One Day in Bangkok | Thailand 2015/2558
My travels for 2015 have taken me to the beautiful country of Thailand. It’s actually the year 2558 here because they use the Buddhist calendar. So does that mean I’m living in the future? Hmmm….
The trip is just getting started and already there is so much to share. After 23 hours of travel time from Miami, through Doha, Qatar, to Bangkok Thailand, the first night was dinner, a massage, and bed. We woke refreshed, had a great breakfast at our hotel, and set out for a full day of exploring Bangkok. Even though we don’t typically enjoy touristy locations or urban areas, Bill & I wanted to at least get a taste of Bangkok. We set out for the city with only a general outline of what we would do, and enjoyed one great surprise after another.
In this beautiful land of smiles you can feel a difference immediately. At first I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Bangkok is a large city – overcrowded with streets full of buses, cars, trucks, taxis, tuk tuks and motorcycles. Then it hit us – there was no sense of anger, urgency or honking horns. The kind, giving people of this country somehow find a way to cooperate even through this crazy traffic. They whip in and out with an amazing give and take. It really is a marvel to watch and a refreshing feeling of calm amidst all the chaos. We felt such a contrast to the aggression, stress and honking of horns we had experienced while staying in Miami.
Our adventure starts with the free shuttle from our hotel to catch the skytrain at the airport. This was an inexpensive way to buzz into the city and avoid the hectic traffic. Once we arrived at the edge of the city centre we hopped into a Tuk Tuk (a motorcycle taxi) for a fun buzz though the traffic to our first destination – Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace.
Our Tuk Tuk driver dropped us at the park near the entrance which was a little confusing. A sweet older Thai gentleman informed us the palace and temple were closed until 1:00 pm so local Thais could worship. He could get us a driver to take us to some other free sites while waiting. We almost fell for it (well I did anyway), but luckily Bill had just read about scams in Bangkok and kindly turned him down when he offered us a great deal of only 1500 baht today to tour the free temples.
You do have to be careful, especially around the city of Bangkok to not fall for these scams. They work together with their friends to take tourists to businesses where you might not really be interested, and end up spending more money than planned. They might try to hustle you, but it does not feel unsafe. By the end of the day we got much better at not falling for the sales pitch as we quickly moved along on our way. We found our way to the temple and palace entrance on our own, and guess what? It wasn’t closed after all.
We felt a little like we were in the Hitchcock film The Birds as we approached this fountain.
The temples we visited in Bangkok were definitely tourist attractions, but that did not mean there was not a sense of reverence as people showed their respect in these beautiful places.
You are not allowed to enter unless you are covered to your ankles and your shirt covers your shoulders. Everyone must remove their shoes before entering the temples.
Words can’t describe the amount of gold and beauty of the artwork in the temples of Thailand.
After a couple of hours exploring Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace, we walked a few blocks along the river to Wat Pho and the reclining Buddha. At 46 meters in length and 15 meters in height, the size and grandeur of the reclining Buddha is quite impressive.
There is a Thai massage school at this temple so the timing worked perfectly to hang out and get an amazing 1 hour Thai massage for 420 baht each ($12.84). The massages in Thailand are amazing and so cheap – we have had one nearly every day.
The sun was starting to set and the temple was closing for the day when we came out from our massage. As we hung around a little longer to use the toilets and get a picture of this beautiful sunset, we heard monks chanting.
As we walked toward the sounds we came upon a special ceremony for some dignitaries visiting the temple. Surprisingly we were welcomed to stay and enjoy the event as well. The Thai people are so kind and welcoming – it really is quite incredible.
When the chanting ended, people approached the monks offering gifts to them. We were intrigued to see these were very practical gift packages of toiletries.
As the ceremony came to an end we noticed booths set up full of delicious (and very cheap) street food. We enjoyed pad thai, fried fish cakes, and coconut ice cream.
It was such a beautiful atmosphere of families gathering for an outdoor festival including monks, local people, the dignitaries, and us.
Things just kept getting better as the outdoor stage lit up for a beautiful performance complete with exquisite costumes, beautiful choreography and dancing. How lucky we were to enjoy all of this for free!
We left the temple with our belly’s and heart’s full, grateful for beautiful memories. It had been an amazing day in Bangkok. Nothing like we had expected. The day could not have been more perfect if we had planned it.
Cost for the two of us to spend one day in Bangkok
Hotel Room (including a great breakfast): 2673 Baht
Hotel shuttle to the airport to catch the skytrain: Free
Skytrain from airport to the city: 90 baht (45 baht each)
Tuk Tuk from the sky rail to Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace: 250 baht
Grand Palace Entry Fee: 1000 baht (500 baht each)
Headset to take us through the tour (a great tip from the Lonely Planet guidebook): 200 baht
Walk to Wat Pho and the reclining Buddha – avoiding scams along the way): free
Entry fee to Reclining Buddha: 200 baht (100 baht each)
One Hour Thai massage: 840 baht (420 baht each)
Delicious street food
Pad Thai and fish chips: 90 baht
candy: 6 baht
3 coconut ice creams: 105 baht
Awesome performance on stage: free
Tuk Tuk back to skytrain: 300 baht
more street food: 20 baht
Sky Train to airport where we could catch the hotel shuttle: 90 baht (45 baht each)
Shuttle back to hotel: free
A beautiful day in Bangkok: Priceless!!!
Total Cost for two people: 5864 Baht (Or a whopping $179.35 for the entire day – room, food, and entertainment)
A Couple of Tips:
Talk with the hotel staff in advance to get recommendations and guidelines on what a taxi or Tuk Tuk should cost
Beware of scams
Be flexible – your never know what wonderful adventures might come your way.
It was such an amazing day and there were so many images to share, I decided to put together a slideshow of some of my favorites including a few video clips. You can check it out by clicking here.
