South East Asia – Nomad Blood

If you spend more than a couple of days in Bangkok make sure you get on a train/bus/taxi and go to Ayutthaya. The journey is not that long, and trust me it is one of the most impressive places in Thailand. As a future archaeologist is was mind blown by the ruins of the Siames capital city.

Let’s start with a short history of this amazing archaeological site. The city was founded in the 14th century and it became the second capital of the Siames Kingdom after Sukhothai. It was built on an island formed by 3 rivers, which also connected the city to the sea and helped it become one of the most important and cosmopolitan cities at that time. Sadly it was destroyed in the 18th century by the Burmese army, after which it was abandoned and the capital was moved downstream to Bangkok. Now the archaeological park is part of the UNESCO World Heritage and you can visit the monumental remains of the temples to really understand how spectacular the city used to be.

How do I get there ?

There are many ways to get to Ayutthaya. Because I love traveling cheap I chose to take a train, for which I payed just 17 baht (0.48 euro). That was for a 2 hours journey in second class, without aircon (but most windows were open). If you prefer traveling more comfortably and wanna skip the hassle you can easily book a tour .

Also if you want to check out other means of trasportatations click here . 12Go was a life saver while planning my trip to South East Asia, as I booked all my transportation from home months before and got the best buses/boats I could ask for with no stress.

What do I do after I get there?

When you arrive at the train station you will get a free map of the archaeological park, so it should be pretty easy to follow that or just go with the crowd. Anyways in the end you will have to cross the river by boat (10 baht=0.28 euro) and after that you can either walk, rent a bike or a motor bike. I would recommend a bike, as it is so affordable, starting from 50 baht up to 100 baht ( 1,42 euro to 2,85 euro) and it is so much fun riding on all the alleys and streets on the island. Also all the temples have a bike parking so no need to worry about that.

Riding my rented bike around Ayutthaya Archaeological Park

What should I visit and should I spend the night ?

If you have the time and want to see all the temples I would say yes. The place is HUGE! You can just walk around for half a day and not even realise. ( That happened to me, just riding my bike around and staring at the temples). I wish I could have gone to all the temples, as they all are amazing and unique, but I only got time for Wat Mahathat (famous for the stone Buddha that emerges from he roots of a tree) and Wat Chaiwatthanaram.

Here is a list of some other temples you should also check out: WAT PHUTTHAI SAWAN, WAT YAI CHAI MONGKHON, WAT SUAN LUANG SOPSAWAN, WAT PHRA SI SANPHET and WAT LOKKAYA SUTHARAM

If you liked this make sure to check out day 1 and day 2 of the itinerary.

PIN IT FOR LATER!

Planning your first trip to SEAsia? Most likely you will start with Thailand and fly into Bangkok. And even if it is not your first trip in the region, a lot of people choose to fly to Bangkok and start their travels from there. But even though it was the second most visited city in the world in 2019, a lot a people consider 2-3 days to be more than enough to get a taste. I read a lot of blogs and watched a ton of youtube videos before my trip to Thailand, and a lot of people where not impressed with Bangkok, but after going there I had no idea why. To this day I can easily say that it is one of the most amazing cities in the world. So as you probably guessed from the title I am going to share with you a 7 days itinerary for Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit (sorry, this is the full ceremonial name of Bangkok. What a fun fact!)

So let’s start from the beginning: Where will I sleep?

A lot of people don’t realise that Bangkok is HUGE. Also every neighborhood has it’s own vibe, one minute you can be in a slum, and the next minute you can be surrounded by skyscrapers. So you need to know what you are looking for. Wanna have fun? Go to Khao San area! Want something fancy? You can find loads of 5* hotels along Chao Praya river. Looking for a western atmosphere and rooftop bars? Sukhumvit is for you. Anyways, there are a lot more options, but I am cheap and I love having fun and meeting people so I choose the Khao San area. I stayed in hostel I really enjoyed, which I can not find on booking.com any more, but you can still book a bed on agoda.com. It is called Mint Hostel, and it is situated really close to Khao San Road but on a quiet street, so you get the best of both worlds… and I only payed 3€ per night (with breakfast included, haha). If you are not impessed yet, let me tell you that there is a restaurant on the same street that serves local food for only 50 bath ( 1,40€), two 7/11 a few hundred meters away and it has a beautiful hangout area downstairs.

Mint hostel, picture from their Agoda.com page.

Now that you have a place to leave you baggage and to lay your head to rest, it is time to explore! But wait, I forgot something, you most likely are jetlagged or tierd from traveling, after all it is only your first day, you can take it easy. So I can not stress this enough: GO FOR A THAI MASSAGE! There is nothing better after a day of traveling than a relaxing massage, and thai massage is simply the best massage. In the Khao San area you will pay around 150 bath(4,20 euro) for a half an hour massage and 250 bath (7 euro )for an hour. I can not recommend a specific place, but it is full of them and they all are amazing, so just go to the first one you fancy.

Now that you are relaxed and those muscles are no longer stiff it’s time to immerse yourself in the local cuisine, and oh boy you have many options. From the 50 bath Pad Thai and Thai Red Curry on Prachathipatai Rd, to all the BBQ soy and honey chicken, burned scorpions and bugs and the infamous Durian, you can find just about anything by walking around the Khao San area. So pick and choose what you like, because Bangkok is the place to discover that thai flavours.

After that relaxing massage and that great meal it is finally time to explore the area. And Bangkok would not be Bangkok without all the temples. For your first day I would go to the closest one, so I recommend Wat Bowonniwetwiharn Ratchaworawiharn ( of coruse I copy-pasted that name, in case you were wondering). The temple is the resting place of two former kings, Rama IV and Rama IX and it has a golden stupa. It is not the most mindblowing temple you are going o visit, but it is a very good begining.

The beautiful golden *stupa* of Wat Bowonniwetwiharn Ratchaworawiharn

Just outiside the temple you are going to find Banglamphu Market, where if you enjoy shopping and bargaining you can spend a good few hours. But even if you are not a big fan of that you still have to go and check out the atmosphere and get that elephant backpacker pants ( they are a must!!!).

So you had a pretty full day so far, let’s end it right, heading to Khao San road around sunset. First I went there during the day and it looked like any average party street/ tourist trap kinda place. And I am not going to say that it changes a lot during the night, it is still a party street/ tourist trap but IT IS CRAZY. So if you wanna sip a few cocktails at sunset it can be a nice place, but also if you feel like getting wild, you can totally do that after sunset. The most annoying thing about it is the constant influx of people that want to sell you crap you would only buy if you are wasted. ( I am not judging, after all I did buy and eat a scorpion). But yeah, if you still tierd for a night out, just grab a few beers from 7/11, go to the hostel and make some friends to share you adventures with.

Khao San road during the day vs Khao San during the night

To end this kind of post I decided to give the Tips& Tricks of the Day. So each new day we learn something, and after a few days in Bangkok I learned something I wish I knew from day one. Never, and i mean NEVER, trust a Tuk Tuk driver. If you wanna take one, that is completely fine if you get a good price, but if they offer to give you any info or if you wanna ask them how to get somewhere, be sure that they will lie to you to get you in the Tuk Tuk.

Tag: South East Asia

Ayutthaya Day Trip – Bangkok Travel Itinerary ( Day 3)

Bangkok Travel Itinerary: day 1/7.