Price: $3 AUD per night for a 4 bed dorm Location: 2 minute motorbike ride from Lat Krabang station. Staff:Barely talked, but did offer me some foul Swedish licorice. Sleeping:Average. I failed to get a good night’s sleep the whole time I was here. Facilities:Only saw one shower/toilet when I was there, and the shower was freeeezing! Laundry:Not offered. Internet:Free wifi available.
Backpackers Airport Lounge & Hostel was the last place I laid my head in Thailand – because saying it’s located in Bangkok isn’t exactly accurate – and I left with pretty average feelings about the place.
So this one is coming a little late, because by now it’s been about two weeks since my birthday, oops. But it’s finally happens, I am officially an adult. Hoorah!
Instead of having just my birthday in Bangkok, I decided to be just a little more self-absorbed and treated myself to a birthday week. If you’re not familiar with the term ‘birthday week’ it’s really just an excuse for people with far too much money to celebrate for the week leading up to the big day. Now obviously I am not someone with far too much money, unless I’m in Bangkok, where I become stupidly rich – in my eyes anyway. So let me tell y’all what I got up to.
I could’ve started my week on a Monday because my birthday this year fell on a Sunday, but seven days of myself would’ve maybe driven me mad, so instead I settled for five and began my week on the 20th. On the first day I was moving hostels, so to cheer myself up I went and got my nose pierced, the same thing I did for my birthday last year. Hopefully this now-yearly birthday ‘tradition’ doesn’t continue into 2013, because it hurt like hell this time. Worse than my tattoo! I maybe even cried a little. Maybe. Luckily, I cheered myself up with a fake plum Casio watch, and a real plum Revlon lipstick. I swear, lipstick soothes all my wounds.
On the 21st, I bought the only dress on the street I’d seen that would fit me, and then bought a new handbag to go with it. Hopefully this bag fares better than my last one from SE Asia, which I fell in love with, and in return, it fell apart. *tear*
The 22nd is actually a mystery to me (I should keep a diary) other than what I did for dinner, which was treat myself to the first, last and only real restaurant meal I had during my stay in Bangkok. I went to Himali Cha Cha & Son, a lovely little Indian place where I stuffed my face with palak paneer and garlic naan. Good, expensive times.
When I woke up the next day, I was resolved to go and rewatch 007: Skyfall at the Lido, but alas, when I finally got there only Breaking Dawn: Part II was showing. Not being one to turn down a movie experience, and needing to see how it all ended, I went and saw it. It actually wasn’t that bad, the slightly cringeworthy moments aside. Returning from that outing to the New Road Guesthouse, the gang there announced they were all headed to the Sky Bar, so I tagged along to admire Bangkok from great heights. This is actually an outing I would recommend to you if you visit the city.
If you’re unaware, the Sky Bar is located on the 64th floor of the Sky Tower. This probably sounds super unfamiliar, but if you’ve seen The Hangover II and remember the rooftop confrontation scene, then you’ve seen the Sky Bar in all it’s glory, as it was filmed here. They’re still serving the “Hangovertini” – a specially created cocktail for the cast and crew of the movie – and will probably keep serving it for the next ten years. Whilst I was up there, my birthday ‘treat’ was the most expensive mojito of my life. Excuse me, but fuck VAT and service tax.
On my birthday eve, the 24th, I played leader in an outing with three Dutch girls to the Chatuchak weekend markets, another outing I’d recommend if Bangkok is your destination. All I bought there was a hairband and some of my beloved smoked chicken which is so good. That night I dragged my new Dutch friend, Florine, to see Cloud Atlas. I’d been obsessing over this movie for about two weeks since first seeing the trailer – which I’ve nicely placed below for your viewing pleasure.
Even though we both left a little dazed and confused, it was a beautifully made movie which I would recommend to anyone who is capable of following multiple storylines. But perhaps read the book first.
Returning home from the cinema, we watched the clock tick over to the 25th, Florine brought me a beer and sang Happy Birthday and then we crashed out in bed.
Finally at the big day itself, I woke up at 6 am and wandered off to Mcdonalds in the rain for the best hashbrowns ever, and when I returned to the guesthouse and awoke after a nap, Florine fed me pancakes and tea and we set off on the boat towards Khao San Road. When we got there we headed off to the “massage garden” that Mark recommended to me, and left about two hours later feeling quite refreshed after our massages in little tents. Following this, I watched proudly as Florine bartered down the prices of some cute dresses for us both, and then we triumphantly took a tuk tuk home, with some obligatory tailor stops along the way. My birthday adventure would’ve ended there, if not for the taxi driver I encountered at the airport on the way to my next hostel.
After driving around for about an hour without the meter on, looking for Airport Backpackers Lounge, we finally found the place and the time came to haggle the price down to something reasonable. Imagine my surprise when instead, the taxi driver offered to take me to dinner. I agreed, and he drove me to Banglamphu, and we ate the best fish soup ever in a little street restaurant. Then he drove me all the way back to my hostel – not without some awkward attempts at handholding and me squeaking “Have boyfriend!!” – and let me out without paying for anything. Oh, and he even gave me a hat as my “present, present” for the day. Such a lovely guy, who really gave the day a great (and slightly hilarious) ending.
