Welcome to week thirty-one of the backpacking diaries. I’ll be updating you weekly on where I’ve been, what I’ve been getting up to, and most importantly, how I’m really feeling about this insane decision I’ve made.
As you probably know, I’m currently backpacking through Asia after quitting my job and leaving London for good.
I want to remember every moment of this experience, and document as much of it as I can, just like I’ve documented everything else in my life post-18 on this website.
You can keep up to date with my travels on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but for now, enjoy week thirty-one of the travel diaries!
If you missed the first thirty weeks of backpacking diaries, you can catch up here.
Top tip: for mobile data around Asia, we used the Jetpac eSim. This was super handy and easily installed onto our phones as soon as we arrived in Japan! Get $5 off your eSIM package when you use my referral code: ORLZRLN2.
Day 211: Monday 14th October 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
It was another morning of being on Ticketmaster. This time, for more Oasis tickets.
Yes, really.
Oasis finally announced dates for Australia, and since we should be in Australia in November next year, we tried for Sydney tickets in the presale.
I happened to be successful and managed to get us two tickets for the Saturday night. Will we still be seeing them in Los Angeles two months prior? Who knows.
If you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about (Los Angeles?!) then you’ll need to revisit last week’s diary entries. Or maybe even the week before that.
After the concert tickets were secured at 10.30am, we headed downstairs to the cafe below our apartment building and got to work.
We stayed for a few hours before we felt hungry and headed back to the apartment to order some lunch and watch more Outerbanks.
In the afternoon we learnt that we could actually cast our laptops to the TV screen on the wall. Disappointing that we’ve only figured this out when we have a few days left in the apartment.
Himself bought me a blogging course over the weekend, so I sat for a few hours with this playing on the TV while I took notes in my notebook.
I’ve enjoyed feeling like I’m back in school, taking notes and learning new things that will hopefully help me improve this website that I’ve been winging for the past eight or more years.
I guess we’ll know in a few months when the results come in.
This took us up until after 7pm, so we ordered dinner and finished the first instalment of Outerbanks before I hopped on my phone to do more work on Instagram.
Day 212: Tuesday 15th October 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
We headed into the city this morning. If you’ve read any of my previous diary entries from Bangkok, you’ll already know where we were headed.
We took the taxi boat and it was rammed. Like rush hour in London on a Wednesday morning with everyone heading into the city centre.
There are times when I wonder how many people are actually supposed to be on the boat at one time and if the boat has ever sank before.
It doesn’t seem to be the safest mode of transport, but it costs 40p to get into the city and then a few minutes walk to Central Embassy where we spend the entire day working.
Budget over safety, right?
We worked all day in the Embassy and we always end the day in a coffee shop with huge floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking some of the Bangkok skyscrapers.
Beside this coffee shop is an Italian restaurant that serves huge pizzas and pasta dishes. Every time we work in this coffee shop, the strong smell of truffle always wafts over to us and smells so good.
Since it’s our final week in Bangkok, it was finally time to try the truffle pizza for myself and extend our budget a little further today.
We had some bruschetta to start and then a truffle pizza and salami pizza to share. It was tasty, but wasn’t as tasty as the pizza we had in Seoul, South Korea surprisingly.
But it was night to have a date-night of sorts for a change.
Day 213: Wednesday 16th October 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
We had a day off today!
My first day off since the yoga retreat in Cambodia a few weeks ago. It was a full no-laptop day which I welcomed.
Even though hopping on my laptop every day doesn’t seem like work to me, it was nice to get away from looking at a screen and using brain power. And not having to think about my ever-growing to-do list.
We were to visit three temples and three foodie spots in the city before our cruise along the Han River in the evening.
We arrived at the Golden Palace first and they were very strict about dress. Boys aren’t allowed to wear shorts and if you’re a female, having a scarf or shawl covering your shoulders won’t cut it. I ended up buying a cover-up from a nearby stall for 100 Baht.
Once we entered and walked around for two minutes the heavens opened. We’re talking torrential downpour.
We waited around for it to clear up and walked around most of the Palace before the rain started again. The ground was flooded and everyone was cramming for shelter.
Not great weather for exploring the city!
Once the rain stopped, we headed to a coffee shop on the river front that had a view of Wat Arun temple. We sat outside and enjoyed some coffee before the rain started again and we had to move inside.
Next on our list was a foodie spot himself has been talking about for weeks. We ordered a taxi and headed there. Only for it to have a sign saying that it was closed and would be open again tomorrow. Just our luck.
Instead, we headed for a Pad Thai next door at a famous spot where the King apparently eats. Very tasty.
Next, it was on to another foodie spot of dumplings. This was actually down an alleyway of market stalls that appeared to be selling all kinds of meat and fish that didn’t look like something I would fancy eating.
The dumplings were delicious though, so I’d highly recommend.
We wandered through Chinatown and the markets around here before grabbing a ferry to Icon Siam, the large shopping mall where our cruise was due to depart from.
Thankfully the weather had cleared up, so the cruise would be able to set sail. We had seats on the top deck and I was working with the cruise to create content.
We ended up being treated like celebrities, being brought to the front of the queue to get on board first and experience everything without anyone else on board.
The food was incredible and the views at night were amazing. We passed the Grand Palace and Wat Arun all lit up at night and there was live entertainment on board that had everyone up dancing at the end.
