As we're approaching the end of our trip, these journeys are feeling much longer. We nearly didn't make the check in time to catch the ferry as our taxi didn't show up, so we had to wait for another one. After getting the ferry, we had to take a bus, so it took around 13 hours to get to Bangkok. We got dropped off near the Kao San Road, which is not that close to where we're staying. We're in the Nana area, Sukhumvit Road, so we had to take another expensive taxi. We wrongly agreed a price, but later found out taking metered taxis is the best way to go in this city. I never realised the city would be so big, but it's not that easy to get around as far as I can see.

After a hard day of travelling yesterday, we thought we'd have a really lazy day today, we had a long lay in. We booked an apartment type place so it has a kitchen in the room, which will come in handy as the food prices in Bangkok are high compared to other places in Thailand. We just went out to get the BTS sky train to a nearby shopping mall to escape the heat. We found a supermarket and bought some food to cook in our room for breakfast and lunches. It was a really nice supermarket, although I noticed they have Tesco here in Asia, but we've not been to one yet. We returned to the apartment in time for dinner, so cooked and chilled out watching films in the room. We're booking places that have a tv in the room now. I think towards the end of our trip we deserve to have home comforts.

Tuk tuk scams to avoid..

The next day, we thought we'd better get out and at least do a bit of sightseeing while we're here. We planned to get a tuk tuk to drop us off on the Kao San Road and then we'd walk to the temples and palaces from there. However, nothing rarely goes according to plan for us. So we went out in nearly 40 degrees c heat to try and get a tuk tuk. We walked to the end of our road and on the corner there was a tuk tuk driver waiting. We spoke for a while and he agreed to take us to the Kao San Road, so we got in his tuk tuk.

The driver was friendly and took some pictures of us in the tuk tuk before we left. He kept asking if we wanted to go to some temples and the palace, but we really wanted to just be dropped off at the Kao San. So we set off, and he agreed to take us where we wanted to go. He was quite chatty along the way and asking lots of questions. It was quite a journey driving in a tuk tuk. We travelled in vehicles similar to tuk tuks in South America, but this was actually our first experience in a real tuk tuk. It was a 3 wheeler and was really nippy in between cars, it felt like we were in a racing car! It was good as there was enough room to cut though traffic queues.

While we were driving, he asked if we wanted to stop off at a suit tailoring shop. We said no thanks, but he insisted on going. He told us that he gets free fuel if we go, so we said ok we'll help him. So off we went into the tailor shop so John could speak to them about getting a suit made. Yes the suits are really cheap compared to what you'd pay back at home, but as budget backpackers, we just can't afford to buy one right now. The men tried to pressure us into buying one, so we left the shop disgraced. We went back to the tuk tuk driver and he gave us free water. Then he only wanted to repeat the process and we said we didn't really want to, but ended up going to another shop. These ones weren't as pushy and were nicer, but still we were not buying anything.

Reclining Buddha

So once that was out the way, our driver said he'd take us to a Buddha along the way. We agreed and went to a small temple ( don't know which one we went to). We removed our shoes and had a look inside. There were some Buddha statues and inside was a man who started talking to us. At first it was general chit chat, then he started talking about a place called coloured gems. He said he went there and got some cheap gemstone jewellery and told us we should go there and wrote down the address for us. I don't think this should be happening in a place of worship surely. Then we went to see the reclining Buddha statue in another room. It was quite a big statue and was dressed in some orange robes. It looked pretty cool. Once we saw it, we had to leave and get back in the tuk tuk.

When we got back, our driver conveniently wanted to take us to the coloured gems place. We said we didn't really want to go, but he said he gets more free fuel. So we agreed, last place we said tho, no more. We stopped off to have a quick look and carried on towards Kao San. He asked if we wanted to go to one more tailor shop, but we said absolutely no we don't want to. So he said ok and took us towards the Kao San. As we were approaching nearby, he said he can't take us directly there because there are protests, which could be dangerous. We couldn't believe that we just wanted to get to Kao San with a driver and he couldn't even manage that, we'd spent the last few hours wasting time.

Protests and Kao San Road

So when our driver told us he couldn't take us there directly, I did wonder why he agreed to take us in the first place. It must have been because of all these scams in place so they can get free petrol etc, but hey ho, you live and learn. The driver dropped us off as close as we could get as there were road blockades. He did warn us not to go as it may not be safe, but I just had a feeling the protests weren't actually on the Kao San Road directly as it's full of backpackers all the time. The place where we got dropped off was near the protests were and there were armed police with billet proof vests on. I did question whether we should actually be walking though this area, it looked pretty dangerous and deserted. The police man directed us towards Kao San, so we kept walking to get there. I think there are protests against the government. There are camps around the city where the protesters are all staying. We didn't have a clue about any of this until we were right amongst it all! We later found out that people have died in these protests, so it's pretty dangerous.

We walked quickly and got out of that danger area. Once we were out of there near the Kao San Road, there were no blockades and the roads were open. It did also feel much safer around these areas. We found it eventually and had a walk around the markets. They sell all the usual tourist tat here, but I still wanted to find and experience the Kao San Road. It was too hot outside though, so we grabbed some lunch from one of the restaurants around there. It's right that it's a place full of backpackers and hippies. It had a good vibe about it, so I get why people like to stay here. We walked back up through the market after lunch, then walked around by the palace and by some other temples.

