The Grand Palace

The Grand Palace, situated in the heart of the city, was the original official residence for the Monarchy of Thailand (Siam) up until 1925. The current King now resides at Chitralada Palace. The Grand Palace is still a hub for official ceremonies and functions.

The original structure was built way back in 1782!!! So, you can image the feeling you get as you walk through a place that has seen so much.

The architecture is stunning, so details an intricate.  you can feel the hours and hours of work that individuals invested in, in building The Grand Palace.

Entry to The Grand Palace will set you back about 400baht which is around $16AUD

There are strict dress codes. I had on leggings and a singlet (not knowing there were dress codes before going - I should have checked) but my tuk-tuk driver went and hired me two sarongs - One as a skirt and the other to wrap around my shoulders. Wear a long skirt and long sleeves - nothing tight!

TIP: Go early - there are massive crowds, and I went on a week day! Also, take a guide book. It will help to explain some of the structures you're looking at and the history behind it, as a lot of it is very interesting and there aren't many signs/information stands, let alone english ones.

Cooking up a vegetarian storm with May Kaidee

Cooking up a vegetarian storm with May Kaidee

I've always wanted to do a cooking class. I mean, I consider myself an OK cook, in that... I'll give something a go... Sometimes it works, most times it doesn't. I have h
Kind of been a vegetarian for most of my life, opting out of the meat free diet, before i even knew what the word diet meant, or even how to say meat.  So, Being the only vegetarian in my family, there wasn't too many 'hand-me-down' family recipes to inspire me to learn to cook or know what taste was. Put it this way, my mother is French, and they pretty much eat anything. And my dad is Aussie with English parents and they live of the old 'meat, mash and veg covered in gravy'.

I walked past May Kaidee's resturant/cooking school in Bangkok. I was so excited to see 'vegetarian' that at first I didn't notice that it was also a school...somehow I went from going to have dinner there to having a private 11course cooking class.

Out the back of the restaurant is a 'classroom'. I waited about 5min and the sou chef had cut and prepared all the ingredients I would need.

I couldnt beleive how fast it was to cook EVERYTHING - and I say everything becasue within a matter of moments I had cook myself 4 dishes... that I now had to eat.

CRAP - how do I fit all of this food into my tummy - and there was still another 4 dishes to go 9some of the 'dishes were sauces, so that was a relief!). I was encouraged to sit down, take my time and slowly eat.

IT WAS AMAZING - and, I'm not just say this because I cooked it. The taste, the balance - they know what they are doing!

What an amazing experience. I really do recommend everyone try this - it set me back about 1000baht (about $30AUD) not bad for a full evening of learning, entertainment and food!

nom nom nom...

www.maykaidee.com

Hostel No 14

A Quick little post for a short hostel stay.

Ever been on an impromptu road trip - they are the best!. My friend Peter and I decided we would hit a small car, and head up to the Blue Mountains (in Sydney's far west) on a Thursday afternoon. Its about a 2 hour drive from Sydney to the Blue Mountains. If you have grown up in Sydney at all, at some point during your schooling, you would have taken a day trip or weekend excision to The Blue Mountains. They hold major historical events and stories. The nostalgia and romance of the times of Explorers and Bush rangers still echoes through the haze of the blue Mountains.

The 'Mountains' are a popular weekend get-away spot at any-time of the year. In summer you can enjoy the nature, wildlife, bush walking  waterfalls, caves and shopping. While in Winter - you can enjoy all of the above - with a drop in temperature and if you're lucky some snow.

There are many places to stay and there are a few different towns to visit. Budgets range from camping all the way through to five star (say something like Lilianfels - OH some beautiful and a hit to the hip pocket).

As we were on a random road trip and hence on a budget, we did a night at Hostel No 14. I loved this place! It was warm, clean and had a beautiful charm about it. It looked to be an old (big) miners cottage that has been transformed into a guest house. It is more of a guest house than a hostel. You will not find any drunken you backpacker here. It is more for the budget concerned traveller. It is warm, there is heating through out. Breakfast comes for free and you can dabble away on you iPad or laptop with WiFi.

A twin room with share bathroom set us back $65 (that's $32.50 each) which isn't too bad for a warm bed, a cosie place to sit and read or browse the web and a bit of breakie and a cuppa of tea or coffee.

The manager of the hostel is very friendly and very accommodating  suggesting  things to see and do in the area and around the Mountains.

