Bangkok (Part One)
First place where we set foot in Thailand: Bangkok.
Let me start by saying that this is my favourite city in the world. It’s also the perfect place to land after a long trip and get ready for a journey around the country, and a pretty good one to end it too. I’m doing this in two parts, as we did on the tour of the land.
We were coming in from an extra-long trip over from Portugal, with an eight hour layover in Dubai, over 26 hours in total, and more than ready for a rest. Emirates is a nice way to fly, though, and a couple of tiny vodka bottles go a long way when you’re flying for hours.
Quickly got our bags, took care of immigration, hopped on a taxi, and made our way to Korbua House. It felt good to be on a warm country again, and the city smell was already making me feel home. The hotel management was kind enough to send the address written in Thai, just in case the taxi driver couldn’t understand our spoken directions. I got the feeling he understood us better than the written note, but he took us to the right place in no time.
Korbua is cosy boutique hotel close to the mess of Khao San Rd., but with enough distance to make you feel you’re in another planet. You can get there with a slow five minute walk but, if you don’t, you’ll never guess what’s there. It’s up to you.
Bags in the room and we left, looking for a place to eat. There’s plenty of street food close to Khao San, we went the other way and stopped at KC Food & Drinks down the road from the hotel for a quick meal and, since they have a 7-Eleven sitting next door, we also got some supplies for later. This 7-Eleven routine would turn into a daily affair, one that is synonym with Thailand, for us as well as for a lot of the foreigners in the country. It’s an institution, as anyone who’s ever been there can attest. You can get everything you need, any time. Wish we had this back home.
We were only spending a couple of days in the city this time around, before heading out into the rest of the country. We would be back at the end of the trip, for a full week of Bangkok fun. We were in no hurry, the first couple of days were spent dealing with jet lag and getting our bearings straight.
The following morning was spent walking around a bit, stretching our legs, before heading to Wat Pho and checking out the first of a million wats. If you’re staying in Banglamphu you can walk there, if you feel up to it, or you can take the Chao Phraya Express boat, and save yourself a bit of heat and maybe thirty minutes of your time. We decided to go with the boat option, and walk back to the hotel when we were done. We were feeling brave.
So we made our way to the Phra Arthit Pier, a few blocks from the hotel and payed the 15 baht fare each for the pleasure of riding in the river. This would be our easiest time for the express too, as this pier tends to get a bit crowded with foreigners and a lot of times you can’t even board the first boat, and might have to wait a bit. The Chao Phraya Express is the perfect way to go long distances in the city, as the breeze is invaluable, the price really cheap, and you get to see a lot of locals commuting. It gets you to a totally different part of town pretty quick, and there’s so many different cities in Bangkok.
Wat Pho is one of the places where you should make a stop. Not as crowded as some others in town (Wat Phra Kaew I’m looking at you) and housing the huge reclining Buddha. And make sure you take advantage of the wonderful massages at the massage school. It’s located inside the wat, so there’s no better place to try one of the amazing traditional massages they have to offer. Walking back to the hotel, or wherever you’re going next will feel much better after that.
We tried to move as close to the river as possible, and ended up going through the university, a shortcut we would use again.
Lunch at the Siam Paragon (more later) mega food court with it’s freezing aircon. The food is nice and it was our first encounter with the payment system they have in place at these food courts. You buy vouchers for the amount you want, and then give the vouchers to the guy who’s cooking your food. There’s a ton of options to chose from (Thai, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, you name it) and they all look delicious. So, check the stalls, pick the food (but don’t order yet), add things up in your head, go to the voucher counter, buy the vouchers, and go back to the stalls and order your food. Easy, right ? And don’t forget to check the beverages counter, you’ll need those too!
It’s was also the most instagramed place in the world a couple of years ago, and gets around 100.000 visitors every day! Yeah, it’s big. A stop at Superdry, getting a hat for the journey was something I had to do.
After lunch we visited Jim Thompson’s House. It was in the neighbourhood. A bit crowded, and a bit of a tourist trap, but you have to go there if you’d like to see what houses in old Siam used to be like. Also a great excuse to get on a khlong boat, and check for ourselves why Bangkok is called the Venice of the East. It’s another cool public transportation option they have in Bangkok, and the quickest (and least expensive) way to get from the Siam Square area back to Banglamphu. Don’t come if you’re carrying a ton of shopping from the mega malls in the area but, apart from that, another experience in the city not to be missed.
The next day was another day of feeling the city, with quick stops at Chinatown and Khao San. We would be back later to both of them, obviously, but we were still in stretch-your-legs mode, and a feeling a bit zombie because of the jet lag.
Chinatown here is another world. The Chinese came to Thailand eons ago, and Bangkok’s Chinatown feels like a different city altogether. We loved it the first time around, but we visited during the day, and it was hot as hell. We didn’t last long. Just enough time for a stroll down Yaowarat, in to Wat Traimit (didn’t even feel like going inside the actual wat), and we were exhausted. A bit of window shopping, as the chinese gold shops are impossible to miss.
Moving to Khao San at this point seemed like a nice idea, with all the life-support systems they have in place there (read food and cold drinks).
The place is a mess. Sometimes, depending on your mood, it can feel like a nice mess and other times it just feels almost unbearable. It’s chaotic at most times of the day and night, with everything that’s going on at the same time. People try to sell everything at once, and you see tourists from all over the place. Some still carrying their backpacks, fresh out of the place, others carrying a beer, fresh out of the fridge. We could never spend too much time there, but it felt very welcoming at this particular time. Plenty of cheap food to be found, and also a lot of overpriced restaurants.
Back to the hotel, check email to see if everything was confirmed regarding our next stop sleeping arrangements, and it’s was almost time to call it a day and start reading a bit about Ayutthaya. We also got the first look at the dragons swimming in the canal. What ?? Dragons ?? Sure! More on that when we come back to the city.
After a good night’s sleep at our canal-side hotel, we were ready to pick up the bags and head to Hua Lamphong, Bangkok’s main train station. We were just getting started. See you in Ayutthaya.
A few more photos at maiquemadeira.com. Enjoy.