A great day of being tourists in the city (besides the bad weather).
Day 214: Thursday 17th October 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
I woke up to the news that Liam Payne died today.
Honestly, I still can’t believe that it’s real. I wouldn’t believe it until I saw the BBC news articles that confirmed it.
If you’re a long-time reader of my blog then you’ll know how much of a One Direction fanatic I was during my teens. I was obsessed.
So the news hit me quite hard and reading the tweets and posts and seeing the video montages really don’t help.
He was only 31. He wasn’t supposed to die this young. I had always hoped for a reunion tour in the future and I can’t believe that’s something that will now never happen.
I’ll never see One Direction live ever again. I’ll never hear their songs sang live the way they were intended ever again.
There’s definitely a huge sense of loss for my teenage self and it was as if all of those years spent obsessing over them and talking about them online flashed before my eyes today.
I saw a tweet that said ‘I can’t believe we’re having a 1D funeral before a 1D wedding,’ which stung. It felt like they were invincible.
We were working from Central Embassy today, one of our final days to do so. I was trying to work while also reading all of the updates about Liam’s death and what exactly happened.
It was quite the day of being online and trying not to get emotional about it while in the coffee shops.
We finished up with work and had an early dinner, then headed to the cinema to watch the new Joker movie. We had heard bad reviews, but wanted to see for ourselves since we enjoyed the first movie and Joaquin Phoenix is one of my favourite actors.
Like the reviews said, there was a lot more singing than I thought there would be. I would even say too much singing for my liking and that’s coming from someone who loves musicals.
It wasn’t as great as the first movie, but the acting was brilliant. Except the ending. Hated the ending.
RELATED blog post to read: 7 Broadway Musicals You Need to See in New York
Day 215: Friday 18th October 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
Our plans for today were cancelled and we had a full day in the flat instead, working from the cafe downstairs in the morning before moving up to the apartment in the afternoon around lunchtime.
There was a huge storm that started around 4pm and continued all night. Definitely not something I wanted to be outside in.
Himself was meeting his brother tonight to watch some Muay Thai. We were due to have a day out exploring with him, but he had only arrived to Bangkok the night before so was very tired and jet lagged.
While himself was gone I was doom-scrolling on my social media all about Liam Payne and had a cry watching videos and reading posts about him and One Direction.
Niall was the final member to post about Liam (he’s my favourite if you didn’t know) so this was the final straw for me and made it sink in a little more that he’s gone.
But it still doesn’t feel real.
Day 216: Saturday 19th October 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
We had a lie in this morning after himself got in late last night and we had McDonald’s at 1.30am.
It’s our last full day of normalcy today, and I’m getting my hair done in my usual spot in Central Embassy around lunch.
We headed to our usual coffee shop in the Embassy around 11am and worked until my appointment. I’ve been to this hairdresser three times now, so she knows my colour and how I like my hair to be styled.
Little does she know that she most likely will never see me again, as I have no plans to be back in Bangkok again or to get my hair done here.
After my hair appointment, we treated ourselves to a final Din Tai Fung, our last meal in Central Embassy. Today’s entry will be a lot of ‘lasts’.
We took the water taxi for the last time (thank God) back to our apartment and had a cosy night in to pack up and get everything organised.
We caught up on this week’s Bake Off episode, watched more Revenge and then ordered a late dinner – our final meal from the healthy spot we’ve been ordering from every other night.
And that was our last full day in the apartment. We’ll be packing up tomorrow morning since we’re not in any rush to go anywhere.
Day 217: Sunday 20th October 2024
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Dear travel diary,
It’s check out day! We left our Bangkok Airbnb this morning and worked in the coffee shop downstairs for a few hours before leaving for our hotel in the city centre.
We have a very early bus tomorrow morning at 6am to take us to our next destination, so thought it best to stay in the city centre beside the bus station so we won’t miss it.
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything as crazy as Bangkok traffic. No matter what time of day or what day of the week it is, you’ll be stuck in traffic. Always.
I’m sad to say goodbye to our apartment. It was our home for the past five weeks (minus my stint in Cambodia) and was a very cosy abode for us in between travelling.
With Netflix on the TV, mood lighting, skyline views of the city, a gym and swimming pool on the top floors, it was the perfect hideaway for us to get lots of work done and to be based somewhere for a while.
But now that we’re leaving, it means we’re onto a new leg of our travel journey. We’re heading to the beach tomorrow and I couldn’t be more excited!
It’s been a long time since we’ve lived the island life and our travels over the next few months are definitely more island-hopping than city-hopping.
Our most recent leg of travel was very urban-heavy in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea, so I’m excited for this change-up starting tomorrow.
The travel journey today was long. The bus left Bangkok at 6am and arrived at the pier at 12.30pm. There was no stopping at all, so no bathroom breaks.
The bus was also double-decker which I haven’t experienced in Southeast Asia before.
From the pier, it was then a two hour ferry to arrive on Koh Tao. Once we arrived it felt like we had just arrived in paradise.
We took a taxi from the pier to our hotel and checked in quickly before making our way to our favourite pizza spot for an early dinner.
We watched the sunset on the beach afterwards and were very spoiled by a gorgeous sky for our first night.
Oh it feels so good to be back on this beautiful island!!
Make sure to check back next week for week thirty-two of the travel diaries and see what we get up to on the gorgeous island of Koh Tao!
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