Back in Bangkok after four and a half years

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How time flies when you are having fun dealing with a pandemic and its aftermath. It's hard to believe that it's been three and a half years since our last post here and our last time in Bangkokwas a further year in the past. So much has changed since then but when we heard that Thailand had relaxed its entry requirements and that vaccinated travellers just needed their certificates, the lure was too strong to resist.

We were in the UK on family business which made finding flights somewhat easier than it was from Spain. Direct flights with Thai Airways were reasonable enough and allowed us direct flights with a good level of comfort. Have to say though, the food was disappointing! On arrival in Bangkok we realised that we had made our first rookie mistake showing our rustiness in long haul travel. Our trip is for five and a half weeks but the visa on arrival is only for thirty days. That's going to mean sorting out an extension at some stage in the coming weeks. The world has changed in the last few years and so have we. Deciding against public transport to get into the city, we had pre-booked a taxi straight to our hotel. That worked out really well and before long we were settling into the Rose Residence, a cut above the type of accommodation we normally choose!

Having visited Bangkok several times before, the challenge was to find things we hadn't done before. To be fair, that's not difficult! We were amazed that the extensions to the Metro system and the BTS overhead urban railway have been completed. That makes getting around the city so much easier, and it now goes a long way out to the east. We took a day out to the west bank of the river including a three stop hop on the brand new Gold Line. That took us to an area we were keen to explore around The Jam Factory . To be honest, as an art installation it was underwhelming but the library style cafe more than made up for it. After a wander down some alleyways alongside the river that would have less adventurous friends questioning our sanity, we made our way to the incredible Icon Siam shopping centre. We have been a little critical in the past of Bangkok's many homogeneous shopping centres and we try to avoid them whenever we can. Icon Siam is different though. It's stylish and has a very Thai theme running throughout its many floors. There are man Thai fair trade products of high quality available, and the food court at the basement level is incredible. There are high end restaurants on the upper floors too, and incredible views out over the river and the city. We hadn't anticipated spending several hours there, but that's what happened.

Next up was a walk through some very interesting neighbourhoods to find the Chao Phraya Sky Park. This is a garden bridge crossing the Chao Phraya river and shows what might have happened in London had the Boris bashers not put down his idea of a Garden Bridge in the UK capital. It was a really nice space and something that perhaps other city centres will think about in the future to create more green spaces. On the other side we walked through "Little India" to explore the incredible riverside murals of Ong Ang. They are definitely worth seeking out, and the area looks like it's something to put on the list if you are in Bangkok at the weekend when it comes alive after dark.

We were back in the area the next day. Museum Siam isn't far away and we started off there. This wonderful museum takes you through the rich history of Thailand (and Siam, as it was before) with interactive displays and beautiful exhibits. Our favourite was the kitchen where you took a plate from the wall, placed it on the table, and the recipe of a classic Thai dish appeared before you. The history of the building itself was very interesting too as it transformed from the Ministry of Commerce through a dark period of emptiness to its current glorious state. From there we had a long, long walk all the way back to the hotel taking in a colourful flower market along the way before exploring the murals of various Chinatown districts which we knew about thanks to Kathmandu And Beyond. An air conditioned cafe at River City provided a welcome break from the heat and their collection of art galleries was superb too. Not far away was the Grand Postal Building which is as grand is it sounds and definitely justifies a few minutes diversion to find it.

Travelling in Thailand's rainy season means you have to be a bit flexible and we had to juggle things around because of some bad weather. A great day out includes the Erewan Museum and the Muang Boran Ancient City, some way out from central Bangkok. We should have stuck to our guns and travelled on public transport but we decided to take a taxi. It was much quicker to use the highways than the local roads, but at three times the distance, it was three times the price PLUS the tolls! Oh well, you live and learn!! The Erewan museum was extraordinary, and even more so if you like elephants. There are statues of the beasts everywhere, but none so impressive as the main building which is topped by a giant three headed elephant whose name was Erewan. Inside you are taken on a journey of spiritualism across the religions. There's even a nativity scene cared on one of the columns. A taxi ride took us down to the Ancient City about 12km away. There we hired a golf buggy for a few hours and had a whistlestop tour of the architecture of all of ancient Siam. It was excellent. It is considerably cheaper to buy your tickets in advance with an agency like Klook who we had stumbled across whilst doing our research.

We left Bangkok in comfort. Thanks to the taxi app, Bolt, we were able to arrange a ride all the way to Jomtien, Pattaya, and the cost was only a little more than getting the bus would have been without the hassle of making our way to the bus station and waiting around. I told you things had changed - and so had we!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Street Art
Beautiful

[D MJ Binkley]

Bangkok
We've only been to Bangkok once and that was in 2007. I'm sure there have been many changes. I've been thinking I might like to go back soon. So many places to go and so little time.

[RENanDREW]

Thailand
I've finally finding the time to work my way through your Thailand blogs. Nice to see the Food courts are getting better in Bangkok :)