## Thailand Part 1.
Thailand is a place I'd always wanted to visit.
It's always been a place of escape & adventure to me.
I've watched & seen so many *videos/blogs/vlogs* 
over the years and has always tickled my interests.
I had been talking about going for YEARS!
I was previously supposed to go with a friend and it had almost happened until we all got hit with the COVID-19 pandemic and everything sizzled out. 😷

But until recently, I had come across a friend of a friend who had quite a lot of similar interests in wanting to see more of the world!
I know for a fact that my biggest regret in life would have been that if I'd not ever travelled to Thailand and gotten out of my comfort zone, I'd be kicking myself in years to come.
So literally within a few weeks, I bit the bullet and me and my new friend booked a flight to ------> ✈️
**Bangkok, Thailand!**
____________
On my first day, I really wanted to explore what was in the vicinity of our accommodation & knew that there was a big park not more than a 15minute walk from our first location near the popular tourist area of Sukhumvit.

Below are these amazing Monitor Lizards.
These guys just roam around freely in Bangkoks biggest open park which is called **Lumphini park**. 🏞️
Some of these guys are huge! 
This guy in particular caught a big catfish from the lake and brought it up on land so he could peacefully eat his lunch to the gawking eyes of us tourists. 🦎

_____________
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmXfapR1jwHseMuKLD93Uy2izbr7BgLY9zJHkwMyEjthcn/1711397582071.jpg)https://images.ecency.com/DQmZTMvx2syu8HPxNzDuuLZJqBfcsru7Xid8ogt2bzm6M57/1711397614175.jpg
_____________

For our first adventure outside of the city, we visited the famous **Maeklong Train Market** which is so cool!
As you can see from the picture, the markets residents and sellers a few times a day have to pull back their shops to make way for the passing trains.
As part of our tour, we both got to experience the journey both on & off the train. 🚃

_____________

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmW3D62pG5SB2gKs45FrFDa4W3z3KdNRSYbfxRsk4GvSNh/1711401400883.jpg)![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmR6FgN9A1DaRs6EPrrFZN9uLWmEt3UGMkYwHD9x8ktDEi/1711398650733.jpg)![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmdjmuBu84AB5K1XuNiKnx9PYhXV6UkVBa5CZuvsZRwuXZ/1711401458484.jpg)https://images.ecency.com/DQmc2S2zMA3sLdCi4Dhrsz1ZXEmNb3MKUDfa1BaN6dTR5sg/1711398873471.jpg

_____________

Shortly after the train market, we visited the 
**Damnoen Saduak Market**
 
[//]:# (!pinmapple 13.52836 lat 99.98820 long  d3scr)

which is an open water market in a remote area of Thailand.
A lot of the people here were a mix of young and elderly, so it seemed to me that the people living here survive a lot off of the tourists that visit these more remote areas as a way of making an extra income as apposed to solely living off the land which their families may have had to do for years and years in the past.

The location in which we were was quite remote, and believe it or not, some parts of Asia have Anacondas and a lot of big snakes! This guy, we got charged I think the equivalent of maybe **$3** to have a picture with this Boa Constrictor which was most likely found in area. 🐍

_____________

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmdCuNczRD4HUXux2DCvnKbULfjKLKcWTt3BKKaqoEAuP8/1711399031194.jpg)
_____________

- Below are just a few pictures I snapped whilst we were travelling through the open water market.


 
>A local woman bringing tourists along the open water market. 🚣‍♀️
______________
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmYJPqH4wmCKVL19KuYu8ScnbTqfa8Dq1eA1x1Zaxr5t6k/1711399267855.jpg)

>A local man carves a slingshot on the edge of the river outside his home, maybe to use to hunt small game, fish or maybe to sell.
______________
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmdkpUnjfb5XTeDVVxeQfTGzLJVwcdHa2anBvGHR6HNpjp/1711399795125.jpg)

>A wild Irish tourist gazes in awe. 🙇
______________
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmQ929FHbYwdXuRvjvtfoegXYt6uw3P6RFq7aULwcN7UM3/1711400512955.jpg)

>Another local woman selling fruit from her small boat. 
🥭
______________
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVWCAgqH5esndjTvzxgDWPT64P4Nxdx6GUfmnfpkcu25P/1711400923475.jpg)

>A tourist buying bananas off of another elderly lady seller. 🍌
______________
![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVX9tC8dmfgNyszsqmQNLcmdWBRE5zFF46YMmqYfxHd7u/1711401172389.jpg)

______________

This stuff guys is called **Mango Sticky Rice**
and it is unbelievable. It's hard to explain, but the consistency of the rice is similar to that or muller rice for anyone from the UK or Ireland? But warm. Also, the mango is so fresh and so soft, it's mouthwatering beyond belief. 
My mouth is watering right now... 🤤

&

Below is **Chicken Pad Thai** which was also incredibly nice and fresh.
One thing I'd noticed in Thailand is that the portion sizes were a lot smaller. For example, the chicken would a lot of the time be cut down into smaller pieces, maybe to portion it out more. 
(and keep costs low?)
In essence, a great place if you really wanna diet! Haha
🐥

Overall, I'd say for both the Mango Stick Rice + the Chicken Pad Thai, I probably paid maybe **$7**/**$8** or **$9**, which would is deemed very expensive in some areas!
(*tourist areas*) 
Our tour guide had told us that money made from tours & purchases in the local areas are all put back into the local village economies, which is always great to hear!

______________

![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmcXXmVr5cDdS768QoF5Q4MQUxWoKJbMpdg11FXDoPtFYL/1711401889015.jpg)https://images.ecency.com/DQmVRbzsjZB1bTd8ktcrmU8aEYMuEtbSHHN5Cn4zunYf9Rq/1711401961772.jpg

_______________




Guys, thank you for viewing my post!

This only scratches the surface of what I'd gotten up to.
I have so much to post but don't wanna spam post with everything, so I'll end this one as this was **ONLY day 1!**

I'm not gonna spam, I promise! 😂

I'll post up my best bits, but this was definitely something special and a real kick-starter to an amazing adventure in 
SE Asia.

Thanks.