We didn't do much the next day as we were so tired from all the walking around that we did. John dyed my hair for the first time since Christmas, which was stressful to say the least! That took up half of the afternoon. We didn't do much else really. We were going to go to the padpong market, but saw some things online that said it was just a seedy adult entertainment place, so we gave that a miss in favour of just watching movies that evening.

Wat Pho (temple of the reclining Buddha)

So feeling fully refreshed, we decided to actually visit a temple today as we've not really been in one properly in Bangkok. We were going to go to the grand palace, but that's expensive for a temple, so we decided against that one in favour of Wat Pho. That's just across the road from the other one and half the price, so made sense to visit that one instead. It's one of the largest and well known temples in Bangkok and is famous for it's reclining Buddha statue. It's 46 metres long and is covered in gold leaf.

We paid our entrance fees of 100 baht and entered the temple complex. It's not just about the reclining Buddha, there are lots of smaller intricately carved statues and plenty of small Buddhas throughout the temples. The architecture of the buildings and statues is also very beautiful. It kind of reminds me of what I expect Angkor Watt to be like. Not that we've actually been there yet.

We visited the reclining Buddha first. Upon entering the temple, I was given a green robe to wear, a bit like a dressing gown. This is just to cover up your shoulders, as it's a revered image. I had a maxi dress on covering my legs already. I couldn't believe how big this Buddha was, it was the complete length of the building and it looked so grand. You had to look at it's head first, followed by the rest of the body in sections, trying to take it all in. To appreciate this magnificent structure, it's best viewed from it's feet looking back on the rest of the body. The whole thing is quite striking; a huge gold, intricately carved Buddha, with many fine details. I found the feet really impressive as each toe was carved out and there was a lovely pattern upon the soles of the feet. We saw some young monks who were worshiping and admiring it too. The back of the Buddha was just as impressive as the front. I liked the detail on the head too.

After the reclining Buddha, I handed back the robe. We wandered around the rest of the buildings. There are four chapels where there are nearly 400 gilded Buddha images. I love these little Buddhas, they're so cool. Each one looks slightly different. John gets bored looking at stuff like this, but I really like it. He was hurrying me along, but it was still good to see most of them. Then we wandered around some small temples, similar to Angkor Wat. There were only a few of them, but liked these ones also. By now John was getting itchy feet, so we decided to leave and head back to our hotel. We walked back to the BTS station and then walked from there to our place.

Khlom Lat Mayom floating market

We spent the last day in Bangkok visiting a floating market. This market is only around 20km outside of the city centre and can easily be reached on the BTS sky train to the end of the line. I'd read online that you have to get off at Wongwian Yai station, so we did, but actually the train was running to the last stop on the line, which may have been nearer and cheaper to take a taxi to the market from there. Once we got off the train, we took a metered taxi for 100 baht to the market.

This market is supposed to be less touristy and mainly just the locals there. It feels more authentic than i've heard it could be at the very touristic Damnoen Saduk market, which is over 2 hours away from Bangkok. When we arrived, it did seem a very busy bustling market. Although you can't really call it a floating market as it's mainly stalls and a few boats. There are all kinds of things here, from home cooked foods, fish, meats, sweet dishes, fruit and veg stalls, drinks food heaven for John. We had a walk around the stalls and there were hardly any tourists here. It was refreshingly good.

I came here to see the floating stalls, so we walked to the pier and there were a few boats with locals on selling home cooked fish dishes, fruit and vegetables. These are how traditional markets are, only a few boat sellers, but the bulk of them are just market traders who have stalls on dry land. I was still intrigued by these local boats people living the lives they did years ago. Apparently the locals barter with them and they will stop their boats and pull over to secure a deal with them. I didn't dare to haggle with them or buy any fruits as we're catching the train later to Chiang Mai, so don't have room to carry stuff. I did feel a bit sorry for them trying to get noticed by the locals from their boats.

Boat ride down the river

After watching the boat sellers, we took a trip down the river ourselves. For only 60 baht each, we got a ride for an hour in the canals surrounding Bangkok. While we waited to leave, we got to feed the fish. This river has hundreds of big catfish like fish, so when you throw in some bread, they go into a feeding frenzy for it. They all try to get it and jump out of the water. The boat was a motorised long tail boat, it left pretty much full up with locals and only a few tourists. We got to go down narrow streets, where there are a lot of houses along the canal. It was a different side of the city we got to see and it was quite a pleasure being taken through the canals. I never realised around Bangkok was such a large network of waterways.

We got to stop at another smaller market along the river, it mainly sold food and drinks. We stopped to get a cold refreshing drink. We did actually see live snakes and tortoises being sold to the locals. A little boy was happy he'd got a snake. I don't know if these were to be kept for pets or to be eaten! I would hope it's the former though. We then got back on the boat and got taken to an orchid farm. It wasn't anything special, so we had a quick look then waited to get back on the boat. Then we took our boat back and it dropped us off at the pier.

John was hungry so we decided to get some food. There were so many stalls selling all kinds of foods. John settled on some kind of pork balls type thing. We got some smoothie drinks and after the food, we carried on walking through the stalls. They had lots of handicraft stalls, I liked smelling the handmade soaps, there were clothes, handbags, shoes etc etc. John didn't enjoy this part too much, so we didn't stay for long. After all, we had to catch a taxi and the BTS train back to our hotel so we could catch our sleeper train to Bangkok. We got back, collected our things, then had to take the train to the MRT station. We just about made it in time before our train left! We though it was at 6.30pm, so got there just after 6pm, when they were hurrying us to get on the train. That was another call too close for comfort.