สวัสดีอีกครั้ง ประเทศไทย ผมพาแขกใหม่มาด้วย

I had to finish work a couple of hours earlier today because of a booking issue and flights being changed. We got to Davao about 3 hours before the flight and dropped my bag off and went through security and just sat in the boarding area.

We were hyper-conscious of the bags after what happened in Manila, so we didn’t bring any attention to them. It ended up being fine for both flights.

We got to Manila and it took ages to get off the plane and get to arrivals. It’s pretty typical for this airport. It’s one of the worst I have ever been to!

We got through arrivals and went to Wendy’s to get some food and then we headed upstairs for our next flight. It turns out that having food was not such a good idea, as the queue for immigration was long.

I went through the foreigner queue just fine and was through immigration and security in about 10 minutes.

Addy had to use the Filipino queue and I’d say there weren’t fewer than 700 people ahead of him. I sat on the other side of security waiting for him. It took him 71 minutes to get through and he said he was grilled by immigration because his paperwork was signed by the assistant regional supervisor instead of the regional supervisor. It’s madness that they make it so difficult to leave the country!

In Davao, our boarding passes said our gate in Manila was 110. I checked the screens when going through security and it changed to 103. We made our way to the gate (we had 45 minutes until departure) and there was no sign of the flight. We went to the screen to look and it had changed to 113. We had to rush there and were some of the last ones on the flight.

Addy was kind enough to give me the aisle seat and he took the middle. I felt bad for him because he had a fat guy on the right and a super fat guy on the left. We left and the flight landing in Bangkok was a little bumpy. We were both glad to be on the ground.

We went through immigration fairly quick. There were a couple of people taking pictures and they were spotted and the agents came out and made them delete the pictures from their phones. Good for the agents.

I was a little mad with my immigration agent, though, as she stamped on a brand new page and now I have 0 free pages in my passport. That being said, I now have 134 stamps in this passport (135 if you count the cancelled Eindhoven one from 2024).

We went outside and booked a Grab. I was gonna do public transport, but we were both just so tired that we decided against it. It was nice to sit in the AC car and just not have to worry about getting our cases on and off public transport.

This isn’t my first time here. You can read about my last trip here.

We got to the hotel and checked in. Reception allowed us to see the room before we said yes to it, which I thought was nice of them. The room is fine for both of us.

We went out to get some food and have a wander along the street – it is a market street and comes alive at night. I wanted to find some long bottoms for the palaces that we will see here. I got them for ฿200.00.

We decided to get some things from the 7-Eleven here and then head back to the hotel for a couple of hours before heading back out to go to Chatuchak night market. We were going to get the boat and then the metro, but we didn’t feel like walking 15 minutes to the pier, so we just went for the bus instead.

We got to the night market and nothing was really open.

We saw a temple (of sorts) near the market and it looked pretty cool. The shadow of the statues against the light wall looked pretty cool, too.

I had Addy pose for a picture, too.

We found some rice for the boss and then we just decided to head back for the bus and come back to the hotel. We are both still tired from the quick succession of flights and the lack of sleep over the last couple of days. I also have to work tomorrow, so I need some sleep for that too.

Day 2

We decided to get up early today so we could go to The Grand Palace. I had a look at their website yesterday and it said a few of the places closed at noon because of a coronation celebration day (or something similar).
We wanted to get there as soon as it opened so we could see the places before they closed. It seems a whole host of others, and we had the same idea. By 08:40 (10 minutes after it opened), there were masses of people. Oh, it was also 30 degrees at this point. Yuck. It was made even worse because I had to wear long bottoms – and I don’t know how long it’s been since I last wore long bottoms.
We just enjoyed walking around and taking pictures. There is so much to see here wherever you look and it’s hard to focus on just one thing. It was still nice to be there, though.
We spent a couple of hours here and decided to leave as it was so hot. By the time we left, it was 36 degrees.

