Bangkok! I had read and heard much about this city where most people travel to during their vacation in Thailand, so I was curious to explore this city and see for myself. I fully enjoyed Bangkok, taking in every bit of the city, both the beautiful and the less beautiful parts of it. Bangkok is one-of-a-kind-city; it is chaotic, yet friendly; it is beautiful, yet authentic. You will find the most outstanding temples, next to high-rise buildings and shabby houses. All of this combined, the beautiful and well-maintained together with dilapidated, is what makes this city so unique and authentic. However, the city is tremendously large, and simply walking around from temple to temple isn’t an option. Most of the time, we would take a cab to get around, or take the Skytrain during rush-hour and whenever we were nearby one. All in all, I enjoyed the sprawling city of Bangkok to the fullest with all that came with it, the friendly people, the interesting architecture and a new-to-me-food culture. Have a look at the top 10 things to do in Bangkok below and let me know if you agree from your own experience!
1. The Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew
Located in the heart of Bangkok, lies the Grand Palace compound, encompassing the hallowed Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and more than 100 buildings, representing over 200 years of history. A complex on a 94,5-hectare ground is so large, you might get lost in there. Here, you will find the finest architecture boasting in all its pride carried out with the most phenomenal details and colours. It took us around half a day and many rounds before we felt that we had seen it all. The Grand Palace is the former residence of the royal family; nowadays, the Grand Palace is used merely for ceremonial purposes and acts as the city’s biggest tourist attraction just as it remainsa pilgrimage for devout Buddhist’s.
2. Wat Benchamabophit (The Marble Temple)
Of the many glorious temples in Bangkok, the Marble Temple left the biggest impression on me which I therefore believe deserves the most attention. There were surprisingly few people visiting this temple the day we came and wandering around on the temple site the sense of tranquillity become even more noticeably. On the day of our visit, the sky was blue with the sun occasionally hiding behind some clouds which stood in a strong contrast to the elegant white marble walls and the multi-tiered red tile roof. The temple was built in 1899 by the king of Thailand with white marble imported from Italy. The temple site is comparably small to other ones in Bangkok and therefore manageable.
3. Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
On the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, right across the Grand Palace, rises an imposing temple with a height of 82 metres from the grounds by the river. Back in the days, before the modern skyscraper took over Bangkok’s skyline, Wat Arun was the highest structure in the city. With its characteristic steep stairs and ornate floral mosaics, and not to forget the tower itself, makes it one of Bangkok’s most iconic structures. The tower with its steep steps and the fact that you actually are allowed to climb the temple makes it way more fun to explore. The temple can be dated back to the 16th century where at that time the temple was called “Wat Makok”. Through King Rama II and III, the tower was later on added in the 19th century with its completion in 1851.
4. Wat Phra Chetuphon
Adjacent to the Grand Palace is yet another sprawling temple complex to explore, Wat Phra Chetuphon, also known as Wat Pho. This temple is one of the largest and oldest temples in Bangkok and is even listed as the highest grade of first-class royal temples in Thailand. The history of Wat Pho is even older than the one of Bangkok itself. When King Rama I founded the capital in 1782, the temple was already existent albeit being in ruins at that time. On a ground that spans over 8 hectares, the highlight of it will doubtlessly be the reclining Buddha statue, resting in a peaceful pose. With a length of 46 metres, this is one of the world’s largest Buddha statues. This statue occupies an entire building which is nothing but dedicated to the statue.
5. Chatuchak Market
Every weekend, Bangkok is hosting a large local market – the Chatuchak Market. Thousands of vendors fill out the 14-hectare ground with their stalls where you can buy everything imaginable and beyond – art, antiques, home goods, apparel, food and much more; this really is the place where you can shop until you drop. With over 200.000 people visiting this market every weekend, it has become the world’s largest weekend market. Every once in a while, we would find ourselves lost in midst of the thousands of stalls but decided that after spending half a day there, it must have been sufficient. Very conveniently, the Skytrain has a stop right next to the market and after exciting the train station it wasn’tvery hard to find the market; all we had to do was to follow the crowd leading us directly to it.
