The end is here!!

This morning Becca, Sophia, and I woke up earlyish, finished packing and checked out of our room.

We decided to go get breakfast together but somehow we couldn't find any restaurants or bakeries to go eat so Becca and I had a street "pancake" (crêpe) and Sophia went to 7eleven to get her coffee! 

We walked back to the hostel and said our goodbyes to Becca :-(

Sophia and I took the sky train and went to the Chatuchak market! The biggest market in Thailand and the biggest weekend Market in the world!!! 

The market had pretty much anything you can imagine! It ranges from really cheap, 100Baht for 2 t-shirts, to more expensive stores with one of kind hand made things!

They also had all kinds of food... We started with a coconut ice cream

And then a rectangular Popsicle!

And then some sticky rice and mango... The very last one of the trip!!

We were there for 2 1/2 hours and we didn't even go through 1/4 of the market! It was huge!

Here are some of the fancier shops... I took the jewelry one for Titi :-)

After some shopping we headed back to the hostel and I was picked up by my taxi at around 2pm and drove to the airport :-(

My journey has ended but the memories will stay with me forever!

I went to amazing places and met some pretty great people (and some pretty annoying ones, I'm not going to lie!) but now it's all over and it's time to go back home, back to work, and save even more to keep on traveling... Next adventure starting June 26th... 6 countries in South America!!

... My backpack is ready for more patches!!!...

Markets markets

This morning we woke up extra early to be able to make it for our tour to the railway and floating market!!!

Since our hotel was outside the pick up area we had to get on the first sky train (6am one) to the Asia Hotel where the tour was going to pick us up! We were picked up by a van that took our reservation papers and drove us to a meeting point. Once there we switched to a different van and driver that took us to yet another meeting point. Once in our 2nd stop a very rude guy met us and asked for our tickets! We of course said that the other guy had it and he yelled at us "no ticket, no go" and got the 2 people with ticket out of the van leaving us and couple in the ticketless van! We tried to explain what happened but he was in no mood to listen to us! He gave us attitude and stuck his hand out to let us know he had no interest in talking to us!

After 10 mins or so our driver #2 came back and somehow we were good to go!

Holly Molly! The driver drove that van like the devil was chasing him! He was going so super fast and we wee bouncing everywhere!

Finally we made it to the railway market!

This is a market that is set up by the railway and when the train comes people move stuff around or they have set up their products to a height where the train won't crush them!!!mluckily the train only comes twice a day: 7:30am and 9:40am

It was incredible to see how close that train came to us!! You can watch the video on Instagram 

http://instagram.com/p/i_RoqxihDT/

Once the train came by it was time to move on and go to the floating market!

When we got to the floating market guess who was there?!? Rude guy! Again!! Giving us directions on what to do!

Becca, Sophia, and I decided to go on a little boat and go on a boat cruise around the market!

The people selling souvenirs were very aggressive! They had a stick with a hook at the end and they would grab our boat and pull it towards their shop! Once in front of their shop they would ask us to buy their stuff for ridiculous prices and then say "how much you give, how much you give?"

It was really cool to see all the food vendors in their little boat! I was impressed by the ones actually cooking in their boat! They had big woks full of oil and they would fry spring rolls, chicken or anything that needed to be fried! 

After our boat ride we got into a bigger boat that took us around the village and we got to see how people around there!

The boat tour lasted about 10 mins and then we met up once again with mean guy who was separating all of us into different vans!!! Everybody was so confused! He asked how many we were and we said three, then he pointed as us and said "two" and pointed at a van, we said "three" and then he replied "two"... Does he even understand english?!? He sent the couple who was with us in the other van and left the three of us waiting.

Another guy around us seemed to have lost his van, and some others didn't even know where to go and if we moved the guy yelled at us!

I asked what his name was and he didn't reply and sent the three of us to a van. I explained that we had stuff in the other van but he didn't seem to care! After we were seated he came back and asked who asked for his name! Very aggressively he pretty much put his ID card on our face and started yelling to take it and take a picture of it! I was a little intimidated by this jackass and I said that we needed our stuff from the other van... But it was gone! 

Five minutes or so later we stopped behind our old van and he pointed at it and for us to get out! I thought he was kicking us out but we only needed to go get our stuff out. I didn't move! Sophia went to get her stuff and asked her to find my water since I was afraid that he was going to drive off without me! Haha maybe he wouldn't but I didn't want to risk it!

We got back a little bit after one and the girls had some Padthai lunch on the street 

... and then went for a massage... And a facial! Haha

Prices are ridiculous! I got a full hour massage for 230 Baht ($7.13) and then Sophia had this idea of getting a facial! At first I wasn't sure because I'm very picky and I don't think they sanitize any of their stuff so I didn't think it was a good idea. I shared my thoughts with Sophia and she said "mmm... It's good enough!" Haha so then I was like "what the heck! For ten bucks I'll do it!"

