Songkran in Bangkok

There were a few items on our 6-month Asian backpacking itinerary that were just unnegotiable. One of them was spending Christmas and New Year's in Thailand. The other was visiting South Korea. We never even considered beginning our trip anywhere else other than Nepal--we wanted to dive right into this magical country headfirst, and we loved it.

Possibly the most unnegotiable item on our list was spending Songkran (Thai New Year) in Thailand.

Songkran is a 3-day party extravaganza of water fights and cheap beer...AND SO MUCH FUN.

Ever since we threw tomatoes at Tomatina in Spain a few years back, we vowed to also make it to Songkran one year.

After a lengthy flight from Tokyo, we were back in Bangkok ::siiiigh:: it felt great to be in a familiar place. We were reunited with our favorite street cafe, our favorite pad thai stand and our favorite fruit stand again. 

Only this time, the walk to these places was like a total warzone! The first morning I ventured out to get coffee. I was worried I would get soaked already but Christian 'assured' me that it was too early for the festivities to begin...and then I walked back 30 min later soaking wet (but with coffee!). 

Oh IT IS ON. Slurp, finish our coffee, change into bathing suit and "get wet" clothes, find some water guns and we were right smack dab in the middle of Thai New Year craziness on Khao San Road.

It was amazing.

I felt like a kid!

I giggled like a kid!

It was too much fun.

And just like that, Songkran became some of our most favorite days of our ENTIRE trip.

Planning on going next year? Songkran is every year from April 13th-15th for complete water fighting madness...get that waterproof camera ready ;)

Bangkok at Night

With the Bangkok Shutdown in full-swing, Bangkok has been in the news a lot lately. We arrived in Bangkok only days before the Shutdown was to begin on January 13th. Luckily we had plans to escape the city and go to Cambodia for a week.

My friend Anna graciously let us crash at her place for a few days while she showed us around the new part of Bangkok around Thong Lo and Ploen Chit. I was amazed how developed Bangkok was. When 'Bangkok' came to my mind I had visions of old ghettos or Chinatowns, dirty guesthouses and animals running around on the streets.

Somewhere along Thong Lo, the weirdest thing happened. I knew an old college friend of mine, Kevin, lived in Bangkok and, months earlier, we had tentatively made plans to grab a beer while we were in town. Anna showed us to this nice wine bar and someone yells my name. It was Kevin! Small world! Of all the bars in Bangkok, on any given night and there was Kevin hanging out with his friends. A few days later we attended Kevin's craft beer event at Bangkok's new Asiatique downtown area (highly recommended if you want a cool, sophisticated place to hang out!). 

Once we got back from Cambodia though, we were back in Bangkok but this time staying in the infamous Khao San Road area. This area was a bit more inline with what my imagination conjured up about Bangkok, but still...Bangkok is very developed. Pad thai and street-side massages were just as cheap as guidebooks and other backpackers told us.

Later in the week, we patiently awaited the arrival of our fellow travel buddy Denis and our travel duo now has become a travel trio for the next few weeks!

What I did discover about Bangkok is I like it way better at night. The street stalls come out and the entire city comes to life. We have since headed to Northern Thailand, but we will be back, Bangkok...see you for Songkran (Thai New Year) in April.

*We saw Bangkok pre and post Bangkok Shutdown and felt completely safe. We walked through some protests (probably shouldn't do that) and only witnessed people dancing and singing and people camped out sleeping on the roads. One protestor even came up to us and gave us directions when we were lost! Unfortunately there has been some shootings and explosions in recent days. But in our experience, we did not feel threatened in Bangkok whatsoever.*

{DENIS ARRIVES!}

{Bangkok wasn't so bad during the day either I guess ;)...}