6. Jim Thompson House
A completely different part of Bangkok’s history lies within the Jim Thompson House. Interestingly, the house providesa very different kind of perspective on the usual attractions throughout Bangkok and is therefore definitely worth a visit, if not at least to get an inside-view into a beautiful home of a former WWII spy, who settled down in Bangkok and whose efforts revived Thailand’s silk industry. Through his excellent entrepreneurship he turned it into a world-wide brand renowned for its quality. Besides producing silk, Jim Thompson built his dream house in Bangkok in 1959; a house which is made up of six different houses brought to Bangkok from different locations to merge into one unity. In the year 1967 Mr. Thompson travelled to Malaysia where he disappeared forever. However, his estate still stands and is open to visitors to tour the gardens and property.
7. Wat Saket
After temple-hopping the entire day with visits to Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Arun, the timing for visiting the last temple of that day couldn’t have been more perfect. We concluded the day by climbing 320 steps for a magnificent panoramic view of Bangkok at sunset on top of the temple, Wat Saket. The 80 metres high hill, which Wat Saket is located on, was once the highest point in Bangkok and is also known as the “Golden Mount”. The hill was created during the reign of King Rama III who intended to build a large chedi in the temple complex. Due to soft soil unable to support the weight, the chedi collapsed leaving only bricks and ruins behind. Years later, the hill had acquired the shape of a natural hill and with further reinforcement, King Rama IV had eventually succeeded by building a small structure on top.
8. Baiyoke Tower
Where else to conclude our Bangkok trip other than on top of the city. With a cocktail in one hand and the glistening lights of the city to my other side, the view of Bangkok by night showed the city from its most magical side. The Baiyoke Tower, which is an 88-story skyscraper hotel, hosts an observation deck on the top floor with a marvellous panoramic view of the entire city. If you are looking to experience Bangkok from a truly breathtaking perspective, I can highly recommend a visit to the tower. On the 77th floor is the indoor observation deck with an extra option to visit the viewpoint on the 84th floor. The best part of it – the outdoor observation deck is turning, so you don’t even need to move and can spend all your attention towards the glistening lights of Bangkok.
9. Wat Traimit (Temple of the Golden Buddha)
Every time I visited a temple in Bangkok, I was amazed over and over again by the meticulous details put into the temples – the walls, the ceiling, just everything. Claiming all my attention inside this temple however was the golden Buddha image which is made up of 5,5 tons solid gold and most likely somewhere between 700 and 800 years old. With a height of 3 metres, this Buddha is the largest, solid gold Buddha in the world. The Buddha image was covered in plaster/stucco until in the 1950’s the solid gold was accidentally discovered hiding underneath, when the Buddha was relocated by a crane and fell. It is believed that the covering was added in order to protect its true value from Burman invaders and luckily succeeded.
10. Chinatown
From all Chinatown’s in the world, the one in Bangkok is amongst one of the largest. As we entered Chinatown, I felt a throwback to the day at the Chatuchak Market while strolling through the dense shopping area of Chinatown. Renowned for its incredible shopping options, you will quickly notice as you walk past an array of souvenirs and jewellery, this is the place where you can buy anything for a ridiculously low price. A Chinatown of this size has me looking back at our hours spent there, leaving me behind with a feeling of barely having explored it enough. With our heads buried in between the stalls with everything to offer, we never even got to see the famous main street, the Yaowarat Road. The 1,5 km long main road offers an incredible view of a colourfully decorated road with neon signs and giant Chinese letters making you feel like being rather in Hong Kong.
Tips:
1. Bangkok isn’t exactly a tourist-friendly city where you are able to walk from one temple to another. In order to get around the city you will need to either take public transport (the Skytrain is the best and most reliable public transport system), a cab or a tuktuk. I would recommend you taking a cab instead of a tuktuk – first of all, you’re free from exposal to pollution which is rather high in a dense city like Bangkok, and secondly, you’ll get a nice, air-conditioned ride. However, I’d still recommend taking a tuktuk at least once just for the sake of getting the experience.
2. During rush-hour, you might want to take a different mode of transport than a cab. Essentially, taking a cab during rush-hour might take even longer than walking.
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