Day 118! It’s officially day one of my time with my cousins. But there’s a minor hiccup… I somehow got sick! But that didn’t stop us from getting up to some fun today. Let the 2 week count down begin!

Well, for some reason, maybe it was hanging out with a young child, I started feeling sick in the night. I woke up with a sore throat, congestion, and was exhausted.

But after taking some Tylenol I started feeling better and was able to sleep for a couple hours.

That didn’t stop us from getting up and at ‘em though! Ben, Mina, and Sam headed down for our “free hotel buffet breakfast” and I followed a bit later after having a slower start. For some reason I wasn’t allowed in because our room didn’t include the free breakfast… even though the lobby said we did when I checked in.

I didn’t have the energy to fight with it, but at least Ben, Mina, and Sam snuck their way in.

They ended up bringing me what they could sneak out and said it wasn’t that good anyways. So we set out for our adventure of the morning.

But first, a quick stop at 7-eleven for some vitamin C!

Outside of 7-eleven, there was a fried chicken stand. So, being hungry, I asked how much. He told me one piece for 120 Baht! I said no way and walked away. But I watched, as shortly after, a local paid 20 Baht for another item at his stand.

So I went up and asked, “why is his 20 Baht?” And quickly the owner told me the piece I originally wanted was 30 Baht. I was much happier with this price and the worker knew I had a tiny bit more knowledge than the average tourist of this area.

It was a great piece of fried chicken and a nice start to my not so great morning. I felt bad that I was sick on day one and couldn’t be my full self for my cousins, but I was trying to tough it out.

We went on a walk in the heat to a nearby shopping mall. Not a bad idea for a toasty morning!

This mall was really big and full of food, clothes, electronics, cars, and more. Unfortunately, the area we’re in caused this mall to be way more expensive than I would purchase anything, but it was interesting to see this side of Bangkok!

Also of note, there were a number of food and clothing items that you could find in a local market priced at extremely high prices. A much different form of traveling than I’m used to!

The more we walked around the more I was starting to feel worse and worse. So I decided to head back to the hotel while my cousins stayed out and about wandering the mall.

I stopped in 7-eleven for some cough drops and then immediately hopped in the shower once I got back to the hotel room. Then I took a nice hour long nap until my cousins came back!

But while I was asleep, here’s what they got up to:

They ate lots of yummy food, trying out the food court in the mall. It looked like a fun time, but I was sound asleep and missing out… but hopefully starting to feel better.

I was in fact starting to feel better, so I joined my cousins on a trip to the hotel pool!

It was a hot day and this was a perfect way to relax in the humid heat. The humidity was great for my sore throat though and I was definitely sweating out whatever illness I had.

After relaxing by the pool for a couple hours, Ben and I headed to our room to shower and find some food.

There was a cheap food stand nearby that I wanted to try, but it unfortunately closed just before we got to it. So we walked to 7-eleven again and I got a cheap frozen meal and also snagged some spring rolls from another food stand outside the shop.

Ben ended up getting his first cheese toasty! He split it with Sam and Mina as well. They all were big fans and now understood my obsession with them.

We were all pretty exhausted, my cousins from jet lag and myself from this cold. So we spent the next few hours relaxing, napping, and playing a bit of Pokémon. I was starting to feel much better! Still not 100%, but I felt up for going on an adventure.

Dinner time rolled around and the sun was starting to set, so we went back into the heat!

It was definitely peak rush hour in the city and the streets were packed! It was pretty wild to see. We were struggling to get a Grab because of how busy it was, so I suggested we take the underground metro to our destination, China Town!

It was also super busy in the metro, but this was a cheaper option AND it was going to take the same amount of time, if not end up being faster.

We were waiting in line to buy our metro coin when a metro worker next to us started speaking Thai over a speaker. I noticed that next to him was a sign with our stop on it and the correct price. So I asked him if we could just buy the metro pass there and we could! So we practically skipped a huge line to get on our way.

A train quickly came… but was packed to the brim. So we waited for the next one. We were very glad we did, because this one was less full and we had plenty of room.

We arrived at China town… and it wasn’t what I was expecting. As I often do, I completely forgot what day of the week it was and it was Monday. So most street food stands and restaurants were closed!

We walked and walked and walked and couldn’t find anywhere to eat. We were hoping to eat at the Michelin star soup stand, but that was closed too.

So after around 30 minutes, we decided to get in a Grab and ride to Khaosan Road.

It was time to check off another big tourist item. But before that, it was time to eat!

Since most things were closed that would normally be open, we went to one of the restaurants I frequented while staying over here (also unfortunately my favorite smoothie stand was closed today as well).

But before the food came disaster struck! Okay, not disaster, but brief panic. Mina had forgotten her water bottle somewhere. At first we thought it was in the taxi. But luckily it was just in the hostel we popped into for a bathroom stop. With that scare out of the way (I unfortunately know the feeling all too well from my time in Hanoi, Vietnam) it was time to eat!

This was my cousins first real Thai meal and it sounded like they all enjoyed! It makes me really happy sharing these experiences with them and these next two weeks are going to be fantastic.

After filling up our stomachs, it was time to slowly meander to Khaosan Road. I was excited to see what my cousins thought of the craziness.

We stopped at some shops and admired the creepy crawly critters that were available to be eaten (maybe another time but not on their day one). But we eventually made it to the famous road!

We slowly made our way through the busy street, being bombarded with loud music, tasty overpriced food stands, and of course, the bar promoters.

But as we got halfway, I remembered that my friend Sam (who I met two days prior) had texted me asking if I could go to his hotel and see if they had his speaker that he had left.

He had just left Bangkok and realized his mistake so I was happy to try and help him out. Emphasis on try. The cleaners definitely have a new portable speaker because it wasn’t in lost and found and wasn’t in the room when I went to check with one of the staff members.

Even though the speaker couldn’t be found, I ran into my new friends Miri and Joya from Switzerland, also from two nights ago! They were just finishing dinner so we invited them along to grab a beer with us, chat, and play some cards.

I’m excited to meet more travelers with my cousins and hopefully they have a similar experience that I have had with meeting new people.

We decided to call it a night, said see you later to our friends (who we’ll probably see in Chiang Mai) and headed down the road to call a Grab.

But before we got to the corner, we found a bar with a Beatles cover band! They not only sounded like the Beatles… but also dressed like them too!

We got in the grab and made our way back to the hotel where we all showered and pretty much instantly fell asleep.

It’s a bummer I’m under the weather, but I shouldn’t push myself. I want to make sure this trip is great for my cousins… but my health is pretty important. I’m hopeful it’s just a 24/48 hour bug, but only time will tell!

Tomorrow we’ll be heading to Chiang Mai, where I’ll be able to introduce my cousins to another amazing city in Thailand… and also some wonderful northern Thai dishes!

– Elie