We made our way to the pier, as I knew there were some food places there. We found a nice place and it was nice and cold. We had some lunch here and then went for the boat. We bought a day ticket for the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat. The ticket cost ฿150.00 per person. It was money well spent. I figured we just needed to take 4 trips to make it work. A single journey is ฿40.00. We did 4 journeys (the heat was too much for us).
The boat rides we took were as follows
<ul style=”list-style-type: square;”>
<li>Tha Maharaj – Phra Arthit</li>
<li>Phra Arthit – Asiatique</li>
<li>Asiatique – Wat Arun</li>
<li>Wat Arun – Phra Arthit</li>
</ul>
The only reason we got off at Phra Arthit the first time was that it was the end of the line and we all had to get off. There was a 7-Eleven here and it was a welcome break from the heat. It was super cold inside and Addy loved it – I did too. We got some drinks and then headed back to the pier.
We decided to go all the way to the other end of the line on this one and just enjoyed the views of the riverside. They were amazing views too.
Once at the end, we stayed on (though it was an extra fare if you only had a single ticket) and decided we would get off at Wat Arun and see what that was like. It looked pretty cool from the boat.
It costs ฿200.00 per person to get in here. We stayed here for about an hour. The heat was killing us. It was weird to hear Addy talk badly about the heat, given that he’s a Filipino. He’s just not used to the humidity with the heat. I told him that’s what it’s like in the UK in the summer with our heat.
We really enjoyed walking around here. The craftsmanship of everything was amazing. You definitely have to go here if you visit Bangkok. It is really worth it. Just be prepared for some steep steps and people just getting in your way (it’s a small site).
You can see some pictures from our visit here.

Once we were done here, we got back on the boat and went to Phra Arthit and then walked back to the hotel. We wanted to relax in the cold room and just wind down generally, as we were up super early. We also have to be up super early tomorrow for our tour to the Ayutthaya temples.
You can see some pictures from the boat rides below.

Despite the heat, today has been a really good day.
Day 3
When we got to Thailand, we didn’t really have anything planned for today and I asked Addy if he wanted to do a tour of some temples in Ayutthaya and he said he did. I booked it for us and it was only £22 per person. It was an 08:00 start, so it was an early morning for us.
We got ready and headed downstairs to get the obligatory water and snacks from 7-Eleven and waited for the Grab. It said it was 1 minute away, so we hurried into the store and when we got out it said it was 9 minutes away. We just sat in reception and waited.
We got to the meeting point and there were already 4 minibuses and a lot of people waiting. We checked in and got our sticker and just waited for the bus to be announced. As soon as they did, Addy was right at the front and got second row seats so we could see out the front. It was a good choice.
We stopped at the following places (with the cost for the entrance too):
Bang Pa-In Palace (฿100.00)
Wat Chaiwattanaram (฿80.00)
Wat Prasrisanphet (฿80.00)
Wat Mahathat (฿80.00)
Wat Yaichaimongkol (฿40.00)
The drive to the first temple was 80 minutes. Our guide, Nicky, said she would speak for 20 minutes about the first place and then she would let us sleep. The first temple was for the king and his 154 wives and concubines, along with their children. If I’m honest, I was super tired, so I didn’t really pay much attention.
We got here and I had to change into the leg prisons as shorts were not allowed. Let me tell you – when you’re used to wearing shorts, long bottoms can be hot and sweaty to wear. It was even more the case when the weather was 36 degrees.
Once I had changed, we decided we would rent a golf cart and just go around the palace on that. The cost was ฿500.00 for the cart and a maximum of 4 people could use it. We found 2 other people to share the cart, so it only cost ฿125.00 each. It was definitely worth it in the heat and for the things to see – there is a lot and we only had 30 minutes here. You can see some pictures from here below.

We headed back to the entrance to give the keys for the golf cart back and then I headed to the toilet to free myself from the leg prisons for the rest of the day. Yay!
We went to our next stop – Wat Chaiwatthanaram – and they call it a mini Angkor Wat. I’ve always wanted to go to Cambodia, so this will have to do for now.
We went in and walked around. The heat was really killing us, so we left the guide, got our pictures and went back to the bus. I really couldn’t take in what Nicky was telling us about the places – and this was the case for the rest of the trip. My brain just can’t retain information like it used to.

We left here and our next stop was the Reclining Buddha. On our way, Nicky sang a song for us. It wasn’t too bad and I think it was about visiting Thailand.
We didn’t spend long here – just enough for a group photo and a photo of Addy & me. I went to the toilet and then to the bus. Addy said a stall holder gestured him over and asked if he was a Filipino. He said he was and the guy asked him if he was a terrorist (but the Bisaya word for it). Addy said he stood his ground and told the guy he should never ask such a thing and next time he might ask the wrong person and they might kill him. I don’t understand why the guy thought it was OK to ask. People are strange!
We left here and then went to Wat Prasrisanphet. This temple was the same as the last one we were at. This place was cool, though, as we were able to see elephants. The only thing we didn’t like about it was that they were used to give tourists rides on them. We both didn’t agree with it, so we never did it.

