Bangkok Again (Part 1), Sunday & Monday, August 18th & 19th, 2019

Over the ten and a half months that we have spent here in Laos, Mom and I have met so many new people and made many new friends. Two of our friends in particular (Named Ning and Khongxay) have been very good to us during our time here and can speak English quite well. As a result of their English speaking capabilities we have been able to create deeper connections with them that wouldn’t have been made otherwise. Because of these connections, Mom really wanted to support them to come to Canada sometime and visit us for a couple weeks.

So, over the last month Mom has been helping Ning and Khongxay with their applications for a Canadian Visa. After we had sent off the applications there was only one thing left to do, and that was to get Ning and Khongxay’s biometrics (fingerprints) done. Unfortunately, there is no place to get this done in Laos, so a second trip to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, was in order.

Sunday, August 18th:

In the morning, Khongxay’s brother drove us to the airport for our 10:30 am flight. We were going to meet up with Ning at our hotel later, as she was going from Vientiane to Bangkok by train with her Mom. It was Khongxay’s first time ever flying on a plane, so I think he was a little bit nervous, he told us while we were on the plane he couldn’t stop looking out of the window because it was just so amazing and different for him.

After about an hour and a half our plane landed safely in Bangkok! and we then had to navigate to our hotel. We rode the subway to the stop nearest to the hotel, which was a bit difficult as the subway trains were completely jam-packed with people.

Eventually, we did make it to our little boutique hotel, called the “Pattern”. The whole story of the Pattern was that it used to be an old clothing factory and was then converted into a hotel, so they still had a lot of decor inspired from the past, like old sewing machines and different fabrics… it was pretty neat!

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Almost right after we had got there, Ning and her mother arrived at the hotel too! We said hello and then relaxed in our rooms for a little while. After that we all went out to “China Town” for dinner. It was very overwhelming finding somewhere to eat, but eventually we found a nice little restaurant and had rice, crab, tom yung goong (Thai hot and sour soup), and stir-fried morning glory… yum!

Monday, August 19th:

This morning we had to take the subway to the Canadian Visa office to get Ning and Khongxay’s biometric photos. After that was done, we caught a Touk-touk to Vat Pho. You may remember Vat Pho as the temple that Mom and I visited last time we were in Bangkok, it was nice to go back there and show our Lao friends around. We got pineapple smoothies just outside of the temple gates, they were delicious and a great way to cool off in the scorching hot weather.

Here are some photos of Vat Pho:

– Vat Pho Photos

After Vat Pho, we made our way back to the Pattern hotel and at about 6:00 pm we set out for the “Asiatique Night Market”. The Asiatique Night Market is a fairly new market that was built just on the edge of the river, so you have to take a boat to get to it. The line for the boat was very long, so we had time to admire the fancy boats passing by.

There was much to see and do when we got to the Asiatique market, including the 200-foot ferris wheel, carousels, a haunted house, and other fun rides. But we first we stopped to have a bite to eat.

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Unfortunately, the rides were pretty expensive, so we only did the Ferris wheel and the haunted house. It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of heights… because the ferris wheel was very high up!

The haunted house was also pretty fun. I wouldn’t say it was “scary” because all the things that popped out at you were pretty hokey and silly looking, but it definitely was startling, because it was pitch black and you didn’t know when they would jump at you.

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Finally, as we were walking back towards the place where we would catch the boat back, a little shop caught our eye. They were selling scorpions, cockroaches, crickets, and all sorts of other bugs. I’m sure they taste better than they look… but I think I’ll pass!

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Because we did so much while we were in Bangkok, and I still have a lot of photos from our time there, I have decided to split this post into two parts. The next part will be coming out soon, so stay tuned! La garn for now.

*Word of the Day: Since this post is about Thailand, I think it makes sense to teach you another word in Thai. So today’s word is: Mai bpen rai (Pronounced: my – pen – rai), it means “No problem”.