Sunrise Owls

Hey y’all! We’re coming up on one week since we set out on our adventure — writing from the Bangkok bus station as we head towards Surat Thani, a port city serving as a stopover to Thailand’s western islands like Koh Pha Ngan, Koh Samui and the Ang Thong National Park islands. After our 10-hour night bus, we should arrive before dawn around 5:30am.

Buddhist Beauty

During our time in Bangkok, we visited two major attractions in the area: the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, the former residence of the royal family and home to the Reclining Buddha. Temple architecture is unparalleled in Western culture, with incredibly ornate details that glimmer and glisten in the sun. While each neighborhood has its own temple or shrine, the history at these key locations is rich. Wat Pho is regarded as Thailand’s first university and a center for traditional Thai massage practice and education.

Muy Thai in Bangkok

Our hostel was connected with a promoter for Lumpinee Boxing Stadium who offers free tickets and transportation to fill seats with an international audience. After heading 90 minutes north in traffic, we had our pick from a handful of local food trucks, mostly offering Thai takes on stadium classics: hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries and really anything fried.

The audience, adorned with bracelets glowing in sync, cheered and gasped through 12 kickboxing, MMA and Muay Thai fights in total. The knockouts were devastating! Some fights were quick, others were a close match. Overall, we had a great night and got to meet some wonderful people staying at our hostel.

Ladmayom

We spent a morning at the Ladmayom market, situated along a channel of the Chao Phraya river. Market sights and smells can be a bit jarring at first, but after a lap we found tasty treats like spring rolls, oysters, satay, and mango sticky rice. We’ll take interacting with local vendors proud of their food over corporate chains any day 😎 we also used the opportunity to refine our pronunciation of “kaa” and “khrup,” the gender-specific markers of politeness added after nearly every common Thai phrase.

While much of this “floating” market is actually landside, we hopped into a long tail boat for a cruise around the canal to check out the local temples, infrastructure, and monitor lizards. I’m sure I momentarily stopped blood flow to Chris’ hand the first time our guide floored the engine and we left the other boats in the dust 😮‍💨

Common Challenges

We learned that devastating floods hit localized regions in northern Thailand a few days ago, with three times the month’s rainfall falling in just one day. Calls for more warning systems and improved drainage systems sound familiar in the wake of the Texas Hill Country floods last month. The region has been blessed with swift help from not only the Thai government but surrounding countries (at least that’s what we hear.) Chris will keep a close eye on the radar wherever we head.

Being Houston-raised and working outside the past few summers has prepared Chris well for the heat, humidity and mosquitos. I am hanging in here.

City Life

After checking out and with the first rain of our trip on the forecast, we decided to peek into modern Thai life and hit the mall at the recommendation of Lexi’s friend Laura, who’s traveled through SEA many times over. This was our first chance to use the local bus system, although as we learned on our return, they can often run quite behind.

Central Siam mall consists of several multi-story buildings connected by catwalks. We stumbled upon an indoor go-kart track and arcade, which made a great opportunity to not only drop our packs but get a little competitive.

Bangkok has been an amazing first stop on our journey across Thailand. This city provided a safe place for us to settle in, learn some basic phrases, and practice negotiation tactics, while also challenging our comfort with all the different types of street food. The ride to Surat Thani is sure to be bumpy, but we are looking forward to making it out to Koh Pha Nang with a chance of an overnight stay in the Ang Thong National Park. Cheers!