To book you can go straight to their website www.no14.com.au or I use hostelworld.com when booking hostels (its good for reviews)

The train, the hostel and the Fobidden City

How do you get from Badaling to Beijing? The train.

How long will it take you? About an hour and a half maybe 2hours

How much will it cost you? 6RMB!! (That's about $1AUD)

And...

The quality of the train? AMAZING! No joke - With more than enough room to fit out packs in front of us and still stretch our legs out! I still cannot get over how amazingly clean and room-y the train was and all for $1... Brilliant.

We stayed at the City Walls Hostel in an old hutong area. The hostel was great - The host was friendly and genuinely welcoming. He gave us a detailed mapped and outlines all the 'go-to' areas and all the 'avoid' areas. We stayed in an 8 bed dorm - 2 bunks downstairs, 2 bunks upstairs - So it was more like a 4 dorm. At 100RMB (about $15AUD) a night, you can't really go wrong. The only feedback I would say is the lockers are small - I could fit my iPad and travel documents. So if you're staying in the dorm and you have large valuable items - You may want to bring a security net (if that worries you)

As soon as we arrived we unpacked our bags and headed to the Forbidden City. The bus is cheap and easy enough to catch - but we opted to walk - It took as about 30min from the hostel.

I want to rant and rave about the Forbidden City, but it left me a little underwhelmed. It is stunningly beautiful and decorated elegantly. The history is amazing and the size of the halls with the golden architraves blows your mind... but it was just lacking in that POW! there was something missing in the atmosphere of the place, that made it pleasant and nice to see - but didn't leave me thinking "WOW - THAT WAS AWESOME".

Take your time to walk through here and, as I have said before, take a good guide book with you. You will benefit more for this and truly grasp a sound understanding of the Forbidden City.

Entry into the Forbidden City will set you back 60RMB (Just under $10AUD).

The Great Wall

We were warned by several travelers we had met along our way through China to avoid going anywhere near Badaling. We were told it is that crowded you can’t even move on the wall. So naturally we were expecting the swarms of crowds with pushing and shoving.

In order to get to Badaling we had to catch an overnight train from Xi’an. The train ride was great. Overnight trains, to me, always scream adventure – This is why we opted to train-it rather than fly this leg. The hard sleeper (which is 6 bunk-beds in a cabin, 3 stacked on each side – no door, with bedding) set us back about 280RMB (about $44AUD). The train ride takes about 12hrs (all depending on which train you get.)

You will get off at Beijing West, the station is a little confusing at first, as it is a ‘country’ train station. You will need to catch a bus to get to the metro or just jump in a cab. This was the first experience we had where we found it hard to communicate. We couldn’t find anyone to speak English and the directions we had were not written in Chinese characters. We managed to find a kind man who was able to write the area we needed to go in Chinese characters for us. We sucked it up and just gave the directions to a cab driver – hoping we would get to where we needed to be.

Two hours later and 300RMB on the metre (about $47AUD) we arrived in Badaling. It was pretty much empty. Where were all the swarms of people?

We stayed for 2 nights at the Great Wall Courtyard Hostel. It was cheap clean and the hostess was amazing. The food was brilliant and they knew the area well and were more than happy to give ideas and tips on things to do. We headed up to check out the The Great Wall at about 3:30pm There were a few tourist walking about but no more than 100 – And that’s pretty much nothing when you consider the size of the wall and how scarcely people are spread out.

I hit the North side first – It’s a hard walk – Straight up with lots of stairs. Its do-able but by no means ‘a walk in the park’ so you can imagine how surprised I was to see some female tourist walking the wall in ridiculously high heels.

By the time I got to the 3 garrison tower the wall was empty. I continued onto the sixth tower and just sat there, on top of the world – alone – overlooking Badaling, on the Great wall of China. Did I mention I was ALONE. Not a single soul past me for at least an hour. 

I watched the sun begin to set and then descended down the wall to the third tower on the south side.

Apparently it is very rare for the wall to be lit up. Our host from the hostel came and chased us down the following afternoon to tell us that a VIP was in town the the Wall would be lit for about and hour. We were lucky to see this - It was extremely pretty and again - Not a soul in sight!

Just a side note - We were here on a Thursday and Friday - So I assume this is why it was so quiet - I imagine the weekends is when it becomes unbearably over-crowded.