Chinatown, Bangkok

We started our Thailand trip by flying into Bangkok. We got in late that evening and the hotel I had booked us was all the way in the middle of downtown. We needed to be by the train station because our train for Koh Samui left the next day. Come to find out, our cute little hotel was right across the street form the train station. Our hotel was the cutest and very swanky. Our room was small and the bed was hard, but it was ok for a couple hours of sleep. We woke up to a wonderful buffet breakfast and stunning views of the city. We had a couple of hours to kill before our train so we decided to walk down the street to Chinatown. This was our first impressions of Bangkok and Thailand. We were a bit overwhelmed. There were cars and motorbikes weaving around everywhere making it hard to even cross the road. We were harassed constantly to get into tuk tuks or buy something. Chinatown was a hit to our senses. There were so many colors and smells and sounds. The most common thing we saw were carts full of fresh fruit juice. We were very hesitant about street food at first, so we didn't try any. As we walked down the streets, we also noticed tons of gold shops, ducks hanging from the ceiling, big pots of something cooking, pig skins, and spices. We were a little overwhelmed by the crowd of people, but we were so excited to be there that we just tried to go with the flow. It was fun to get out of the touristy part of Chinatown and go into the back alleys where the locals do their day to day shopping. It was an interesting day and a good introduction to Thai culture. 

Our cute hotel

ducks

We decided to get some roast duck and dim sum for lunch. The duck wasn't bad, just not something I would eat often. 

Linking up with Bonnie and Tina for Travel Tuesday!