As I am currently sitting on a 14 hour night bus from Bangkok to Phuket I thought this would be the perfect time to finally update you all on how our first 7 days in South East Asia have been. Since arriving in Bangkok we’ve settled in to being at the opposite side of the globe far quicker than I thought we would. Our room's lack of aircon made it pretty tough to get used to sleeping, however, being in the heart of Bangkok, our guesthouse made it easy to sample numerous Thai restaurants, grasp the many modes of transport and (being so close to Khaosan Road) check out Thailand’s night scene. In our 7 days I feel like we’ve conquered everything we came to see and more. Hence I have compiled a list of my top 5 must sees in Bangkok according to a 21 year old, whose Lonely Planet guide looks like the back of a year 8’s planner.
1. happy bar
Half way through our pub crawl, planned by our good friend Lonely Planet, we stumbled across this bar by accident. Enticed by the Thai band covering Chuck Berry’s ‘Johnny B. Goode’, we sat down for a drink. Tucked away in a back alley that leads to Khaosan Road, the outdoor pub is plastered with graffiti, and laden with enough trinkets to keep your eyes busy all night. A small pub with a huge amount of character, this bar deserves a mention due to its kind staff, cheap drinks and live music. P.S. shout out to the waiter who gave Ruby a unicorn teddy.
2. Chinatown market
An underground away from Bangkok’s centre is ChinaTown. The sprawling night market that covered the streets allowed us to sample some of the best food we have eaten so far at little cost. We ate traditional Chinese pancakes, crispy pork, chicken gyozas and patongo (Chinese donuts). Despite the upsetting sight of a Shark Fin restaurant which loomed over the bustling scene of tuk-tuks and travellers illuminated by copious amounts of neon, we left satisfied with a good feed and a taste of a different culture.
3. the grand palace and the temple of the emerald buddha
If you were only in Bangkok for 1 hour these two conjoined attractions are THE things to see. Costing 500 BHT, seeing the Grand Palace and The Temple of the Emerald Buddha, alongside the huge pieces of art and monuments that surround them, is worth every baht. Ornate in gold and jewels, the intricacies of these buildings provide scenes that are like nothing available in Europe: we spent the whole morning in awe. On a side note it was also pretty fun to walk round these temples barefoot with the cool marble giving us some sense of respite.
4. wat paknam phasi charoen
Arguably the most jaw dropping thing on this list, Wat Paknam’s Golden Buddha is simply huge. Arriving by boat our first glimpse of the Buddha had him appear behind the slums that lined the river. It sat looming over them like an ethereal being, something that had been placed there by another world, appearing almost animated. We hopped off the boat and headed straight for it and were not disappointed as it felt more than twice as large from right underneath it. We discovered it cost more than £13 million to make and was completed in 2021 and should be added to the list of anyone wishing to travel to Bangkok.
5. lumphini park
Slap bang in the centre of Bangkok's skyrises, Lumphini park is on this list due to its cool contrast to the surrounding city. The park’s main feature is a huge pond home to several water monitors which we sat watching for a good while. They seem to be younger cousins of Komodo dragons and prowl around the park. Lumphini provided us an interval from the hectic ongoing activities in Bangkok and is therefore worthy of being on this list.
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