The Sights and Tastes of Bangkok, Part 1

Greetings from Thailand! Matt and I plan to spend three weeks exploring the southeast Asian country, including stints in cosmopolitan Bangkok, picturesque southern beaches, and the highly-recommended northern city of Chiang Mai with its nearby hippie towns. Our college friend, Nate, has joined us for the first two weeks of our Thai adventure! We kicked off his visit with three full days in the nation’s capital, Bangkok. Thailand’s most populous city, Bangkok is a regional hub for finance, business, and healthcare. It’s also well-known for art, fashion, and culture including a world-renowned food scene. Jewel-encrusted temples dot the city, sprinkled between fancy shopping malls and grungier, traffic-congested neighborhoods. Bangkok has also earned a reputation for its seedy underbelly, with many foreigners seeking out its sex tourism industry and multiple red light districts. More than anywhere else we’ve visited so far, Bangkok was full of foreign visitors. Westerners were absolutely everywhere, welcomed with almost universal English translation, well-built infrastructure, an over-abundance of 7-11 convenience stores, and two easily-accessible international airports. Bangkok also felt the most modern and metropolitan of the cities we have visited on this trip. Many times throughout our time there, Matt and I would muse that we felt like we were back in America!

Nate, Matt, and I enjoyed this view of the Bangkok skyline.

Venturing around Bangkok primarily on foot, the three of us squeezed in numerous touristy activities and countless memorable meals. The weather was hot, hot, hot (and humid!), reaching into the high 90’s but feeling like it was in the 100’s. Needless to say, we sweat a lot throughout our adventures; you may notice in the pictures! I’ll document many of the Bangkok highlights in this blog series, but it’s impossible to capture every detail and observation in writing.

Shopping Malls. Bangkok is famous for its ritzy shopping malls, and now we understand why. The massive commercial centers are almost impossible to avoid, lining many of the city’s main roads and offering large, wide-ranging dining options. We browsed the MBK Center on Day 1, with its 2,000 shops, eight floors, and frequently-written-up food court. Later we stopped at Amarin Plaza, Iconsiam, and the Old Siam Shopping Plaza. Though these complexes varied in levels of fanciness, we couldn’t help but feel like we were just in any American city perusing a recently-renovated suburban mall with its Louis Vuitton, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Apple Store, makeup counters, escalators, movie theaters, and more. Not in the market for buying anything, the three of us hustled past clothing stores and spent more time evaluating the mouth-watering food and coffee options. At the MBK Center, I ordered a vegetarian curry plate, Matt ate a fried pork dish with rice, and Nate enjoyed a lunch of soba noodles, curry, and a panko-crusted chicken cutlet. At the Old Siam Shopping Plaza, we shared an assortment of goodies including mango and sticky rice; dumplings; sesame pastries; purple sweet potato-filled buns; sushi; marzipan roses, and more.

McDonald's was everywhere - sometimes there were three locations in a given mall! Here Matt and Nate are pictured with a culturally-appropriate Mc-D's statue.

As you can see here, shopping centers line the streets in Bangkok.

Nate ordering dumplings in the food stall area of Old Siam Plaza.

Jim Thompson House. A museum in central Bangkok, the Jim Thompson House features the art collection and jungle-like gardens of the late Jim Thompson, an architect and textile businessman who lived and worked in Thailand for many years. Listed among the top sights in Thailand’s capital, the ornately-designed house incorporates traditional Thai architecture blended with Western comforts such as indoor staircases and bathrooms. Thompson carried out an interesting life and career that were somewhat shrouded in mystery, especially with when he disappeared in 1967 and was never found, leaving his extensive collection and beautiful home to his family who granted control to the Bangkok government. Removing our shoes, we entered the house on a guided tour, listening to a docent tell us about the various architectural choices Thompson made in designing the home and the history behind many of the beautiful pieces in his art collection including Buddha sculptures, porcelain dining sets, and lamps made out of Thai drums. We learned tidbits about Thai culture on the tour, such as the tradition of building spirit houses on a property when an original home is knocked down and rebuilt. These are small shrines erected on the new site to protect and honor the spirits of the location with food and flowers.

Matt with a spirit house.

No photos allowed inside the JT House, but Nate and I are pictured here in the garden.

Lumphini Park. We loved walking around this 142-acre park in central Bangkok and visited a couple of times during our stay. It features multiple lakes, swan boats, a clock tower, exercise equipment, running paths, and a large statue of Thai King Rama VI built in 1942. In the evenings, we were surprised and impressed to find hundreds of people exercising after sunset. There were multiple outdoor exercise classes going on at once with loud tunes blasting from speaker systems and instructors leading the moves on elevated stages. The workout moves looked more like a dance routine, and I almost wanted to join in because I love that kind of thing! We also wove through streams of joggers who seemed part of a huge running club. I always enjoy strolling through public parks as we have in Sri Lanka, India, and Myanmar. Lumphini Park did not disappoint!

Clocktower in Lumphini Park.

Grand Palace and Wat Pho. The highlight of our Bangkok trip and the most popular tourist attraction in the city was the stunning (and crowded) Grand Palace! We spent a few hours wandering throughout the elaborate royal complex, taking everything in, snapping photos, and learning from our English-speaking Thai tour guide. The palace has housed the country’s kings since 1782 and features incredibly beautiful temples, murals, and ceremonial pavilions that are all uniquely-designed and represent Buddhist tradition from across Asian countries including Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Some of the buildings are painted white with jewel and mosaic embellishments while others are completely gilded in Italian gold-colored tile. Colorful and gold-accented murals encircling the complex depict scenes from Buddhist and Hindu mythology, and a large central temple features the highly coveted Emerald Buddha that is dressed in rotating clothing styles based on the season. It’s difficult to capture in words or pictures how impressive the Grand Palace is! It makes sense that people from all over the world packed the facility along with us. Afterwards we visited Wat Pho, a Buddhist temple complex built in 1788 that features the iconic and 46 meter-long reclining gold Buddha. Another top-ranked Bangkok attraction, Wat Pho was very beautiful with Chinese porcelain-topped stupas and golden adornments throughout.

Beautiful and detailed murals like this encircle the Grand Palace and tell religious stories.

You can see the gold and mosaic detail on one of the buildings here in the Grand Palace complex.

Outside the Grand Palace. This building was interesting to me because it has an almost European-looking base but is topped with a very Thai-looking roof!

Tired and sweaty picture of me at the end of a hot day, but here is the reclining gold Buddha! It was huge!

Thanks for reading! I’ll share more in Part 2.