thing.
We finally managed to find our way out of the market and as we were leaving we saw a man pass on a motorbike taxi holding a live snake!
We were thoroughly market-ed out by this point, as the heat and humidity combined with the craziness of the market took its toll so we headed back to the hotel.
Around 6pm we met the other members of our tour and met our tour guide (Sek) and headed to a nearby restaurant for food. I had a list of things I wanted to try in Thailand and one of those was a Red curry, and when I ordered the waitress asked "medium or spicy"...as I'd like to think I'm not an idiot, I opted for medium. It almost blew my head off!
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