Bangkok for a weekend

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<pre style="line-height: 24px; white-space: normal; color:񬠜 font-size: 18px;">mmmm...Bangkok for a weekend? It is definitely on a short side, but if that's what you have, go with it and you can still see some main highlights.</pre>

Good luck with taxis - In Bangkok few taxis seem to know where the locations of various places are (apart from famous landmarks and touristy places). Knowing the street name in english may not help you either. Even Mandarin Oriental hotel which has been there for ever doesn't seem to be widely known. We relied on iphone and google map to help taxis to help us get around.

A boxing fight for an evening - Boxing (style) is very popular in Thailand....................more of an entertainment for men.

Experience a five star quality - Bangkok is a bustling city and there is nothing better than come back to relax in a quality hotel. We were lucky to get a discounted room at Mandarin Oriental. The service is impecable and a lot of little nice touches here and there 😊 😊 - a free appetizer and fruits at the pool, hot and cold milk with your coffee ( just in case you change your mind), salts for your bathtub, staff knowing you by name and the floor you're on, "after a workout" tea and a cold towel, a chance to experience a personal butler -all this made Mandarin Oriental such a memorable part of the trip.

Visiting the Palace - A must. We visited the Grand Palace complex (built in 1782). It has several (truly jaw dropping) buildings including the Temple of Emerald Buddha. Dedicate at least a couple of hours and bring some sun protection. Also, don't forget to dress appropriately -no shorts or sleeveless tops - otherwise you'd be directed to a queue to rent a sarong. A small note on how to enter - just walk in. Ignore the multitude of nice people around the entrance (tuk tuk will almost inevitably drop you somewhere outside the entrance). They would offer to give you speacial tickets, show where the entrance is, buy a sarong, etc. In most cases, it would be a con.

Trying something new......like a meditation class - Matt dragged me to a meditation class.....for a Russian, meditation is a pretty foreign idea. Nevertheless, i went (just so that Matt stopped calling me closed minded). We joined one group who was studying meditation techniques more seriously at a local unnamed meditation school. It was a short introduction to meditation, but it was nevertheless illuminating. Mind apparently needs some serious training to stay present and keep peace. I also learnt that one can acknowledge other things like pain, noise outside, discomfort while meditating -what is important is to get your mind back to what it was doing before and focus on breathing.

Hiding away from the heat in a boat ride - 60 dollars or about that will give you a two-person boat ride. Highly recommend. 😊 It is interesting to see the life on both sides of the river.

Intending to visit a ping pong alley - We wanted to go, but never made it. Instead, we ended up in Checkin99 bar in Bangkok - a place that was rated #1 on trip advisor. While its a nice place and had a good band, I doubt if it really deserves the placement.....I guess in some ways tripadvisor makes its own hype a bigger one.

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