First stop: A day in Bangkok

The entry point of our semi-Indochina trip was Thailand. This is because of two reasons, one, it was the cheapest fare at that time and two, we wanted to do a bit of shopping (which we thought we would be able to do). :)

We arrived at the Suavarnabhumi airport via Cebu Pacific airlines at 8:00 am. It was pronounced as "Suwanaphum" which I found amusing when I first heard of it from the taxi driver. My sister booked us at this place called the Cozy Hostel and it was pretty much what it was when we got there.

Cozy hostel reception area

Just like the usual hostels, they require you to take your shoes off before going up the rooms at the upper floors. The reception area was very spacious with a computer in the middle and lots of chairs to hangout. Just further in is the kitchen where you can cook and some tables for eating. Plus, they have overflowing free coffee and tea. 

Cozy hostel near the Hua Lamphong 

It was located in Hua Lamphong within a residential area with very narrow streets and with some small-time businesses lined up in between. It was pretty much like a compound with a "sari-sari" store at one corner and a small eatery/coffee shop at another corner. Some were washing their cars in preparation for Monday's work. I saw a completely different type of Bangkok from my previous visit. The last time, we were at the city center where we saw the big shopping malls and the hurry and flurry of the city life. This side of Bangkok was more relaxed and less extravagant. It was a neighborhood of a typical middle-class Thai. 

We only can spend one day in Bangkok so we chose Chatuchak to be our destination. (It was Sunday and we were just in time for the Weekend market) We rode the train from Hua Lamphong all the way to Chatuchak Park. We emerged from the train to see the huge park adjoining the Chatuchak market. The park had a lake in the middle, a children's playground, a clock tower and of course, lots of grass. There were a lot of people then, (again it was Sunday) and you can find some vendors selling sitting mats to spread on the grass. 

Clock tower at the Chatuchak park

We were looking for the entrance to the Chatuchak market which was way across the park where we were. When we got there, we got hungry so we searched for an eatery (which was not hard to find) along the entrance of the market. The first food we saw was spring rolls! Spring rolls was 40 baht (6 rolls) and we definitely had to have some of that. Lunch for me was the Pad thai (noodles with egg, shrimp, mongo sprouts, some vegetables and nuts and other spices). And it was delicious! It was a mix of sweet and salty (which I like) plus it was not very oily. It is similar to pancit but with an added sweet taste. It costs 100 baht. 

Tasty spring rolls!

Pad thai rhymes with must try :)

Outside the market was lined with different kinds of enticing street food. We definitely had to taste some of them.

We got in the market after that and bought some souvenirs. We couldn't stay there very long since we had to go to the Bangkok Bus Terminal to get tickets to Phnom Penh. And we had to find our way to get there. You can read more of how to cross borders here. 

After the ticket-buying, we got back to Chatuchak to catch the train back to Hua Lamphong. Of course, we had to explore a bit more in the market before heading back to our hostel. 

While we were walking along, a loud song suddenly started and everybody, and I mean everybody, just stopped short in their tracks. Everyone got quiet too. If I remember correctly, it was around 6pm. The song apparently was their National Anthem. There weren't much people singing along but even foreigners stopped too. Of course, we weren't exempted from stopping then. The song ended and we all went back to our own business.

Everyone stopped when the National Anthem began

There was a lot to see at the night market, especially food! We tried the thai original dessert which was comprised of ice and sago and some sweet syrup. Sort of like a simple halo-halo. There were clothes, and decors and bowls and a whole lot of stuff. 

Care for some lemonead?		The original thai dessert
	muang thai boxers
food, food and more food!		the chatuchak train station

We had to get back to our hostel at some point to get ready for tomorrow. We almost got lost getting back. Luckily there was a nice taxi driver who sketched us a map from the train station to the hostel. It was just walking distance and we didn't want to spend a lot for taxi. We got to our hostel and started getting ready again for our early trip the next day. 

First leg accomplished. :)