48 hours in Bangkok

Once all the formalities were done on arrival at the airport, we got an Uber to our accommodation in the heart of Ratchathewi and we were all set to explore Bangkok.

We started off with nearby popular areas like Siam Paragon, MBK Center as we had to wait for our friends to arrive.

The City of Jams

One thing to note about Bangkok is that they are not kidding when they say “City of Jams”, the traffic is maddening. We preferred the BTS or the Skytrain for most of our commute in Bangkok as it was way better than taking hours to cover a couple of kilometers.

Bangkok National Museum

We began our journey at the Bangkok National Museum, as it is always good, to begin with, a little bit of history. Thailand is one of the few countries that has never been occupied by a European Nation and was never colonized. While they have had their own share of battles with their neighbors, the grandeur and the preservation of the Idols of Buddha were commendable

Dinner at Khao San Road

We had been to Khao San Road earlier that day for a quick lunch. A quiet street where we could have our lunch at east. We came back to the same street for dinner the same night and we realized why Bangkok is so popular as a party destination, a quiet street during the day that completely gets a makeover by night.

We went back to Soi Rambuttri later in the night and were astounded by the lovely music, a variety of cuisines and the sheer number of people on one street.

Chatuchak Park & Coconut Ice Cream

After one hell of a night, we continued our day in Bangkok heading over to Chatuchak Park for their weekend market and I have the only word for that market “MASSIVE”. There was literally no product you can think of that was not available for sale, right from souvenirs, clothes, accessories, spices, food items to automobile spare parts (No, I am not kidding).  We, however, did have one of the best Coconut Ice Creams here at Coco JJ, a must if you are at Bangkok.

Wat Pho

We went on to the famous temples starting with Wat Pho or the Temple of the reclining Buddha. One of the royal temples, known for housing the 46cm reclining Buddha, houses one of the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand. The structure of the temples, the royal touch, the gold coloured carvings and intricacies do leave one completely spellbound. Interestingly, Wat Pho is also known to be the birthplace of Thai Massages, it is still taught in the temple grounds which also houses the Thai School of Medicine.

Wat Arun

Wat Arun and Wat Pho are separated by the Chao Phraya River, known for the sunrise and sunset by the river and the view of the temples on either side of the stream.

We found this beautiful rooftop restaurant by Wat Pho overlooking the Wat Arun called Sala Arun. “Sala” in Thai means open pavilion and the restaurant’s rooftop was just that a lovely open pavilion by the river overlooking Wat Arun, definitely one of the prettiest silhouettes I have ever seen.  

One of the striking commonalities that I noticed in these temples was the strong influence of Indian Culture in religious practices in Thailand. Most of the temples had the Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma idols in each of these temples and while it is said that the Indians during the time of King Asoka introduced Buddhism in South East Asian Countries, some aspects of Hinduism is still prevalent. For instance, it is believed that the Emperor / King of Thailand is a descendant of Lord Vishnu himself and is still referred to as “Rama” I II or so on with every successor.

We did miss seeing Wat Arun as the temple was closed by the time we could get there and also the Grand Palace as it was closed for visitors during our visit to Thailand.

While we enjoyed the fast paced lives and cultural diversity in Bangkok, the islands were calling out to us and as the saying goes, the best is yet to come.