To be honest it was a very nice facial, they rubbed god knows what on my face for a full hour for what came down to $9.36 on my credit card (that's with the 3% fee for using a card!!!)

Then, we had to say bye bye to Khao San Road forever...

 We then took a tuk tuk to the sky train and decided to go to one of the many fancy shopping mall in Bangkok. First we went to Siam Center which was more of a "normal" mall but way fancier than anything I've been to in the US! These stores really go all out on their decorations and the stores look fancier than they probably are!

One of my favorite things was the bathroom sign!!!

We then made our way to Siam Paragon and OMG! It was sooo fancy! 

They had Louis Vuitton, Tods, Cartier, Bvlgari, Hermes, Rolex, Chanel, very expensive jewelry stores but inside the stores there was no one! (Well, Louis Vuitton had a line outside!) Most of the small stores had at least 3-4 people working and all of them were on their cell phones since nobody went inside! I bet they are high up on their candy crushing levels!

We kept walking and on the fourth floor we found Maserati, Rolls Royce, Ashton Martin, Porsche, and even Lamborghini... Really?!? Who goes to the mall to get a car that costs double the annual salary of 5 regular citizens?!?!? 

There wasn't much we could buy with our last 1,000Baht so we decided to go back to the hostel and have some street food for about 50Baht as our last dinner together!!! ... I had sticky rice and mango! Yumm!!!

Another day in Bangkok!

Today we decided we were going to take easy, sleep in and make no plans.

I'm still not feeling 100% so the sleeping in helped a lot! 

At around 11 we decided to get out and go back to Khao San Road to book a tour for tomorrow, have lunch, and then go for $4 massages!

I once again had to skip lunch and stick to my bottle of water since even the smell of food made me nauseous! This whole stomach sickness has been really weird! It is only pain and it seems to be a day thing! Most nights I feel fine... Maybe my body is reacting to the heat! Who knows!!

The highlight of the day was my massage!!! It was sooooo good! I picked a back, head, and shoulder massage and that man made sure to stretch my whole body and to crack every single bone (well, probably the joints and not the bones!)

We had to switch from the hotel to a hostel so in the early afternoon we headed to our new accommodation. I was feeling extremely sick and very low on energy that I decided that it was a better idea to stay and rest at the hostel that to meet with the others!

 Somehow I was feeling a little guilty because if I didn't go that meant not saying goodbye to Lukas so even though I was feeling crappy I went! 

We took the sky train to a station close to the Baiyoke Sky Hotel and then decided to walk... Bad decision! On the map the hotel looked so close!!! It really seemed like we were a block or two away! But no... We walked for about 30 mins and we still weren't there! The more we walked the more I felt like I was going to pass out! It got to a point that I couldn't anymore and I told the girls that I would pay for a tuk tuk because I really wasn't going to make it!

We got into a "really expensive" tuk tuk (50 baht for 3 blocks) and we were stuck in local market traffic for like 10 mins! We finally made it to the Baiyoke hotel 30 mins passed our meeting time!

The Baiyoke Sky Hotel is the tallest tower in Bangkok and it has a rotating platform on the 84th floor where people can see the whole city of Bangkok!

Once we arrived they had a bunch of M&M's machines all over and I decided that M&M's were going to be my first meal of the day and somehow after that I felt completely fine which made me wonder if I was low on sugar or something like that and that got me sick!

Anyway, the view from the platform was pretty nice! We even got to see the sunset!

Sophia is a scary tuk tuk driver

Bangkok at night

After sunset we decided to go to the bar for a drink and then walk around the local market and find some food.

It is amazing how right outside the big hotel area they have tons of local markets with clothes and a bunch of knick knacks to buy.

After grabbing dinner (at a mall... Classy) we decided to find a bar or a place to hang out. Since we don't know the city at all we couldn't find a place and we just kept walking to the point that we were getting annoyed! Then we passed next to a big mall and on the top it looked like there were some lights and things were happening. I then told the group that in El Salvador the mayor clubs and bars are inside the mall so we decided to give it a try!

We somehow figured out how to get to the bar and the place was FANCY! VERY fancy for a bunch of tourists wearing tshirts and flip flops!  W e decided to go in any way since we could afford the $3 sodas (I felt a little ashamed to ask for water so I ended up buying a seven up.. First time drinking soda after like 10 years!)

The club was impressive! We sat on the terrace overlooking Bangkok!

After a while two boys came out dressed as Angels (the bar is called Heaven) and danced around in their shirtless suits! We were entertained to say the least!

Then came the girls wearing flowery bikinis and spraying bubbles all over! Fun!

After a while they had a wardrobe change and they came out wearing neon costumes!!

