Taking one of the hotel's ferry boats across the river, we then hopped on the city's tram, stopping at one of the popular rooftop bars that Bangkok is known for. We had a light dinner and a couple of fruity cocktails, and took in more amazing views of the city.
After that, we headed for one of the more well-known areas of Bangkok, Sukhumvit Road. This is one of the longest roads in Bangkok, and along it we found several side roads lined with bars and people. We chose one street at random, taking in the neon lights and all the people having fun. We eventually made our way to an area called Royal City Avenue (RCA), where there are several dance clubs all joined together and tons of people dancing and having a good time. We joined in the fun, dancing as much as we could, eventually making it back to the hotel much later that evening.
The next day we headed to one of the largest markets in Asia, the Chatuchak Weekend Market. It literally is one of the largest markets I've been too, filled with shops and food stalls and tons of people everywhere. We strolled through some of the textiles and clothes shops, stopping to buy myself a pair of lightweight pants that everyone in Thailand wears. Then we made our way through the rest of the area as quickly as possible as it was heating up and we were both getting a bit claustrophobic.
From there, we walked the elevated walkways around the Victory Monument, then found a famous boat noodle restaurant, where you're served bowl after bowl of hot delicious noodle soup. Its called boat noodles because the noodles were originally served from vendors on boats floating in Bangkok's network of canals. Most of the noodle shops are now on land, but they still serve the noodles in small bowls to prevent them from spilling when they were on choppy waters. If you finish 20 bowls in one sitting you got a free large Pepsi, but Travers and I only finished about 10, so we bought some bottled water instead.
After filling our bellies with delicious noodle soup, we took a tuktuk out to Khaosan Road, another popular area filled with bars, restaurants and shops. It was early still so we strolled the two main streets that make up the area, doing some window shopping along the way. We found a bar called, Fu Bar, where we sat outside, had some cool refreshing beers, and watched as the streets got busier and busier as the sun started to set. We then strolled the streets some more, sharing a plate of delicious Pad Thai from a street food vendor, then found another vendor where we had a delicious local dessert. We followed it up with a few more beers and even more delicious food.
We finally settled in at the Silk Bar, one of the many other bars on the street, making some friends with some British kids sitting at the table next to us. They talked Travers into eating a scorpion with them, which he did with little fear or disgust, finishing it proudly. From there, the night went on. We had a great time and eventually turned back to the hotel, saying a quick goodbye to our British friends.
Our last day in Bangkok, we got a bit more culture into the trip, by starting with a visit to a flower market, where we saw tons of beautiful flowers and interesting fruits and veggies. We followed this with a visit to the temple Wat Pho, which is home to the largest reclining Buddha.
We walked around this large temple for awhile, taking in as much as we could. The sun was setting soon, so we headed across the river to another temple, Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn. Even though this temple is called the Temple of Dawn, it is also beautiful at sunset, when the sun hits the building just right.
After that, we headed to one of the biggest shopping malls in Bangkok, Siam Paragon. Happy to have some great air conditioning, we strolled through the mall, past the tons of luxury shops and ended up at the gourmet food court. We ate as much of a variety as we could, savoring the last authentic Thai food we would probably have for a long time.
From there, we headed back to where it all started, Sukhumvit Road, where we found the famous Soi Cowboy. This little road is known for the many Go Go Bars that line the street. We sat at one of the outside bars, watching all the tourists as wide-eyed as we were, taking in the neon lights, and all the local girls walking the street, enticing people to go to their bar.
We ended the night relatively early, spending half of the next day at the hotel pool before we had to check out and catch our flight back to Geneva. Southeast Asia was an amazing area to visit, and we only just touched the surface of it. There are so many more places that we would love to see and explore so this will hopefully not be the last time we go there.
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