Thailand // Bangkok

Exactly a year ago today on Nelson Mandela's birthday my mom and I set off to Thailand!!! And what an incredible journey it was. We spent 10 unforgettable days in Thailand - 3 nights in Bangkok, 5 nights in Phuket and 2 nights on Phi Phi island. I came home after the trip and had a wedding to shoot and have been non-stop busy since then and have sadly not posted any photos from my trip yet. I thought on the year anniversary was a good a time as any :)


So the story starts back a year ago. I was busy shooting weddings and was coming to the end of my wedding season as we go into Winter time here in South Africa. I was in dire need of a break. A getaway. To anywhere. I've been yearning to go overseas and take pictures with my 'new' talents and  'eye for detail' ever since I graduated in 2008. Also being friends with numerous photographers on social media and seeing them migrate to sunnier exotic destinations every year in Winter and posting the most amazing photos of all these beautiful places they've seen made me sigh with jealousy.

Finally I decided, that I have enough money saved up and I want to go on holiday to relax, and shop, and document everything I see, and that's when I picked Thailand. The most amazing place anyone can visit! And I took my mom with me :)

(ps. I'll comment on some of the pics to shed more light on what I saw)


We started our adventure in BANGKOK! The biggest city I have ever seen and the city just stretches as far as the eye can see. The very first thing I remember seeing was monk. They absolutely fascinated me, because I've never seen one and I probably photographed them every time I saw them! We managed to do so much in such a little time that I'll sum it up briefly... We walked the city flat and never felt threatened. The people are unbelievably kind and happy and very respectful. We had to remove our shoes before entering certain buildings, namely temples, our hotel, stores... We shopped at various 7 storey shopping malls, got loads of massages (they are very cheap there), drank lots of water, ate interesting Thai food (even off the street), acted like absolute tourists and loved it.

We visited places like the Baiyoke Sky Hotel - the tallest building in Thailand and had a 360' view of Bangkok city which I'll never forget, saw the floating market at Damnoensaduak, went to the Chatuchak weekend market, saw the golden budda, visited the flower markets at night along the banks of the Chao Praya river, and explored the city and streets of Bangkok.

Enjoy looking through my memories of this beautiful trip :)

(ps. I'll comment on some of the pics to shed more light on what I saw)

This is the first pic of the trip - standing in front of the departure boards en route to JHB.

The funniest thing I saw in JHB waiting to board our Thai airways flight was this man.

DAY 1  //  BANGKOK

Planning session at Starbucks and then off to find our hotel.

Couldn't seem to stay away from the weddings ;)

I was wearing shorts and had to rent a sarong for 20 Baht to enter the temple.

The Golden Budda.

DAY 2  //  BANGKOK

Floating market at Damnoensaduak 

and see the view from the Baiyoke Sky Hotel

This plant totally looks like a dragon or a dog right?

The Baiyoke Sky! Friendly elevator guy - the elevator only has one option, floor 77 anyone?

The city and high rise buildings just continue as far as you can see.

DAY 3  //  BANGKOK

Visit the Chatuchak market in Thanon Kamphaeng Phet, got back and explored, got to our hotel..showered..changed and 11pm went to the flower market along the banks of the Chao Praya River.

This is the king and queen of Thailand - when they were young - you see them everywhere.

These are tiny baby flying squirrels that you can buy in the market...sooo cute!

This is how they make ice coffee.

This girl was obsessed with taking pictures of her nails, probably sat there for 10min just watching her!

                                                  Local guy making ice coffee...in style

Came across these two pretty girls that let me photograph - they live right next to railway tracks

This sweet lady gave us each a few stems of blue coloured orchids - such generous peole - but because we couldn't travel with the flowers we gave them to our taxi driver :)

DAY 4  //  BANGKOK 

On our way to airport to catch our flight to Phuket

Our hotel was 5min from the train station that took us to the airport (the top line there), but we had to walk along the tracks to get there hehe

You got these chips to get through the different train stations