When I first visited Bangkok in the mid-1990s I absolutely hated it. It was hot, crowded and decrepit. I couldn’t wait to leave it to visit the more relaxed and less crowded parts of Thailand.
Now, I’m here again, over 25 years later, and it’s not so bad. Bangkok is still hot and crowded, but it’s really no longer that decrepit. It’s as if sections of Tokyo were grafted and grew up amongst the crazy squalor. It now has the feel of a modern bustling city in many places. There are a ton of new skyscrapers and a score of cranes in all directions.
While the population of Bangkok almost doubled from 6 million in 1994 to 11 million, the GDP per capita in Thailand almost tripled from $2,491 to $7,233, and has probably increased even more so in bustling Bangkok. It’s definitely a significantly different city than it was 25 years ago.
The Grand Palace
The Grand Palace is the historic seat of Thai’s royal family. It’s only rarely used by the royal family these days. It’s now the most popular tourist attraction in Bangkok. It’s a wonderfully vast 94 hectare fairy-tale like compound of whimisical buildings, temples and landscaping.
Fun fact: in the past Thai kings used to house their huge harems in the inner palace area, which was guarded by combat-trained female sentries.
Wat’s Up?
The core of the tourist experience in Bangkok – aside from the small seedier parts highlighted in movies like The Hangover Part 2 – are the temples. They are called wats in the Thai language and they create a welcome break from Bangkok’s urban chaos.
Wat Pho
Wat Pho rambles over 8 hectares and its primary attraction is the wonderfully huge Reclining Buddha.
Wat Arun
Wat Arun is known for its tall central prang with its intricate artwork.
Wat Saket
Wat Saket is known as the Golden Mount Temple because of its location on top of a small, but steep artifical hill. The temple itself is not that dramatic, but its location and views are what make it special.
Rolling On the River
One of the best ways to see a great cross section of Bangkok is to cruise along the Chao Phraya River. You can take a tour boat, or just cruise up and down for a lot cheaper on the one of the normal water taxi boats, which is what I did.
Walking the Streets
There were a ton of small alley markets like this in the older sections of Bangkok
A typical low rise, busy street in the older section of town.
Some nice artwork on the side of an older building
A modern view of Bangkok
The view from the BTS Skytrain
Some older housing juxtaposed against a large wat building and then some modern skyscrapers
One of the multitude of canals interspersed throughout parts of the city.
Khao San Road has traditionally been ground zero for young backpackers traveling to Bangkok. I stayed near there the first time I was in Bangkok. Back then there were a ton of travel agencies and some bars. Now, with the Internet, the travel agencies seem to be mostly gone, but the bars have definitely proliferated.
I was there around 11am and it was pretty quiet. I’d imagine it would be a much different story around 11pm.
A perfect Khao San Road scene: a tourism sign, Ronald McDonald and a weed shop.
Chinatown is a large section with a ton of character and a huge maze of small alleyways with all kinds of shops.
One of the myriad of small alleyways where people vie with scooters for the right of way.
The traditional oasis in Bangkok is the elegant and peaceful Lumphini Park.
Nearby is Benjakitti Park, which opened in 2004, but had a huge expansion that just finished last year. It’s the only park in the city with a forest park, but that section is so new, a lot of the growth hasn’t taken place yet.
The Glory of Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya is a wonderful series of ruins about an hour outside of Bangkok.
Per Wikipedia: “The city of Ayutthaya was founded by King Ramathibodi I in 1351, though it is likely to be significantly older, based on evidence showing that the area was already populated during the Mon Dvaravati period. Sources further mention that around 850 AD, the Khmers occupied the area and established a stronghold there, naming it Ayodhya, after one of the holiest Hindu cities in India of the same name. It was the capital of the country until its destruction by the Burmese army in 1767.”
“In 1969, the Fine Arts Department of Thailand began renovations of the ruins, scaling up the project after the site was declared a historical park in 1976. Part of the park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.”
At one point about 300 years ago it was the largest city in the world with a population just over 1 million.
The most famous site in the city is actually a small Buddha head that a tree grew around.
Since there a lot of headless Buddha statues throughout the park, we thought we’d try to add to the head themed experience.
It’s a large area and so we rented bicycles to get around.
It’s also on a large island and we had to take a small ferry from the train station to get to the main ruins area.
Apartment
I had a large, comfortable Airbnb apartment in the bustling, modern Sukhumvit part of town.
A view of my smaller 8 story building on the right. The large building in the foreground is the Sukhumvit Marriott.
The Journey to Bangkok
Getting to Bangkok ended up being much more “interesting” than I anticipated. I found a great frequent flyer miles deal connecting through Dallas and Tokyo to get to Bangkok. The catch was I had to transfer airports in Tokyo, but I had an 8.5 hour layover there and I didn’t think it would be a big deal.
But then Dallas got hit with a freak snowstorm. I’ve probably traveled to Dallas over 50 times for business over the years and had never seen snow there before. I was lucky my flights in and out weren’t canceled. The challenge was we ended up getting delayed boarding the plane by almost an hour because the catering was late. Then we spent 3 hours waiting for and then getting de-iced before our takeoff. I didn’t even know DFW had de-icing machines…and neither did the DFW based flight attendents we had on our flight!
So my 8.5 hour layover in Tokyo became a 4 hour layover. Then it took us over an hour to get through customs. So now I had 3 hours, and because I had a bag to check in, I really only had 2 hours. If I would have taken the normal 1.5 hour aiport transit bus I wouldn’t have made the flight, so I ended up taking an incredibly expensive 1 hour taxi between airports. I told him to hurry and my 70 year old taxi driver drove like Speed Racer 🙂
And once I got to the other aiport I was met with a 40 minute security line. Good thing I took the taxi!
I did get the benefit of a high tech toilet in the Tokyo airport, so while I didn’t get a chance to shower, my backside got one…lol!
