Day 1 For us like so many others, Bangkok was a stopover before heading to our next destination. We arrived here on a flight from Singapore, just 4 days into our 6 month trip. I have been briefly to Bangkok before but I was excited to do all the tourist things again. As before, the queue at immigration was insane and it took forever to make it through. There are three choices for getting into the city...train, bus or cab. We were exhausted but decided that we would start as we mean to go on during the rest of our trip and chose the cheapest option which was the bus. Note to self and everyone else do not take the bus, take the train!! After a total nightmare on a number of buses and hours of wasted time and being stranded in the middle of nowhere we eventually gave in and got a taxi. It was gone 11pm when we finally arrived at out hotel, we had pre booked a room as I knew it would be late when we arrived, we were staying at the Rambuttri Village Inn & Plaza just off of the Khao San Road. The hotel was luckily an oasis of calm and quiet compared to the craziness just outside. We knew the reputation of the area so weren’t surprised to see it was packed with people, music was blaring, street food stalls had set up everywhere and it was such a brilliant atmosphere. After dumping our bags we headed out for a delicious thai curry and much needed beer, while being entertained by all sorts of people watching and a group of break dancers and beat boxers that put on quite a display. Day 2 After a pretty good buffet breakfast at the hotel which is included in the room cost we decided to take the morning a bit easy and make the most of the little roof top pool at the hotel for a couple of hours. Later on we wandered the labyrinth of streets around the area where there are so many markets and little shops to explore, the sights, sounds and smells so different to anything at home! It was hot while we were here in November but manageable, we passed back through in late February and it was becoming quite unbearable and exhausting. On the way to dinner that evening we passed a little market stall selling retro games so decided to purchase Uno...we still travel with this pack of cards to this day and I cannot tell you how many people we have met and made friends with thanks to this simple little game which is played around the world. After dinner we cracked open Uno which resulted in 5 other excited travellers joining in and perhaps a few more Chang beers than we had planned!
Day 3 Today was temple day and it was the hottest day yet! We were melting as we headed for The Grand Palace (entrance is 500B about £12), I always dress modestly when travelling but especially so when visiting sites of importance. I was wearing my new baggy ‘Princess Jasmine-esque’ trousers I purchased in the market yesterday, Hubby was wearing knee length shorts but had packed a sarong to put round him before entering. When I visited 2 years ago this was an acceptable practice for men...no more it would seem as they wouldn’t let him in, the guards were shouting that only ladies can wear skirts and he would have to hire a pair of trousers from the visitors office. Our solution...we would swap, so he ended up in my baggy trousers and I ended up in the sarong, it was pretty funny...well for me, he's over 6ft and I'm only 5ft5!! To be on the safe side, make sure both men and women come appropriately dressed with legs and shoulders covered. The Grand Palace complex is great, there is so much to see and I love the architecture here and the intricacies of the carvings and decoration.
Lots of lovely architecture to admire around the Grand Palace Complex
Beautiful trees and architecture at the Grand Palace Complex
We walked down towards the pier to get on a boat across the river to Wat Arun, it was quite chaotic at the pier and the only boat the staff would let us on ended up going down the river and not across it. We jumped off and tried another boat, we eventually made it across the river and jumped in a tuk tuk which for 70B (about £1.70) took us to Wat Arun...moral of the story, check the boat s going across the river before jumping on.
View of Wat Arun from the boat
Wat Arun (entrance is 100B about £2.50) is a brilliant temple and is also known as the Temple of Dawn, it's really colourful and there is so much detail to look at. You can climb the main temple as well which results in some very wobbly knees as it is pretty steep and gets quite high, but the views at the top are worth it, you can normally see the Grand Palace from the top as well.
Example of the colourful details found everywhere at Wat Arun Day 4 Visited Wat Pho (entrance is 200B about £4.50) which is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, you will find it located by the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It’s a large temple complex but it’s worth visiting even just to see the 46 metre long Buddha which is entirely covered in gold leaf, quite a sight to behold! You’ll notice lots of bowls around the outside of the hall, 108 to be exact, you can purchase a small bowl of coins and you drop one in each of the bowls which is said to bring you luck.
The 46 metre long reclining gold Buddha
Just some of the amazing sites around Wat Pho Before we knew it it was time to head back to the airport and start the next part of our adventure as we flew to Myanmar.
BANGKOK TOP TIPS - Get the train from the airport to the city - Arrive at the Grand Palace dressed appropriately - Make sure the boat you get on is going the right way - Consider booking a tour to go around the main temples so you can learn all about them
NEXT STEPS - Book Rambuttri Village Inn & Plaza or other hotel in Bangkok - Purchase the Lovely Planet for Thailand here
- Purchase a good travelling backpack I swear by my Berghaus 65 litre Rucksack like this one here - Make sure you pack a decent camera, I always favour a compact one from Sony similar to this one
NEXT DESTINATION Yangon, Myanmar - Read now...
PREVIOUS DESTINATION Singapore - Read now...
