View From A Tuktuk...

So, here I am in Bangkok again. Destination of choice for extremely cheap shopping, extremely good massage, and extremely yummy mango. Oh, and did I mention, extreme numbers of tourists, travellers, and of course Thai people, making this one of the busiest, most blindingly buzzing cities I’ve visited.

I’ve been to Bangkok more than 10 times – and despite the heat, the dirt and the constant haggling for anything from a boat ride to a banana, I usually use Bangkok as my down time.  Time to get scrubbed, massaged, manicured, pedicured and quite frankly, royally pampered for about 10 quid (50 AED).  Many of the temples, palaces, buddhas and interesting sightseeing-y things lie unseen, as I am usually far too wrapped up (sometimes literally) in my favourite spa to be tempted outside.

But it is in fact outside, on those grubby streets, where you get a peek at the real life of this very unique, very intriguing city.

Stalls selling strange food, massage parlours that look like laundry rooms, old women cleaning noodle bowls behind tiny restaurants, young girls cooking meat on sticks, wrinkly old men hacking coconuts, helpful police officers that know how to say hello in any language, young guys sitting on motorbike taxis drinking coke waiting for customers, tuktuk drivers shouting over the noise of their engines… It makes for some very colourful photographs and some clever manoeuvring around the city to avoid being ripped off by sly salespeople who can spot a tourist from a mile, no matter how well you pronounce sawadikaaaa.

And hence this mini photo diary was formed. 

I’ll call this, ‘View From A Tuktuk…’ a mere glimpse of a city that might take more than a lifetime to capture fully.

Clearly a football fan...

I love the garish colours and the pink taxis...

Our tuktuk driver found my incessant photo-taking rather amusing...

Carrying laundry on a motorbike taxi - no problem.

Just grabbing some lunch... in a bright orange hard hat

Whizzing past family restaurants...

... and street cafés packed with plastic chairs...

Fixing up a salad on the pavement...

Yes, that's me snapping all these random moments

Beware... there are rules in tuktuks

Happy to get a smoke break amongst the gridlocked traffic...

Pretty cool way to leave school, no?

I'm assuming these are lanterns in the evening... so pretty hanging amongst the leaves

A slightly geeky take on Starbucks... but I like their slogan nonetheless!

A group of overexposed monks - in the photographical sense of course.

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Lily pads, blossoms and greenery stand out amongst grey, smoky alleyways.

Open kitchen takes a whole new meaning...

And that's my snapshot of Bangkok on one fun tuktuk run through town. Imagine yourself in my place on the back of a bumpy little open van running through all the chaos and playing paparazzi with the local people and places, it was fun!

I hope you get a chance to see Bangkok for yourself one day - or maybe you've been there yourself? Any spa / sightseeing recommendations? I love a bit of both ;)

Love from Dolly eating mango and sticky rice x