What Happens in Bangkok, Stays in Bangkok

Khaosan Road during the day

The Vegas rule of engagement applies here, too.  What happens in Bangkok, stays in Bangkok.  So, don't expect any Hangover Part 2-esque accounting of events.  However, we can share a few observations to keep our blog going!

Ironically, we just left Jerusalem, the holiest and most religious city for one of the backpacker capitals of the world - Bangkok, Thailand.  Long gone are Jesus's sites, prayer books, wailing wall, churches, synagogues, mosques, and pilgrims.  

Now, we are surrounded by bars, clubs, tattoo parlors, Thai massage joints, pad thai street vendors, plastic buckets full of cheap booze, piercings, beer girls, lady-boys, hippie flowy clothing, tuk-tuks, and a sense that practically anything goes in this city that makes Vegas look like an amateur, as evidenced by the ping ping girls in Bangkok's Red Light District, Patpong Street (look it up, or read this R-rated article: Ping Pong Show by Adventurous Kate's blog).  

Cost: 7 Days in Jerusalem

We know that everyone spends differently, and a budget can be extremely variable; however, after leaving an area, we want to provide some perspective on the cost associated with staying there for anyone interested in doing a similar trip.  Our budget of $150/day (we started with a lower target range of $100 but we are obviously nowhere close to that!) is for 2 people and does not include the $10,000 round-the-world flights (plus trip insurance) already paid for.  The budget also does not account for the bills we are continuing to pay at home.  The bulk of our budget allows for low-to-mid-range lodging in hostels, budget hotels, or guesthouses for a target of $60/double; meals/drinks; use of public transportation; and cost to do some sightseeing and/or activities.  At $150/day, we have found we are not depriving ourselves from any experiences; except that, as foodies, we aren't as liberal with our budget on finding the best and trendiest restaurants (which we haven't missed at all).  An article titled, "Set Your Daily Number" by the veteran travel bloggers from Married With Luggage confirms that a daily average is a simple strategy for setting and meeting a budget.  We've got in the habit of taking a few minutes to record our daily expenditure so we can make small adjustments along the way.

Israel has the prettiest money!

7 DAYS IN JERUSALEM

Long ago when we decided to add Jerusalem to our RTW trip, we knew it would be a temporary budget-breaker, but we didn't care.  We wanted to experience the Holy City no matter.  

So, despite the up charge in our lodging due to Yom Kippur and Sukkot holidays, we came out only slightly scathed at $190/day ($1327 total).  

Currency: USD$1 = 3.86 Shekels

Tips For A Successful Visit to Jerusalem

While we originally thought a week in Jerusalem was excessive, we're glad for the extra days we had to explore the city because we never intended to visit right in the middle of the Jewish holidays - Yom Kippur and Sukkot - as well as the Sabbath, where everything literally shuts down.  Although it was nice to have a few "forced" days of rest right alongside the locals celebrating their holidays...the lack of public transportation and closed businesses made us think of other nice-to-have-known tips for visiting Jerusalem.

Zion, the Wall, Holocaust Museum, New Jerusalem, and Sukkot

Kind of a boring title but that's exactly what we did on Day 153 of our travels.

We would've also added Dome of the Rock to the title, but we decided not to stay in the long Disneyland-esque line, waiting in the scorching Middle Eastern sun for over an hour to see...more mosques.  The mosque is built on top of the foundation of the Second Temple so it happens to be the holiest place for Jews and the third holiest for Muslims.  However, non-Muslims can only go into the Temple Mount space, and cannot enter the Dome of the Rock or the Al-aqsa mosques anyway, plus we've literally seen dozens of mosques for the past 6 weeks, so we let this one go.  We took some photos from the exterior.

Temple Mount compound.  Gold Dome of the Rock sits on top of Temple foundation and the Al-aqsa mosque to the right with the black dome.  Note the long line already formed at 8am.  The Wailing Wall is in front of the gold dome on other side of the bridge leading into the compound.  

After walking through Jaffa Gate of the Old City, we walked past David's Tower and ruins of King Herod's palace remains, kept going through the Armenian Quarter, and found our way to Zion Gate, which led us out of the Old City walls onto Mount Zion.