The moment we touched down in SE Asia, I could not wait to get to Bangkok. What first shocked me the most about Bangkok was how diverse and large it is. Each “district/area” was so unique and almost like a different city. For example, you have Sukhumvit, a long road and it’s surrounding area, which has now become a hot spot for the food scene. Siam, where you can find massive, modern shopping malls. And Khao San where you can find the Grand Palace, several beautiful Wats, and the infamous Khao San Road where backpackers go to party. We spent our days walking for hours through all of these areas (and more) and discovering all the little quirks of the city.
Mike walking down Khao San Road
An incredibly memorable moment of our trip was when we decided to take Muay Thai lessons. Muay Thai is a traditional Thai combat sport that has become incredibly popular around the world. Mike and I had an incredible experience getting to train for a few days. It was beyond exhilarating- as a friend said, “it taps into the bushido, the warrior’s way of life…” We felt like warriors and it was awesome. Mike elaborates more in his post.
One of our best, and hardest days in Bangkok was when we visited Wat Pho and Wat Arun, and attempted to visit the Grand Palace. We started off the day walking a little over an hour from our hotel to Wat Pho. The walk itself gave us a very interesting glimpse of life in Bangkok. Branches of the Chao Phraya River cut through the city creating narrow side streets that are full of vibrant life. We walked through a street dedicated to shops that manufacture Buddha statues, and watched as they painstakingly decorated each statue by hand with rhinestones. These were all little things that we easily could have missed had we not taken the time to slowly explore the less traveled parts of the city.
Once we arrived at Wat Pho I was completely blown away, which is saying a lot given that at this point in our travels I was (as I’ve said before) “Wated out”. Wat Pho is part of a massive complex that houses several different Wats and other religious buildings. The most stunning features were the stupas that adorned the grounds surrounding each Wat. These buildings were covered in spectacular ceramic flowers that created an incredible vibrant design. I found myself staring at each one in awe over how ornate and detailed they were. Mike had to drag me away. It was just absolutely beautiful.
Our attempt to go see the Grand Palace was thwarted by (what we later learned to be) a pretty common tourist scam in Bangkok. On our way in, two guys who were sitting in a booth on the street told us that the Palace was closed until 1 pm, but they could help us come up with other activities to do in the meantime. The truth was, the palace was OPEN until 1 pm, and these guys just wanted to trick us into using them as tour guides. It was pretty infuriating when we got to the Palace later in the day to find it closed and realized we had been lied to- thankfully we didn’t take them up on their guide offer. This ended up happening to us several times in Bangkok, but we had this first experience to teach us how to deal with the situation.
Overall, we had an amazing experience in Bangkok and loved every minute of it. Aside from Wat Pho, our most memorable experiences in the city were all related to just general exploring and food, so we’ll get into more details on the food post.
Anyone who knows Bangkok might say that we missed a few of the big tourist attractions, which we admittedly did. Some were out of our control (like the Palace and the floating market which were both closed) others were out of choice (like a few of the Wats). While some might say it’s foolish to not see everything you possibly could while you have the chance, we see it as an opportunity and an incentive to come back to this incredible city. Knowing us, I have a feeling we’ll be back very soon!
A glimpse of the area of Siam