A day of experiences...

Bangkok, Day 3. I woke up again about 03:30 hours and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm not sure how long it will take before my body realises that we are not in Glasgow anymore, but hopefully soon!

Apologies if this blog goes all over the place as R is currently supervising the Roomba vacuum robot whilst I write this. It is honestly quite a sight to behold (don't worry, I shall spare you a photo!). I'm not sure if it's the sight of Roth's skinny 'willy woodbine, hanging out a packet's legs in his just below knee shorts or the fact that he looks like he's parenting a 2-year-old child or a puppy. He's fencing off 'no go areas' by moving furniture around and lifting the Roomba to redirect 'him' to areas he wants him to go, and to which the Roomba is complaining back that he needs to be on the floor level to work, but honestly, it looks like hard work! I, on the other hand, would just use the low-tech version of the little sweeper and brush pan that is sitting in the kitchen!

Benchasiri Park

Back to our day. We did our usual of shower, light breakfast, and we were out of the apartment and on the move at 07:30hrs. Whilst 'slightly' cooler in the morning, it was still very hot. We had planned out a rough area that we wanted to visit, so off we set for Benchasiri Park, which is about a 30-minute walk from the apartment. This is a lovely, small, compact park with many pretty sculptures. It's located beside the Phrom Phong BTS and was built to commemorate the 60th birthday of HM Queen Sirikit in 1992. It has several outside exercise items, though I don't know how people manage to work out in this heat.

Next, we stopped at a lovely little place called the Library Cafe for a cold refreshment - an iced latte for me and a blueberry frozen yoghurt for R.

Khlong Toei Market

Fully refreshed, we were then off to the Khlong Toei Market, which was about another 30 minutes walking. Now I'm not particularly squeamish or anything, and perhaps it was because I was feeling the effects of my sleep changes (remember I was awake from about 3.30 in the morning), the building heat and the rumble tums starting but this was a sensory assault on many fronts and I was immediately feeling quite overwhelmed and outside of my comfort zone.

The entrance to the market was over a small bridge, and the first sight and smells that I encountered were the cages of live chickens, geese and no doubt other feathered friends. The place was packed and bustling with people everywhere. As R mentioned later, it was akin to the Glasgow Barras in its heyday, but on steroids. Vendors were preparing and selling their wares, customers were buying their items, motorbikes with food were weaving in and out all over the place, and other people were transporting crates of goods in trolleys back and forth. There was no easy place to stand, as it felt like a moving throng of people that you were swept up in. There was every type of meat, fish, vegetable, you could imagine and more you couldn't. Being a wet market, the food was as fresh as you could get - I mean it was like a factory production line, but outside, apart from some cover.

R on the other hand from me was quite taken with the authenticity of this market and was like 'oh I should use the video for this' and I'm more thinking to myself - 'I'm going to throw up' and 'there's no chance I'm eating from here, even if there is a food court somewhere'. The sights, the sounds and the smells will stay with me forever, I think. Needless to say, we didn't stay there too long, much to R's annoyance, as it probably was a great place for getting good photos and images.

Note: R did take some photos and video of the area but it'll probably take him forever to sort that out. In the meantime, if you are interested in more information in this area, then OTR (one of our favourite Bangkok YouTubers) has a video covering the 24 hours he spent in the Khlong Toei market and a glimpse through this will give you an idea of it.

By now it's about 1 pm and I'm starting to get tired and hungry and that does not make for a happy Liz, so we decide to head back into the main areas to find something to eat.

Benjakitta Park

As we are heading back towards town, we decide to make our way via Benjakitti Park. This is a stunning park with a lake in it. It was officially opened in 2004 to commemorate the 72nd birthday of HM Queen Sirikit. We were there on a Saturday, and it was so quiet (probably because it was full-on heat and sun) with just a few people out walking or running. It is a very well-maintained park with trees, flowers and greenery everywhere and with such a stunning backdrop to the skyscrapers of the city - a true oasis in the heart of a bustling and hectic city. We loved it, but the heat and hunger (no food or drink stalls allowed either) drove us on after a short rest stop to admire the views.

Interchange

As we came out of Benjakitti Park and were walking towards the city, we spotted the Interchange building, and as we had been to the food court in here before, we decided to go there as we wanted to try some more 'street foods' but in the confines of an air-conditioned location. Now I'm no shrinking violet, and I can certainly do with losing some weight, but by this stage I was STARVING, thirsty & tired - not a good combo! So we get to Interchange only to find out that it's closed at the weekends but open from 7.30 am Monday-Friday. So we grabbed a seat at the Amazon Cafe, ordered a couple of iced drinks - coconut ice for me and an orange iced drink for R. I didn't want a snack at this point as I needed 'proper food', but at least the cold drink and rest inside with air conditioning refreshed me with some much needed energy whilst we considered our next move.

Rather than go to just anywhere and we were not interested in going to any of the usual tourist traps or Irish pub type places for dinner, we decided to go to one of the food places that R has pinned in his Google Maps (note - he has a lot as he's done a lot of research in this area!). So, off we went on a 16 minute walk to hopefully finally get some food...

Sri Trat Restaurant

As we arrived at the door of the Sri Trat restaurant, (which is another Mitchell rated restaurant) and I had the awful feeling that it was closed but thankfully it wasn't and we managed to get a table right away, although this place get busy and it may be better to reserve in advance if you can.

We were greeted and seated right away and given a delicious welcome drink each (a sweet lemon drink, which I cannot remember the name of). The restaurant itself was beautiful and reminded me of an old colonial-style interior with its dark wood and 1930s-style music playing. The staff were in traditional Thai dress, and they were amazing and so, so warm and attentive. The menu was extensive in terms of choice and food prices. I chose a lemon grass with prawns rice dish, and R chose a pork dish with jasmine rice - both were delicious, and my energy was fully restored and recharged once again. The total bill came to 759 Bhat (£17.45), which was ridiculous for the quality and service. We could easily go back here again!

After leaving the restaurant, we stopped off at the Japanese supermarket and Custard Nakamura bakery to pick up a few items on our way back to the apartment.

Once back at the apartment, we did our usual routine of shower, relax, nap and then we had a video call with S (and A was in Germany for a stag do). All in all, another action-packed day and one that was certainly packed full of experiences!