From driving over 5,000 km around NZ, a country on the other side of the world but similar to the UK in so many ways, to Bangkok. Crazy, wonderful, beguiling Bangkok; surprisingly, nothing at all like the UK.
.........
We arrive at the hotel from the airport at around 2.30am local time on Saturday night/Sunday morning. People and taxis jam the streets around the hotel and it takes a long, long time to travel the last km but it's wonderfully entertaining, us in the back and Sue's oversized collapsible case jammed into the front seat of the creaking old Toyota.
We wake up (kind of) the next morning and, after breakfast, we're off to visit the Chatuchak Weekend Markets. This means grappling with the BTS (Skytrain) to travel to the North of the City. We queue for change, work out how much the ticket is, queue for the ticket machine, put the required (vast) amount of coins into the ticket machine twice (once for each ticket), queue for the barrier and we're through and off. No holding us now. Modern and air-conditioned, once aboard.
Wiring reminds us of Ho Chi Minh City (as do the street scenes)
So many of these abound... no fireworks to be seen, either..
The Chatuchak Markets are amazingly extensive, crowded, buzzing, goods of all description including pets and live fish: a wonderful education. We eat in the food hall - just to experience it really. We sort out which dishes we want, queue to purchase ticket of the correct value, queue at food stall and pay with ticket: simples!
Historic sights tomorrow, which means metro and taxi boats. But, good grief, it's hot!
................
So!
We Skytrain across the city and take water bus to the Grand Palace, which is truly, truly amazing.....
u
....we also nip round to Wat Po to see the longest reclining Buddha and the rest of this rather special palace, including its many stupas.
That's enough for one day, though, we're melting.
The traffic's building up as we battle with the rush hour on the Skytrain.
We're off on the hop on hop off tourist boat the next day...
which lets us take in some more 'must see' sights....
Wat Arun (begun in 1809 in the reign of King Rama 3
We also see the flower market and Chinatown before making it back to the hotel.
Look, there's so much to see here, let's just have a couple more pics because we take a tour to Ayutthaya from the hotel the following day.
Ayutthaya is an important historic town with many significant relics and restored temples. A great trip with a good guide but it was so so hot with a thunderstorm for added fun. Talking about added fun, the minibus driver would rival Alonso for getting through traffic. Very clever, but truly terrifying.
Buddha in tree
Temporary Buddha home during restoration.
The King's Summer Palace
Ok, last one. We sort out the MRT (Metro) to revisit Chinatown to see the Gold Buddah (where there is also an extraordinarily good museum).
Check out tomorrow..... then the long drag home via Dubai. This means an end, not only of this post, but of the Blog (well almost). Did I hear you say 'thank goodness'?
Goodbye, crazy, wonderful Bangkok.. and thank you for your respectful Thai hospitality.
.........
We arrive at the hotel from the airport at around 2.30am local time on Saturday night/Sunday morning. People and taxis jam the streets around the hotel and it takes a long, long time to travel the last km but it's wonderfully entertaining, us in the back and Sue's oversized collapsible case jammed into the front seat of the creaking old Toyota.
We wake up (kind of) the next morning and, after breakfast, we're off to visit the Chatuchak Weekend Markets. This means grappling with the BTS (Skytrain) to travel to the North of the City. We queue for change, work out how much the ticket is, queue for the ticket machine, put the required (vast) amount of coins into the ticket machine twice (once for each ticket), queue for the barrier and we're through and off. No holding us now. Modern and air-conditioned, once aboard.
Wiring reminds us of Ho Chi Minh City (as do the street scenes)
So many of these abound... no fireworks to be seen, either..
The Chatuchak Markets are amazingly extensive, crowded, buzzing, goods of all description including pets and live fish: a wonderful education. We eat in the food hall - just to experience it really. We sort out which dishes we want, queue to purchase ticket of the correct value, queue at food stall and pay with ticket: simples!
Historic sights tomorrow, which means metro and taxi boats. But, good grief, it's hot!
................
So!
We Skytrain across the city and take water bus to the Grand Palace, which is truly, truly amazing.....
u....we also nip round to Wat Po to see the longest reclining Buddha and the rest of this rather special palace, including its many stupas.
That's enough for one day, though, we're melting.
The traffic's building up as we battle with the rush hour on the Skytrain.
..............
which lets us take in some more 'must see' sights....
Wat Arun (begun in 1809 in the reign of King Rama 3
We also see the flower market and Chinatown before making it back to the hotel.
Look, there's so much to see here, let's just have a couple more pics because we take a tour to Ayutthaya from the hotel the following day.
Ayutthaya is an important historic town with many significant relics and restored temples. A great trip with a good guide but it was so so hot with a thunderstorm for added fun. Talking about added fun, the minibus driver would rival Alonso for getting through traffic. Very clever, but truly terrifying.
Buddha in tree
Temporary Buddha home during restoration.
The King's Summer Palace
Ok, last one. We sort out the MRT (Metro) to revisit Chinatown to see the Gold Buddah (where there is also an extraordinarily good museum).
Check out tomorrow..... then the long drag home via Dubai. This means an end, not only of this post, but of the Blog (well almost). Did I hear you say 'thank goodness'?
Goodbye, crazy, wonderful Bangkok.. and thank you for your respectful Thai hospitality.
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