All in all, I think that this week and my birthday were perhaps the best so far. And now that I’m an adult, I can happily stop ageing and and never celebrate getting older ever again. But hey, if someone wants to give me some ice cream cake when I get home, I wouldn’t be totally adverse to it.
Price:Free for a night spent in rooftop hammocks. Location:10 minutes from Saphan Taksin BTS, 5 minutes from Pier 1. Staff:Helpful, knowledgable, really friendly and approachable. Sleeping:In the hammocks, so-so. The weather is a big indicator of how well you’ll sleep. Facilities:Mostly clean and always available. Only cold showers in the dorm building. Laundry: Done hotel style, by-item. Internet:Free wifi available, as well as computers where Internet access can be purchased for 1 Baht per minute.
New Road Guesthouse was the last place I stayed for a whole week in Bangkok, and to be honest, normally I wouldn’t have stayed there if I hadn’t scored the cheapest accommodation in the world – not even exaggerating.
Price:$6.30 AUD per night for a twelve bed, air conditioned dorm. Location:5 minutes from Lumphini MRT and Lumphini Boxing Stadium. Staff:Helpful, happy and sweet. Sleeping:Really good. Good temperature, and the couch upstairs is comfy too. Facilities:Always clean and readily available. Hot showers possible. Laundry:Available next door, 40 baht per kilo and ready within 24 hours. Internet:Free wifi that works on all levels, and 3 computers with all-hours access and net connection.
I’ve actually been excited to write this review, because aside from May De Ville Backpackers in Hanoi, and the Sea and Sand Hotel in Hoi An, both in Vietnam and both places I would recommend, ETZzz Hostel was my favourite place I’ve stayed in SE Asia.
Sometimes I met really rad people and whilst I will eventually blog about all of them, so far, this has been my favourite gang.
In this group there’s Nick, Josh, Helena, Hanna, Rianne, Ellie – all who are teaching English in Malaysia – and then Jeff, Andre, Leo and myself. This was our party crew for Khao San, minus Leo and Jeff, and then it was our hangout crew/s for the next two days. Team A and Team B, as we were christened by Leo. I just had a really awesome time with everyone, and today the last of the crew checked out and headed on to another location, and I’m the last one left here now ))):
Tomorrow I’ll be checking into my 1 Baht a night (3 cents!) accommodation, and basically I’m praying that the rooftop there is at least half as rad as ours was here at ETZzz Hostel – which I totally recommend staying in if you’re ever in Bangkok!
So if partying and travelling are two things that appeal to you, there’s a fair chance you’ve heard of Khao San Road, located in Bangkok, Thailand. If not, Khao San Road is an infamous party road in Bangkok, in the Banglamphu district. It’s filled with market stalls, pad Thai and roti carts, tattooists, tuk tuks, bars and restaurants. Mostly frequented by tourists and backpackers, young and old, it seems to constantly be awake and thriving, no matter the hour.
I’ve been doing a whole bunch of stuff lately, mostly just meeting amazing people from all over Europe (United Kingdom mostly though) and hanging out with them.
I know that I need to blog about everything that’s been going on, from my creepy couchsurfer guy, to English teaching scams, to cocktail buckets on Khao San and so on. But when I think about blogging I really just cannot be stuffed, and I know it’s because I’m one of those writers who needs to be “in the mood” to actually get anything good out. Which will probably be a really annoying trait for me to have seeing as I just got accepted into a Bachelor of Communications (journalism) and my main task will be writing.
Anyway, I’m going to try and get up to date with everything that’s been going on, so stay tuned for things that will probably make my parents a little freaked out. Mum, it was only two cocktail buckets AND I shared them!
Before I get started, you have to admit it. You totally thought, even if only for a second, that this post was maybe going to be about something really sleazy, just from reading the title. Right?
Well get your mind out of the gutter! I’m talking about travel games!
The only reason they would be classed be some as “inappropriate” stems from what we’re doing. Uppity people would probably rant and say that we’re degrading people and religion for a mere game. In response to that, I say…
So we’ve recently arrived in Thailand, and so far, it’s been alright. I weirdly got sick on the way here, and I can’t decide whether to be freaked out that I’ve caught a mutant disease that will eventually end my life, or to just wonder how I caught A COLD in 40 degree heat! So not impressed. But moving on.
And speaking of moving, we recently took a lovely little ride in a Thai Tuk Tuk. Look at that perfect alliteration. Say it out loud, it sounds just too cute! Something that is so asthetically pleasing to look at and say aloud should not now instill me with an intense fear! It’s highly unfair. More »
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About
Hey there,
My name is Brittney and I'm from Australia.
I started travelling on the 20th of January, 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with my family.
Since then we've travelled across south-east Asia and the United States, but on June 2nd 2012, I'm going to be back in Brisbane,while they continue to travel. Keep reading...
