Bangkok was the place I was least excited for during my Thailand trip. In general, I’m not a fun of big cities and huge crowds, which I understood Bangkok to be. Knowing that, I decided to book my hotel in a less crowded part of town and utilize tour guides so that I wouldn’t have to navigate/use a lot of public transportation. Both decisions turned out to be the right ones for me because I really enjoyed my time in Bangkok. My Bangkok itinerary is posted here.
THE HOTEL
We stayed at the Shangri-La, which was right by the Chao Phraya River, so it had beautiful views of the river and even fireworks one night and a light show. You can take a water taxi from the hotel to most places along the water in Bangkok. The hotel also had a really nice pool by the river and several nice restaurants. The day we had to go to the airport to leave, the staff was really accommodating—we got to the breakfast buffet and it was swarmed with people there for a conference. The staff offered to let us sit upstairs in a closed off area and let us order off of a menu that was closed at that time. Really great experience at the Shangri-La.
ROOFTOP BARS
We went to Breeze Restaurant the first night since it was close to our hotel. They have a beautiful view of the Bangkok Skyline, but are pretty expensive so it might be worth just going to the bar for a drink. The food was decent, but probably not worth the price. Everyone should go to at least one rooftop bar while in Bangkok for the view. Other places recommended were Amorosa Bar at Arun Residence so that you can watch the sunset over Wat Arun (probably the best one to go to), Lebau (the rooftop bar from the movie, “The Hangover”), Vertigo, and Above Eleven.
TEMPLES AND FLOATING MARKETS
The three most popular things to see in Bangkok are the Grand Palace (which houses the Emerald Buddha), Wat Pho (reclining Buddha) and Wat Arun (the white temple). I was also interested in seeing a floating market since I make it a point to see things that are unique in the different countries I’ve been to. Since I had not heard about floating markets before this trip, I made it a point to see one, even though there are many mixed reviews from people on whether they think they’re worth it. As I mentioned, we decided to book a tour so make it easier to navigate (and because it was typically incredibly hot in Bangkok, the air conditioned van and unlimited bottled water made it worth it, albeit boujee). We went with “Tours with Tong” and really enjoyed the experience. It was a private tour, as I’ve mentioned before I don’t like going with huge tour groups.
Amphawa and Damnoen Saduak are two of the most popular floating markets. I wanted to go to Amphawa because I heard it was better/less touristy but it is only a weekend market and we had to go on a weekday. The floating markets are outside of Bangkok so it was quite out of the way and not really something you normally combine with the usual temples in Bangkok. Nonetheless, this was our only day we could go, so our tour guide fit it in. He picked us up from our hotel and the driver took us all to Damnoen Saduak about an hour away. At this point I was definitely glad we hired the private tour as a cab to get there would likely be expensive and I heard of a lot of scams related to taxis and floating markets. We arrived at the market and got on a small boat where we paddled around the market. The vendors surround the water and if you are interested in looking at something, the pull you in. There were also vendors in the water as well, selling things like drinks and food.
As this was nearing the end of our three weeks in Thailand, I really wanted to try the Durian. In those three weeks, every hotel, taxi, and tuk tuk we came across had huge signs that warned “NO DURIAN.” Back in Pai, I asked a server our hotel what it was. She said it was a really, really stinky fruit. It makes you feel strong emotions—you either really love someone or you hate them with a passion. It also makes you really hot. Now I definitely had to try it, especially because my hunt to try scorpion had failed (I couldn’t find it anywhere). “What would you like to try,” our guide asked. “Mango sticky rice? Pad Thai?” Of course we had tried both of those weeks ago. “No,” I told him. “I want to try durian.” He said that usually wasn’t a request of most tourists. Mainly the Chinese were the ones who liked it and even came all the way over to Thailand just to have some he said. This fruit was just getting more and more weird. He found someone selling it who paddled over to us. She cut it up into slices and handed it over. I smelled it. It smelled like a ripe banana. Vendors literally would wrap the fruit in bags like it was dog poo to hide the smell so this surprised me. I took a bite, expecting this forbidden fruit to taste like vomit—but instead taste a mixture of cantaloupe and banana. Pretty disappointing since this fruit had been built up for so long. Our guide said that normally tourists find it disgusting. I didn’t want to get too much, though, in case it made me feel hot and either want to kill someone or love them. We also got pineapple. Thailand has the best pineapple I’ve ever had for sure.
After the ride around the market, we headed back to Bangkok to visit the temples. The Grand Palace was first. According to our guide, many Thai people aren’t that into the new king. The previous king reigned for 70 years and died in October 2016, after which the Thai people mourned for a year. So I suppose it’ll take some time for the people to get used to him. The Grand Palace is known for housing the emerald Buddha. The emerald Buddha is actually made of jade and legend has it, was created in 43 BC. The emerald Buddha has three outfits made of gold—one for rainy season, one for winter and one for summer. The king is the only person allowed to touch the emerald Buddha and so he changes the outfit every season.
Next we went to Wat Pho, which is where they have the famous reclining Buddha. It’s about 50 feet tall and 150 feet long.
There are also hundreds of other Buddha images there, from standing Buddha, sitting Buddha, kneeling Buddha.
At that point in the tour, we ran out of the time we paid for our guide. He was so nice, though, and offered to take us to Wat Arun anyway and back to our hotel, spending an extra two hours of his time without charging us. In general, the people in Thailand were just the nicest people I’ve come across. Wat Arun was my favorite of the three—so beautiful and ornate. Wat Arun (or temple of the dawn) is partly made up of colorfully decorated glass and Chinese porcelain spires and stands majestically over the water.
AYUTTHAYA
I really wanted to see that famous Buddha face in the trees (because I have a weird fascination with trees) and also see some ruins, so I decided to leave Bangkok once again and go to Ayutthaya. Founded in 1350, it became the second, and longest running, capitol of Thailand before being destroyed and burnt to the ground by the Burmese in the 18th century. It is surrounded by canals, so it became a center of economics and trade as it was located an equidistance between India and China.
Again, we went with “Tours with Tong” and had another great experience. We were picked up from our hotel and asked if we wanted to go to the Summer Palace on the way to Ayutthaya, which I hadn’t heard about but was excited for the suggestion. The coolest thing about the palace was the mixture of European influence when it came to the architecture as well as traditional Thai and Chinese.
The guide then took us to a local temple, where they have the “crying Buddha.”
The first place we went to in Ayutthaya was Wat Yai Chai Mongkhon, the former "royal temple'" in 1350. After the Burmese invasion in 1593, a victory temple was built to commemorate this event. There is also a reclining Buddha here.
Next up was the face in the tree (located at the temple Wat Mahathat). Back when the temple was active, people were constantly stealing Buddha and cutting up the pieces to transport. A bunch of pieces of Buddha were brought back to this temple and abandoned and this tree grew around the head but never covered the face and still, the roots haven’t grown to cover the face. I didn’t realize that this was something thought to occur naturally and thought it was somehow designed to be this way. I really loved seeing this tree with the face.
This area also had a lot of ruins and broken Buddha from the invasion.
I only spent three nights in Bangkok, but felt that was enough time. I would have liked to go to Chinatown and the flower market and maybe another rooftop bar, but I was still satisfied with what I was able to do while I was there. Such an amazing trip to Thailand in general. I really loved Pai and Koh Lanta the most. Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai were also great places to visit.
After this trip, we went directly to Amsterdam, which I will write about next time.
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