In the picture of me, Addy, an elephant I jokingly said to him that he had an elephant on both sides and he didn’t see the funny side. He’s too good to me.
Our next stop was the best for Addy – LUNCH. He was hungry, I was hungry. It was in an air-conditioned dining room, too. It was lovely. He got vegetables and rice and I got some pork fried rice and it was so delicious.
We left here and then headed to our penultimate temple – Wat Maha That.
At this temple, there is also a Buddha head that has a tree that has grown around it. You can take a picture of it from a standing position, but if you want a picture with it, then you have to sit on the ground as it is disrespectful to be higher than the Buddha.

We left here and went to our final stop – Wat Yaichaimongkol. At this temple, there is a pagoda with 60 steps that you can climb and then drop a silver coin in the hole and make a wish. You have to state your name, your date of birth, then your wish. You are never supposed to tell anyone your wish.
Once we went back down, we had a walk around to the next site of the temple and then to the reclining Buddha.

We decided we would just head back to the bus and sit in the cold air before we headed back to Bangkok.

We got back to the meeting point and we decided to skip the market and head to the MRT so we could go back to the hotel. We have an early start tomorrow for another tour and we just want to chill. We got the MRT to Sam Yot station and went outside to get the bus. There was construction where the bus stop was supposed to be and we walked to the next one. We waited around 10 minutes and I decided to just get a Grab back to the hotel.
All in all, today has been a really good day.
Day 4
Today was yet another early start for us. We were up at 06:00 to get ready and make our way to the meeting point for the tour.

Our tour today was a Kanchanaburi Highlights Tour. Our stops were as follows:

Bridge over the River Kwai

Old Death Railway Station

Bridge over the River Kwai

Pakprak Heritage Street

Kanchanaburi Skywalk

We set off on time (which is quite rare for a group tour) as there were only 10 of us on this tour. We were crammed into a minibus that was definitely built for smaller people than me.

The guide told us it was 2 hours from Bangkok to the first stop in Kanchanaburi. That was all the information he gave us on the ride there. Nothing else. So under-informative.

We got to the first stop and then he had us standing in 36-degree heat, telling us about the place. If I’m honest, I couldn’t pay attention to him because of the heat and that was the case for the rest of the trip. There won’t be much commentary on the day because of this and the fact that he was boring as hell!

I will just show some pictures from each of the places.

At our first place, we had to get a boat to the River Kwai Bridge. That was, shall we say, fun. We got on and had to sit at the bottom of the boat. We started slowly, and the water was splashing up against the side. Then we got much faster. We ended up going about 24mph on it and we were jumping on the water as the waves from the other boat reached us. Neither of us was a fan of that.

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We got off the boat and we headed up to where the bridge was. He spent time here again talking about this area, all the while we were cooking in the heat. This bridge was built by the prisoners during World War 2. The ruling army here was the Japanese army. This is also where death marches occurred. The guide told us the train was about to leave and that we should go up and get pictures. Dear reader: he LIED. We waited a little over 20 minutes for the train to leave.

We found ourselves a good vantage point and just waited patiently. When the train started moving, it was really slow. It was just crawling across the bridge.

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We left here and then headed for some lunch. I had salmon and chips and Addy had some rice. Rice is his favourite.

Our next stop was Thamkrae Sae. Again, we were told about this area in the scorching heat whilst we were cooking. There is a cave here with a Buddha inside and you can walk along the railway. We did just that and got some pictures before heading back to get the train.

We got on the train and the journey was around 20 minutes to get to our next meeting point. It was pretty cool to be on the train. It was surreal to be on it, riding where death marches took place. Very surreal indeed.

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We got back on the bus and headed to the final stop. This was the heritage street and the skywalk all rolled into one.

We couldn’t really enjoy much there because it had gotten to 38 degrees and it was painful to walk in this heat. We just found what shade we could and enjoyed what little respite we could. We skipped the skywalk too, as the heat was too intense and heights aren’t our thing. We opted to get cold drinks and sit in the shade instead.

We got back on the bus and headed back to Bangkok.

After 90 minutes, we made a rest stop and I saw we were only a few miles from the hotel. I said to Addy we should just get a Grab and head back to the hotel. It was 18 minutes from where we stopped. If we had stayed with the group, it was 30 minutes to the meeting point and then another 20 from there back to the hotel. We are time-constrained tonight as we need to do laundry, as we are headed to Vietnam tomorrow and need clean clothes.

As soon as we got in the car, the heavens opened and the rain was super heavy. Within about 7 minutes, there was a lot of surface water. We didn’t mind, though, as we were headed back to the hotel. The street the hotel is on was almost deserted as the stall holders retreated inside out of the heavy rain. Thankfully, it only lasted about 45 minutes. The reception area of our hotel had part of the ceiling collapse because of it.

We did our laundry and then packed for the next adventure and just had an early night.