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Published: August 9th 2008
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Hello all,
It's my birthday today and quite frankly I can't be bothered to write an in-depth analysis of my 1.5 days in Bangkok so I will just write the basics and tips in case any of you are in the same position, i.e. trying to fit in a whistlestop tour of a massive city. What to do?
We (my mum, my friend and I) had to stopover in Bangkok anyway before we got our respective flights back home to a) UK b) Bangladesh and decided to make it into 2 nights. I had last been to Bangkok 18 years ago and couldn't remember much apart from taking a tuk-tuk ride, seeing some dancing with ladies with long fingernails, the hotel and the bad traffic. Anyhow after a smooth flight from HCMC we arrived in Bangkok around an hour later in the early afternoon. We spent around 20 mins stuck in a traffic jam with the hotel in our sights but it's true what they say, Bangkok traffic is awful. It's like here in Dhaka at rush hour in the middle of town, just chockablock with stationary traffic for miles around. However at least Bangkok residents have the choice
of the Skytrain/Metro to avoid the roads..
The hotel we stayed in was really good especially for the price, I definitely recommend it. It's called the Zenith Sukhumvit and cost around £20 a night per person, great rooms, massive buffet breakfast thrown in in the price, access to the internet and a pool on the top floor. Around a hotel seemed to be the embassy area for the Middle East and Muslim countries in general so all around I saw Arabic lettering, women in burkhas, advertisements for Bangladeshi food, and the rest! I was extremely happy to find 3 Starbucks within 15 mins walk of the hotel, maybe they are a corporate evil but it's a real treat for me as they don't have them in Dhaka. There is an all night market near the hotel as well, with all sorts of the usual tourist tat like DVDs, shirts, bags, all random and all fake. But cheap which is good!
The first night my friend and I ventured out for a few hours, unfortunately it was dark so harder to see what was there and what was around. We took the Skytrain and checked out the area of
Siam at the Siam Skytrain stop. There are lots of cinemas around there, a big shopping centre for designer labels and then another one with more reasonable prices and food courts etc, which is where we had tea (dinner).
The next day we decided to fit in as much as possible within one day. We first took a taxi to The Grand Palace as early as possible as we knew the crowds would be there in droves. At the gates we were offered the services of a guide which wasn't expensive, so we thought, why not, and it was worth it, she was very friendly and informative although I had to say in my brief stay in Bangkok the Thai accent was sometimes hard to understand, but hey, better than my Thai! The Grand Palace is a massive complex if you will, with lots to see, you need an hour or two, especially if it's 37'C which it was when we were in Bangkok! A lot of it has been refurbished as it was the king's birthday apparently quite recently. Unbelievably though, as you go round you see a lot of the gold leaf off statues and buddhas etc
has been picked off my tourists...why are people so selfish and stupid!? What the hell are they going to do with a flake or two or gold leaf from a buddha?! By the way our version of the Lonely Planet said one had to wear shoes (not sandals or flip flops of any kind) when in the Grand Palace but they must have laxed that rule as everyone including us were allowed to wear them. However the no shorts rule still applies so if you are wearing anything knee length or above the knee, bring a sarong to cover yourself up.
After the Grand Palace we hopped in an over-priced tuk tuk to Wat Pho, which houses the world's largest reclining buddha. I have already seen the largest buddha (sitting, i guess? just generally, the largest) in Leshan when I lived in Chengdu which is pretty massive, but so is this one in Wat Pho. It's 46m long and 15m high, gold leaf on the outside and has mother-of-pearl soles! Apparently I had seen this when I was around 7 years old but what a surprise, can't remember that visit! Elsewhere at Wat Pho it's pretty peaceful considering there
are still a number of people there, large enough to get lost amongst the colourful stupas and bits of gilded doors and brightly coloured glass.
Next we made our way to the Vimanmenk, the world's largest teakwood mansion. All in all it was a bit of a swizz as we weren't allowed to take any pictures of the teakwood mansion, which would have been good. You also can't wander around at will, you have to hang around til the organised tour starts and in our group there were a lot of people so it was hard for everyone to see everything the guide pointed out. I'm not sure I would recommend for people to go unless you have a real interest in old houses of this sort. However as a bonus, we did have a yummy lunch at a restaurant place near the teak house, only 50 baht and it was rice with garlic and pepper stir fried pork, it was delicious.
After the teak house/mansion we hopped in another taxi (this time, a bright pink one, they are everywhere) to the nearest port/quay and hopped on the Chao Phraya Express Boat which comes every 15 mins ish,
you pay about 20 baht and can get off whenever, but we just wanted to catch it to the end of its line in the south. There is a guide on there that uses a loudspeaker to tell you what stop has what attractions etc. It's not particcccularly picturesque on the river but you do see a few wats and the Palace from the river along with badly built houses on poles by the side of the river, and of course the other tourist boats making the same trip. Anyhow it created a nice breeze which was a welcome relief in the heat!
On our last night in Bangkok I again used the handy guide book and picked a restaurant to go to..hundreds to choose from but this one was only about 15 minutes away by taxi, even in rush hour. I would really recommend this one to go to. It's called Ruen Mallika, it's a bit hard to find as it's down a side street so don't be surprised to see your taxi driver check out the directions with the nearest hotel, as ours did. It's a Thai restaurant converted from an old teak house, quite small but
you can sit outside or in, it's quite cosy (the feeling at least). The waitress gives you a massive great big heavy book which turns out to be the menu - on each page is a detailed photograph of each dish they offer, with the price and explanation of what's in it. It took ages to pick but in the end I picked ostrich with chili and peppers and a lot of other stuff..with some lemon juice which in Thailand, and in Vietnam, means fresh lemonade, very yummy. My dish was very spicy, but as they say in Thailand apparently, if there's no chili in it, what's the point? All the food was delicious and about 200-300 baht for each so I would definitely say go there if you fancy a great Thai meal in a beautiful setting.
And that was it. Bye bye Thailand..til next time...
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