i HEART bkk - for its attractions

This is the first post in a new series, "i HEART bkk".

I love Bangkok. Unconditionally. It's my home and I miss it as soon as I leave - everytime! So I want to document my love, take pictures, write about my tours, my stories, my experience, anything.

p.s. This time I left the pictures in their original, huge format, click on them! The Ko Kret ones are not good, because taken with my sh*t Nokia phone.

Part of my fascination for bkk is that even after a year, there's still so much to be discovered. Museums, areas, temples, even parks! Yes parks exist in Bangkok.

My boyfriend never tires of saying: "bangkok lacks public spaces". He hates Bangkok. At least he says so. When we go out, his face resembles a waterfall after a few minutes in the hot and humid Bangkok air.

I think when he is back in (wherever he will go in October), he will miss Bangkok too.

The last two weekends, we moved our asses to see a few attractions that we always wanted to see.

renting a bike

The last weekend was nature dominated. We took the bus from my home to Nonthaburi, which lies immediately north of Bangkok. On the way to Pak Kret, we were advised to change buses by the bus lady.

We obliged and were thanked by a tropical rainstorm. In the bus, we were told that we were in the right number, but wrong direction. Ouch. Rainstorm, wet me and boyfriend and shoes. etc.

After arriving in Pak Kret, we tried to find a boat to Ko Kret. We found it and were squeezed into the tiny thing. My knees basically touched my face, and at 174cm I am no giant.

Ko Kret and the river.

On Ko Kret, we rented a bike to be able to discover the whole island. It was already 4pm though, so we had to rush a bit.

All in all, Ko Kret is an extremely pleasant place. Get away from the main spots into the green, where Bangkokian tourists dont clog the tiny pathway anymore.

Football Ko Kret-style

All the pathways on this island are a few metres above ground, presumably to keep them safe from flooding in the rainy season. The wooden houses and villages are pristine and all in Thai-style on long pillars.

After we finished about 3/4 of our trip, the black clouds in the photo caught up - it was not pleasant. After a few minutes in the rain, even my underwear was soaked - and my shirt was glued to my body songkran-style.

See the storm coming?

Makes for good nipple-viewing, but feels cold, especially in the taxi, which then drove us home. At home, we both jumped into the hot shower (hot shower in Bangkok anyone, how odd is that?) and the rest I will not tell you. But it left me dazed for 10 minutes after we finished, I kid you not!

Fast forward: today.

Getting off the taxi. At the National Museum. After a bit of bargaining, I get in for free, only me though, bf forgot the student ID. There go 200 baht.

Beautiful sky in BKK

The museum could really use the money though, as I quickly noticed. The general section is nationalistic and biased. I have seen museum in the provinces that were much better, more detailed and more neutral.

The rest was interesting. But old and falling apart. Chinese porcelain, swords, dolls etc. A playground!

Phra Arthit 1

Phra Arthit 2

Again in the taxi, to the Golden Mount. Taxi driver asked me: Is that your friend? I said, no my boyfriend. He said something about "rak sam kon". I assume he wanted a threesome. He also said that he finishes at 6pm but that now it's only 5pm.

We were amused. Walking up the Golden Mount, I asked myself countless times why I had never been there before. It's stunning!

bkk from Golden Mount

An artificial mountain to build a temple on top. The bottom of the mount is largely filled up with greenery, then the white concrete and on top the golden temple. The views are breathtaking and luckily the weather was good. A 360-degree panorama of BKK for free.

Wat Ratchanatda

Then we went to the neigbouring temple of Wat Ratchanatda, the silver "European style" one at the beginning of Ratchadamnoen Road. It was pretty empty except for some extremely malnourished cats.

The boyfriend picked up the cutest one and then discovered that it had a horrible eye infection. It thanked him by sh*tting on him.

Democracy Monument

We left to Khao San Road. Gays may not know this, but Khao San is a lot of fun! There are also quite a lot of Thai gays there. Besides, if you meet a Thai gay there, he is very likely to a) speak English and b) be into farangs.

My tip, try your luck:) But he will be there with his fag-hags most of the time, so that's a major hurdle.

Anyway, the bf and I got drunk and went on the bus home after thinking that both, Asahi and San Miguel beer can not even dare measure up to Belgian Trappist beers.