Once it got late it was time to say our final goodbye to Lukas :-(

The four of us walked together to the sky train and he had to take a different train than us... So sad! Here he is with a very sad face... We will miss him!

Finally made it to the last destination... Bangkok!!!

After spending 15 hours in a train I was ready for a shower! 
Last night train was the last one of the trip! Yeay! And also the best even though we didn't have our own private cabin!
The train was clean, the seats transformed into beds that were spacious and we got clean sheets, pillow, and blanket!
I still wasn't feeling good at all so I decided to go to bed early to get rid of the dizziness and the stomach pain... I slept for 11 hours straight and once I woke up I was feeling a little better!

At about 8am we arrived at our hotel and thankfully our rooms were ready for us! Yeay!
We quickly showered and by 9am we all left to do a little sightseeing!

Thailand right now is going through a tough political situation so there are many protests and traffic is a little crazy! We were advised by OLeang to stay away from certain areas and to be aware of protests around the city. Due to the protesting getting a cab to go to Wat Po and the grand palace was almost impossible so we all went on a little adventure! We ended up taking the metro, the sky train, and a taxi boat to get close to Wat Pho.

I was very impressed by the metro system in Bangkok, everything was clean, well signed, and most importantly easy to navigate!!! After a couple of stops in the metro we had to transfer to the sky train... OMG! the sky train was amazing! Super modern! It had big screens with advertisement in the waiting platforms and once inside it had air conditioning and even tvs! The announcement for the next stop was very clear in English and made it really easy for us to get around!

We reached our final destination and it was time to transfer to a boat! OLeang had explained to us that we only needed to pay 15Baht and not the tourist price! 
Once we got to the dock we were directed to buy a ticket for 40Baht (tourist fee) but since we knew about the scam we asked were to go for the 15 Baht boat and we were sent to the locals boat!

The ride down the river was very nice! We got to see many beautiful buildings as well as all the fancy water front hotels! The boats on the river were very colorful and had flowers hanging at the end!

After 8 stops we finally made it to our stop!  We walked for a couple of minutes until we reached wat po! 

Oh my! Wat Po is beautiful! It is one of the largest temple complexes in Bangkok and it has a HUGE reclining buddha that measures 46 meters!!!! 

The beauty of Wat Pho is breath taking, really! It is full of murals and beautiful temples, buildings, and a gazillion golden Buddhas.
One of my favorite pictures was this kitty relaxing on Buddha's lap :-)

After wondering for a quite a bit we decided to go to the Royal Palace! By now it was probably around noon and it was H.O.T HOT!!!!! It felt like we were melting! We were all sweating and kind of over the whole temple thing but we still decided to give the Royal Palace a shot so we walked for about 15 mins until we reached the palace!
Once inside the main gate we saw a ton of people standing around so we decided to stand and see what was going on! After a couple of minutes of nothing we decided to ask one of the people standing what they were waiting for but they didn't know either!!! Finally somebody said that they were waiting for the king's niece to arrive!!! Umm... We decided to skip it and walk to the ticket window.

The palace has some restrictions:

Once there most of us started to re think the idea of paying 500Baht ($17... That's like 2 days worth of food) to walk around in the heat to see the palace and be bored out of our minds! Haha so at the end we all decided to skip it and go to Khao San road and have lunch instead!

On our walk we found many of these:

So far I have not liked Bangkok all that much! I don't know if the heat and being sick has had an effect or if the city is just not what I expected! 

We spent a couple of hours on Khao San road (aka Bangkok's party street for tourists) and then headed to MBK, a local mall that reminded me of metrocentro in El Salvador! Not impressed at all!

We decided to take a taxi back to the hotel so we went to the taxi point to negotiate the price for a taxi. Here in Bangkok many taxis have meters but the drivers refuse to use them because they know they can take advantage of tourists but we are smart so need to negotiate!
One of the taxi drivers asked for 500BAHT!!! And of course we said no because it was a ridiculous price (we were ok paying up to 100baht) but Griegan still said "meter" and the driver said no and then proceeded to scream "FUCKING YOU!" and left... I was shocked! Why on earth would he curse at us?!? He was for sure trying to take advantage of us and the fact that we said no and asked for the meter was a fair request! Anyway, the next driver took us and used the meter!

The drive was quite an experience! The driver spoke zero English and he was trying to explain to us that there was traffic the other way and he would pretend to fall asleep and snore to make us understand that he would be bored and stuck in traffic if he went that way! We were all laughing! And then he proceeded to tell us stories in Thai but we had no clue what he was saying! I decided to tape the whole conversation and show OLeang for translation!

At night, we went for our goodbye dinner :-( ... Since I've had no food since yesterday I was really looking forward to it! I was starving!!!!

After dinner some of us decided to go back to Khao San road and party a little bit before we had to say good bye!