I'm writing this blog from very hot and humid Bangkok! My short hair is already coming in handy... We are well, albeit very tired and slightly jetlagged (we woke up at noon today after having slept for more than 12 hours).
Our ferry ride to England was nice and relaxing. Unfortunately, it was followed by an absolutely crazy day in London. I've been to London before during a great trip with Kiran in 2006. but I'd forgotton how BIG London is! We spent all day catching subways and walking around. We didn't see any sights because we felt that there wasn't enough time and because we thought they were quite expensive (I wanted to go inside the London Tower and on the London Eye, for example, but those sights turned out to cost more than half of our daily budget each). Instead, we just wandered the city all day and saw a lot on foot. Of course we had a delectable lunch at Fifteen where Jamie Oliver himself was, sadly, not to be found and we also lay in the grass in Green Park for a while, until it started to rain, but what is a day in London without rain, really? After a long day we had to haul our backpacks into the subway during rush hour, which was a little stressful. It took 1,5 hours to get to Heathrow where we boarded our 11-hour flight to Bangkok. I was very excited to see the entertainment system and had quickly assembled a list of 5 movies and 3 TV shows that I wanted to see, but, alas, fell asleep during an episode of Banged Up Abroad: Kidnapped by Sadam Hussein. After a restless sleep, we arrived in Bangkok.
Thailand has been great thus far - everyone is really nice and it's been quite easy to get around. Plus, our hotel is lovely. I read about the Atlanta in Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed and, since it was also in our Lonely Planet, decided to make a booking here. Boy, am I glad that we did! The hotel is an oasis in the middle of this busy city. It has a charm that reminds me of the 50s - a beautiful lobby with classical music playing in the background, antique writing desks, a delicious menu offering countless vegetarian meals, a tropical garden and a swimming pool - all for the budget price of 20 euros per room per night. Did I mention that we received complementary pineapple juices when we arrived? Jochem has already found a fan in the 60-year old waitress who appears to be quite charmed. We are enjoying ourselves immensely, although we have very separate opinions when it comes to air conditioning - I love it, Jochem hates it. For example: Jochem wakes up in the middle of the night because he's cold and turns the AC off. I then wake up because I'm hot and turn it back on, and so on and so forth. I'm curious to see how this will work out here! I love it here and am glad to be able to stay for a couple of days while we acclimatize to South East Asia.
If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
Our ferry ride to England was nice and relaxing. Unfortunately, it was followed by an absolutely crazy day in London. I've been to London before during a great trip with Kiran in 2006. but I'd forgotton how BIG London is! We spent all day catching subways and walking around. We didn't see any sights because we felt that there wasn't enough time and because we thought they were quite expensive (I wanted to go inside the London Tower and on the London Eye, for example, but those sights turned out to cost more than half of our daily budget each). Instead, we just wandered the city all day and saw a lot on foot. Of course we had a delectable lunch at Fifteen where Jamie Oliver himself was, sadly, not to be found and we also lay in the grass in Green Park for a while, until it started to rain, but what is a day in London without rain, really? After a long day we had to haul our backpacks into the subway during rush hour, which was a little stressful. It took 1,5 hours to get to Heathrow where we boarded our 11-hour flight to Bangkok. I was very excited to see the entertainment system and had quickly assembled a list of 5 movies and 3 TV shows that I wanted to see, but, alas, fell asleep during an episode of Banged Up Abroad: Kidnapped by Sadam Hussein. After a restless sleep, we arrived in Bangkok.
Thailand has been great thus far - everyone is really nice and it's been quite easy to get around. Plus, our hotel is lovely. I read about the Atlanta in Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed and, since it was also in our Lonely Planet, decided to make a booking here. Boy, am I glad that we did! The hotel is an oasis in the middle of this busy city. It has a charm that reminds me of the 50s - a beautiful lobby with classical music playing in the background, antique writing desks, a delicious menu offering countless vegetarian meals, a tropical garden and a swimming pool - all for the budget price of 20 euros per room per night. Did I mention that we received complementary pineapple juices when we arrived? Jochem has already found a fan in the 60-year old waitress who appears to be quite charmed. We are enjoying ourselves immensely, although we have very separate opinions when it comes to air conditioning - I love it, Jochem hates it. For example: Jochem wakes up in the middle of the night because he's cold and turns the AC off. I then wake up because I'm hot and turn it back on, and so on and so forth. I'm curious to see how this will work out here! I love it here and am glad to be able to stay for a couple of days while we acclimatize to South East Asia.
If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
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