Location: Somewhere in Central Thailand

It’s our last day in Bangkok and after the fiasco that was yesterday we decided to take it easy and do some light sight-seeing nearby. We hailed a tuk-tuk to a small alley near the palace and sat in for some food. I have given up all pretence of eating normally and had a green chicken curry for breakfast. I don’t even care anymore that I’m going to be up to my eyeballs in Thai food. I’m happy about it. Garrett ordered a very neutral bowl of mango sticky rice, as his accidental foray last night into the spice-world left his stomach a bit sore.

We chose Maha Rat Road in particular because right around the corner was the amulet market! There must have been over a hundred little nooks and stalls just teeming with amulets, charms, coins and small statues. We wandered around what felt like a never ending rabbit warren, passing only a few tourists but quite a few locals with magnifying glasses looking for legitimate amulets. I am obviously no expert but it was interesting to look anyway! I don’t often buy souvenirs but I found an intriguing small stone plate / statue thing and I’m still trying to figure out the meaning. I mean… it’s Buddha so I figure I’m pretty safe from accidentally buying myself like a ‘death and destruction’ amulet by accident!

Right down the way was a quick ferry crossing so we hopped on for the ride over to Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) which was a recommendation I’ve received many times over – and now I can definitely see why.

As the boat approached the opposite shore of the Chao Phraya River, we both gasped at the details forming on temple even from so far away. The closer we got the more intricate it became. A white background with dark green, terracotta and gold designs made up the bulk of the structure. Elephant statues and demon guards populated different levels of the main prang (spire in Thai) providing endless details to look at. The stairs were some of the steepest I had seen, almost requiring your hands to get up the steps. The fact that there were no railings made for an interesting descent for both of us! We agreed on our way back to the pier that aesthetically this was our favourite temple so far and was well worth the river crossing.

On our way back to the hostel we stopped in at a place I flagged on my map a few days ago based purely on the ginormous lineup we had seen snaking out of it. Turns out it was a specialty toast place?! I looked it up once we sat down and immediately found an article that said ‘the 10 best places for toast in Bangkok’ so apparently it’s an actual thing. Aesthetics wise it’s a bit unappealing, basically a thick slice of toast cut into 9 squares that has some kind of thick topping slopped onto it. I got the two classics: sugar toast and egg yolk custard toast, and was pleasantly surprised at how yummy it was! I would have been more surprised but the lineup was a give-away that it must be worth it! Garrett tried the strawberry toast and ate his entire plate in like 2 minutes flat. (He just informed me that 2 minutes is generous and it was more like 1.)

We had to head back to the hostel to prepare for the next leg of our journey – a night train to Chiang Mai! When we arrived at the train station it was predictably chaotic and neither of us were exactly sure what was happening but we managed to find our sleeper car and settle in. Fingers crossed this is going the right way because I couldn’t find a sign saying otherwise!

I’m now tucked into my little nook on the train and having trouble staying awake while I am effectively rocked to sleep. Garrett’s already snoozing away on the top bunk and happier than I’ve seen him this entire trip!

Sav