We get a taxi straight to our Guest House in the Banglamphu area just down the road from Khoa San Road. We have 4 nights to explore Thailands capital city.
Bangkok is manic! There is traffic every which way you look, the air is smoggy and the streets are choked with people. Motorbikes weave through the traffic, using the pathways as cut throughs. You wouldn't believe it unless you see it.
On every street corner there is a Tuk Tuk waiting to take you anywhere in Bangkok, for the right price. You just need to be aware of the scammers; Taxi drivers who say their meters don't work, Tuk Tuk drivers offering a tour of the city for 10 Baht but stopping at every silk suit shop imaginable then driving off. Luckily we are aware of all these!
Khoa San Road is the main backpacker strip with a variety of bars, restaurants, guest houses and market stalls. At night the whole street comes to life and is full of neon lights. We venture down and hit the night markets bartering with the stall holders, trying to grab ourselves a bargain. Turns out our bartering skills are pretty good
We have found throughout Thailand that the best place to grab a bite to eat is from the street stalls. Its cheap, convenient but best of all, the tastiest. We had one meal in a restaurant and it tasted bland so we soon realised to keep to the stalls.
We explore Chinatown by foot without truelly realising the sheer size of Bangkok. It takes us most of the day to walk from Banglamphu to Chinatown and back but we get to see a few of the sites. We explore a few temples that range from the 12th Century through to modern day, we visit the chinatown markets and walk through the narrow streets crammed with stalls.
We go and visit 'Wat Traimit' aka The Golden Buddha. Wat Traimit is the temple that houses the 3m tall, 5.5 tonne, solid-gold Buddha. The figure was once covered in stucco but during efforts to move it in the 1960's, the figure fell, cracking stucco and revealing the gold. The temple itself is pretty magnificent too - being white with gold leafing around the coves and spires
We take a day tour and head to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. We buy a ticket for a boat to take us through the markets. There are many stalls selling souvenirs but also food, fruit and veg and clothes. All being sold in wooden row boats.
Going down the river in our long boat, we get pulled in by hooks that the stall holders have. You have to say "No" a hundred times before they start to give up. And then a hundred more!
There are so many boats, it gets jammed. It is the equivalent of the M25 during rush hour! All the tourists, like us, arrive in minibuses and unload into boats, clogging the whole place up!
As part of our tour we also visited the River Kwai's Death Railway Bridge. It was a small but strategic part of the Death Railway to Burma. Engineers estimated a 5 year construction time but the human labourers were forced to complete it in 16 months. Allied planes destroyed it in 1945 - the bomb damage is still apparent in the pylons.
We leave Bangkok on Monday 9th April, getting the 10:05 train to Ayutthaya. We have a 3rd class ticket for an hour and a half journey. The trip wasn't too bad!
We spend one night in Ayutthaya giving us a little time to explore the ancient city. The city used to be the capital until the Burmese invaded it and the King and family escaped further South and made Bangkok the new capital,
Now.......a night train to Chiang Mai!
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