💎 Hidden gems remaining: 6
Bangkok is the capital and the hub of Thailand. It is of no surprise then that the city is so vast you could spend up to a few hours to even reach your desired destination. Bangkok offers anything from the cultural heritage in form of many Wats (temples), to relaxation, entertainment and huge shopping malls to lose yourslef in. You can enjoy either spicy, but authentic street food, or opt for more tourist-oriented westeren dishes.
Except for on-the-surface trains, which can do suffer long delays, public transportation is punctual, well organised and even supports direct contactless payment right at the gates (well done Bangkok!).
From Amsterdam to Bangkok, we landed at the Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK). We land, we exchange money, but most importantly, we buy local SIM-card. Next, we took a Sky-City Train to the metro station where we changed for the Blue Line metro. As the first one doesn't support tap&pay and we didn't know yet that the latter one does, we obtained wonderful colourful circular tokens which we didn't want to throw away. But we had to at the exit gates 😢.
Beautiful tokens we could not let go 💔
View from The Blossom's residence
Bangkok doesn't know pavements. Therefore, we had to find our own way. As elders would say, we had to climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every rainbow till we found our room.
Although no-one spoke English, we managed to check-in, but failed obtaining any other relevant information (for example, shorter and safer paths to the metro). The room was nice, but there were warning signs not to spoil the towels. Mom come pick me up, I'm scared! We had our own bathroom and a small fridge (whose doors nicely prevented the smells of forbiden smelly food from escaping).
If you did not yet manage to spot a tourist, you will most definitely join a crowd of them at the Grand Palace. Once a residence for the royal family, now it makes it possible for the whole wide world to observe beautiful wats and old royal residential buildings. Just do not forget to bring long trousers and cover your sholders - unless you want to burn on the sun while waiting for your friends outside.
Most likely you will fail in doing so, unless you get surprised with a shower or a monsoon. Still, most parks offer some most needed shade and convinient benches where you can eat freshly prepared meals or fruits from street stalls. We suggest visiting the Lumphini park, as you will get to meet locals doing their daily jogging, escaping busy streets of Bangkok.
Žan in the sunlight frosting in Saranrom Palace Park
Although you need only half a day to see all the see-sights, you will need a whole day to travel there and back. Especially back. Wonderful trains operated by Slovenske Železnice. Unless you want to stop at every possible train stop, always choose the Express trains. The fare for the 3rd class is the same.
Ayutthaya, "the city across the river", is almost an hour of walk from the train station. In the hot sun, we rather took a tuk-tuk, driven by Ata Tuk. To get back, we took a tuk-tuk, too. There, we visited the ruins of some most interesting-looking temples (entrance fees are usually 50 baht per person, except in the last one where we stepped over the fence (there was no entrance 🤷)).
First ride in Tuk-Tuk
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Levitating
View from the top
Connecting the temples is a park, calm and relaxing. Find some shade, walk down by the riverside and enjoy the nature. Don't forget to eat! There are some good local restaurants.
Time to reflect
Don't think of a pink elephant!
Bridges are beautiful
Although we will talk food in the next chapter, we need to tell you a story. A story about two young tourists who visited a small local street restaurant. About guys who thought they know enough local language to order their food.
Pad Thai, apparently
Once upon a time, there was a small local restaurant in Bangkok. Their food was tasty and the owners were friendly. Then there were two young tourists who craved Thai food.
We enter the restaurant: "Sa-wa-dii don yen krap!"
"Sa-wa-dii-krap :)"
We try to order: "song Pad Thai kai."
A surprised look. "Pad thai kai?"
We nod agreement and show with fingers: "Čai, song Pad Thai kai"
She for herself: "Pad Thai ... Pad Thai kai." She yells something into the kitchen, ending with: "... Pad Thai?" Walking hither and thither, she returns after some time.
Thinking we had pronounced the words incorrectly, we try again in English, only that the waitrees completes the sentence for us: "Pad Thai with chicken, two."
Marko quickly adds: "Mai pet, not spicy!"
All Thais in the restaurant laugh. Our waitrees shouts towards the kitchen laughing: "Song Pad Thai kai, not spicy!"
All the locals are laughing and repeating our order. It seems as though they are having a lot of fun!
"How cheeky that they are making fun of us," thinks Marko, but quickly adds: "Well, who knows, maybe we had inadvertently ordered a sliced elephant with roasted oranges 😅"
Finally, our two chicken Pad Thais are brought to our table. Everyone is closely watching (with great expectation) how we start eating it, simultaneously judging our clumsy use of chopsticks.
Suddenly, a female Thai at the opposite table asks: "Is it tasty?"
"Yes, very tasty"
"How did you know Pad Thai?"
In this very moment, we realise what has just happened. Speaking Thai, we successfully ordered a dish that wasn't even on the menu!!!
The Pad Thai was very tasty, the portion was a bit larger then others as well. It was made and cooked just for us. Wonderful!
"It is very popular."
She nods: "Aaaa, pupuler!"
The locals present still hadn't grasped what they had just witnessed.
Price: 55 baht/dish. Experience: Priceless.
Safer Fried Basil and Pad Thai
Asia is notorious for it's tasteful cousine and, as always, the best way to experience it is to eat like a local. That means crawling dirtier streets if necessary and most likely sitting on plastic chairs that are made for an averagely-sized Thai.
Despite the latter, upon arrival on the first day, we decided to eat somewhere "safer" the first time, to let our stomaches adjust to the cousine. So we ordered the one and only - the classic - Pad Thai with chicken, and tried Fried Basil Chicken with rice. It was delicious, but the premium of the western ambient costed us.
As planned, the next day we tried to eat as locals. We spotted a street filled with food stalls and took a seat on not-so-high plastic chairs. We ordered in Thai, but forgot to add mai-ped. Fried noodles with pork and chicken did look fantastic, but as soon as we started eating, we realised our mistake - it was so spicy that everything was burning to the point where a tear started rolling down our cheeks.
It looks like the locals have already burnt every single one of their taste buds, making them immune to burning spices. Will we face the same fate by the end of the journey? Or will we learn how to pronounce this Thai phrase once and for all, so we do not repeat our mistake again? Who knows...
Spicy fried noodles with pork and chicken
Later this day, we found about a local gem, just by our hotel. It was The One - the restaurant mentioned above. The first time we read the menu, impressed them by ordering in Thai and everyting went perfectly normal.
We were so happy with the service and the convinient location of the restaurant that we visited it again the next day as we were very late due to train delays. That was when we ordered Pad Thais - but be sure to read more about this above.
Fried rice with chicken
Fried rice with shrimps
Special Pad Thai
Shrimps and chicken with rice
In Ayutthaya, we first tried to locate a restaurant that does not exist, with few stray dogs following us. As we had almost reached the main road, we spotted a good-looking place. The main entrance was blocked, so we entered as any other soul would - through kitchen. Although we were the only costumers, they served us with smile. We ate delicious shrimps and chicken with rice.