95 degrees hot and sunny….YAAASSSSS!!

We finally arrived, and the 2 day plane ride didn’t seem all that terrible. Bangkok airport was fairly easy to maneuver around, but waiting for the luggage was torture…seemed like we were there for an hour, which is why we normally like to carry on our luggage. Emirates only allowed us to carry on one personal item, and 2 check in luggage each…each of our luggage was 1/4 full, one weighing 7lbs, the other 9lbs-not sure how accurate that is lol…guess it leaves plenty of room for shopping!!

JW Marriott is our first home here in Bangkok. We normally stay at Marriott Hotels, and while the service is usually top-notch, in my opinion, this hotel has 7 star service. EVERYONE here is incredibly friendly, makes me want to keep coming back! We arrived at 9am, and they had an upgraded room for us! The lady at the front desk, Som, was so sweet and friendly. We have access to the Executive Lounge where they served us one of the best breakfasts we’ve ever had at a hotel lounge.

Cindy was the sweetest lady that made my omelette both days, and made it a point to address us by our names.

Ok so I was very excited to eat the fruit here since its supposed to be very good….ok, yes, next to Hawaii, the fruit here is definitely so sweet and ripe. Cindy was so sweet to bring us this.

Sitting as a passenger in a vehicle is kinda nerve wrecking to say the least…lanes are super narrow-I felt like I had to suck in my stomach to avoid getting side swiped…they drive on the opposite side of the road, and motorcyclist zip thru between cars…Sheesh….not used to that..They break hard, and punch the gas every opportunity they can get. If you’re not feeling well, it’s not going to be a good ride.

We hopped on a tuk tuk where our driver took us to our 1st stop-The Pier, where we jumped in a boat and toured the river. Interesting on seeing how other people live in different countries.

Here is a picture of the sitting Buddha…

The standing Buddha was under construction, but still neat to see.

Apparently, there is a custom suit place that is famous to get cheap custom clothing made, and quick! Our tuk tuk driver took us to this place called Rom, where Eddie got 4 custom shirts made for 6500 baht, or $208.80 USD. We probably could’ve bargained, and not sure if we got a good deal or not, but I know you can’t get custom shirts for $50 each in the States. They delivered to our hotel in 24 hours!

We stopped off at Siam Mall, and was interesting to see how packed it was for a Saturday. It was almost an anxiety attack walking shoulder to shoulder, and I’m pretty sure it was a fire hazard. I wanted to stop into a Hermes, where we had to wait for someone to leave before we could enter. Their prices are more expensive than in the States. A bracelet i was looking at that was $600 USD, was 25,000 baht, or $803 USD. Apparently, they have a large luxury import tax here! I wonder if that’s why there are a shitload of fakes here that I can spot a mile away. No thanks, I won’t contribute to child labor, and slavery…BUT, you get 5% VAT tax back…Guess I’ll wait lol. That saved us a wait to go into Louis Vuitton and Chanel-I’m not paying an extra import tax when I can get less in the States. Oh well, just a tad sour over it…ok a lot sour over it…But look…..they have a Garret’s Popcorn….IN THAILAND!!!!!

So we wanted to come here during Songkran, which is Thailand’s New Year, April 14-16, so we could experience their tradition. A lot of places are closed so people can celebrate, and boy do people celebrate! Our hotel gave us clear pouches to put our phones and money in to avoid getting wet. Ok, so I assumed we would get wet, had zero clue we would get DRENCHED…When we were driving around in our tuk tuk, some kids would squirt us here and there, they weren’t messing around-some were carrying 4-5 giant water guns. If this happened back home, I’d call these kids punks and probably chase them lol…but, since I knew this was their tradition, we giggled it off, and accepted kids would be spraying us. I admit, it was a kind of refreshing since it’s a little hot here, and the water was warm (hoping from the heat here, and not tinkle water).

Then, it was time to meet our long time friend, Vern and his wife at a bar called Hillary 4 in Soi 4. As soon as we turned on the little street, we saw a huge crowd of people…with super soakers…shit…we are in a tuk tuk…it has no windows…we are screwed… We drove maybe 50 feet to the bar, and we got nailed..drenched…soaked….like I jumped in a pool fully clothed…So when I wear my hair curly, I put practically half a bottle of gel in (ok not really, maybe 1/4 bottle), and I had nearly no product in my hair, that’s how drenched I was. Everyone was drenched, drunk, and having a great time! You can’t tell in this picture, but we are all soaked!!

We left around 7pm to eat at Chinatown…it felt like it was 11pm, but in all fairness, we just landed almost 11 hours ago, and did all this already!

Chinatown was NUTS, people shoulder to shoulder, food everywhere!!

This recapped our busy and fulfilled day! Day 1 in Bangkok was a success!!

xox~j