W Bangkok Hotel
Our flight arrived into Bangkok at about 6:00 am on Friday, the 23rd. After getting through the long customs line we grabbed our bags, met up with our lovely friend from California, Dawn, exchanged currency and grabbed a van to our hotel, W Bangkok. The fare to have a van drive us the hour to our hotel cost $38. We were able to get checked into one of our rooms and get changed/cleaned up before heading out for our day. The hotel staff (all Thai people) was extremely helpful and accommodating. The W Bangkok is a 5 Star hotel that my kids say is “Fancy!!”
New Bungsamran Fishing Park
We had the concierge staff get a taxi to take us to New Bungsamran Fishing Park. It took us about an hour to get to the lake, but about two and a half hours to get back because of traffic. Our driver waited there the five hours that we fished to drive us back to our hotel when we were finished. It cost $120.
The fishing costs about $120/person. Not cheap, but truly an experience of a lifetime. With that fee we got our own bungalow, which had its own bathroom and even a small room with a bed and air conditioning. We were also assigned two ‘helpers’ that took care of baiting our lines and helping net the fish and getting them pulled up onto the deck.
Nickel & Suede leather earrings (size Small) // Baby Beach Sunnies
We could have fished for eight hour at that price, but ran out of bait after five hours and decided we were too wore out to buy another bucket of bait and keep fishing.
In the five hours we fished we caught about 25 catfish. The small ones, which were few, weighed about 35-30 pounds and the big ones, which were many, weighed 70-80 pounds. It was an experience that is difficult to fully explain.
I grew up river fishing with my dad every weekend, rain or shine, for years. I loved every minute of it because I was spending time with my dad, who was my hero. I will be returning to this lake for another day of fishing, with my dad in tow. He has to experience this and I am so excited to be the one (thanks in part to my wonderful and amazing husband) to make it happen for him.
Bangkok Traffic
We were all pretty wiped out on the taxi ride back to the hotel. At that point it was 5:00 am Illinois time, we had been going strong all day with lots of physical exertion catching fish and were acclimating to the Bangkok heat and humidity all day.
Bangkok Night Markets
The kids tried to crash on us back at the hotel, but we peeled them out of the beds and hauled them out to the night markets to grab dinner and take in the culturing environments of the night markets.
We started at Asiatique, the upscale and family-friendly version of the night market. We opted for the safer fare of Italian cuisine before exploring the shops, stopping to ride the 360 wheels and searching for an ice roll ice cream booth.
We left there by tuk-tuk to head over to the Potpong Night Market. This is the really culturing night market that is more crowded with slightly pushy sales people, lots of bars with go-go dancers, ladyboys and bouncers trying to sell a plethora of ‘shows.’ If your curiosity is peaked search Thailand Ping-Pong Show. It is a bit shocking, but it is what it is. Being Dawn’s first time in Thailand we felt it was something she needed a brief exposure to. We were then escorted back to our hotel by Tuk-Tuk where we promptly called it a night.
Day 1 was most definitely a success. I hope wherever you are and whatever you are doing you have a great day! Stay tuned for more travel diaries to come.
