Old Moaner Travel
I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list
Thailand
Thailand is an extremely popular tourist destination in sou-east Asia, unfortunately it has also developed a reputation as a destination for sex tourism.
Whilst there is undoubtedly this seedy underbelly, with many dirty old men visiting the country for nefarious reasons, there is much more to the country.
There are delightful tropical beaches and not just the ones with a bawdy reputation. There is more culture than you can cope with as well as stunning scenery.
It's a relatively inexpensive country for western tourists and the welcome is friendly and the cuisine sublime, all in all a perfect place to visit.
Currently the only review on the site is for the capital Bangkok but, hopefully, reviews of other areas will appear in due course.
Bangkok
I have to confess the drive from the airport to the city centre did not bode well, with mile after mile of expressway and modern high rise buildings, only occasionally interspersed with an ancient temple or shrine – it looked like any modern city, anywhere in the world and to make matters worse it was, outside the air conditioned car, oppressively hot and humid.
Then again, immediately after a sleepless, 11½ hour, redeye flight is probably not the best time to make a reasoned judgement.
After checking into the hotel, adjacent to the Chao Phraya river which dissects the city, the expectation wasn’t enhanced by the initial view of the river which was a horrible muddy brown colour, with large mats of floating vegetation.
However after a good nights sleep a more reasoned judgement was made and the initial fears proved to be unfounded. Like the Thames in London, Chao Phraya turned out to be the heartbeat of a vibrant city.
Yes there are high rise buildings in abundance, there’s one tower block that looks as though it’s been designed with a Lego set, whilst another is the twin of London’s Gherkin, I’m sure if I looked hard enough I would have found a cheese grater and walkie-talkie as well.
However, Bangkok isn’t all modern, there are plenty of stunning, indeed breath-taking, historical sights, interspersed with modern developments. A vibrant Chinatown and a city with a great feel.
I have to confess my expectations were not at all high, I ended up being blown away by this enchanting city and I only scratched the surface during this, all too brief, visit.
I visited in September and the weather was very hot and very humid, if exploring it is absolutely imperative to carry and drink plenty of water.
September is also the rainy season. It rains most evenings, usually not much longer than an hour, BUT when it does rain it rains with a vengeance. Imagine someone turning on a fire hose, that’s the intensity of the rain. Throw in the most spectacular electrical storm and the “showers” are something to behold, as can be seen in this video.
These storms do, temporarily, ease the oppressive humidity but it doesn’t last long. Take spare pairs of shoes because no matter how much you cover up when it rains your shoes will be wet through – one night we had to resort to using a hair drier to dry the shoes out.
The people are incredibly friendly and helpful, although there are some exceptions, notably the touts.
Expect to be approached by some friendly local, offering to give you directions, they are wolves in sheep’s clothing and are also liars.
We encountered two in two days. The first on the way to the Grand Palace, he asked where we were going and said “it’s lucky I asked you because the Palace is closed between 12:00 and 13:30,” this was at around 11:45.
“What you can do though is visit so and so temple which is very historic, it’s only two kilometres away.”
“Thank you,” I said, “we’ll walk there.”
“Oh no, “ he said, “it’s too far to walk in this heat, I will get you a tuk-tuk.”
“No you won’t,” I said and walked away.
By the way the Palace doesn’t close between 12:00 and 13:30
There was a similar experience the following day, this time on the way to visit a temple. This time the tout said the temple was closed because it was a Buddhist festival, and he suggested going to a shopping centre instead. Guess what, getting there by a tuk-tuk he could arrange. He seemed quite taken aback when I told him I don’t do shopping.
Once again, he was talking a pack of lies, there was no festival and the temple was open.
So beware of “helpful” locals telling you somewhere is closed.
Getting There
Suvarnabhumi Airport is 16 miles (25km) east of the city.
There is a rail link to the city centre, from where you can get a subway or skytrain to your final destination. However this isn’t as easy as it sounds because Bangkok does not have an integrated public transport ticketing system as each journey has to be paid for separately.
If you do take the train the fare for the airport link will be 35 or 45 baht (93p or £1.20), public transport is cheap in Thailand.
A number of buses serve the airport travelling to various areas of the city.
I opted for a private transfer, which took me directly to my hotel(and back to the airport at the end of the stay) at £43 for the round trip it saves the hassle of carrying bags on public transport and is good value for money.
Getting Around
Bangkok’s roads are notoriously busy and congested and are not an efficient way to get around, making the comprehensive bus route pretty useless, unless you have plenty of time to spare.
There are two rail networks in Bangkok. There are two Skytrain lines which operate an elevated railway service, with the lines intersecting at Siam station.
Additionally there are two subway lines intersecting at Sukhumvitand additionally linking with the Skytrain lines in three locations.
Because of the traffic congestion both services are incredibly busy, especially in the rush hour, where the carriages give you a feeling of what it may be like to be in a sardine tin.
Fares are ridiculously cheap by western standards and prices depend on distance travelled. As previously reported though there is no integrated fare system. It had been planned to introduce an integrated system in 2019 but this has now been put back to the summer of 2020. Both the Skyway and subway have day tickets for tourists but they are not interchangeable.
The good news is a lot of the major tourist spots are near the river and a very efficient river bus service with five different types of boat. The Blue Flag Tourist boat is ideal for tourists, with a single trip costing 40 baht (£1.07) or a day ticket costing 100 baht (£2.67), these stop at the main stops only.
If you think 40 baht is too expensive then catch a local boat, which stops at every pier with tickets costing 10 or 20 baht (27p or 54p)
There are also some small ferries which simply cross the river – charging an “extortionate” 4 baht (11p) a trip – I told you transport is cheap
What To See
I will only include places I got to visit during my short stay.
The number one “must see” site must be the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo, home of the King of Siam until the early 20th century.
The Grand Palace is the residential part of the complex whilst the Wat is the religious centre.
The whole complex almost defies description. The intricate detail of the buildings in the Wat is almost beyond belief.
The Emerald Buddha, made of jade rather than emerald, is the star attraction of the Wat and resides in The Bot, the most visited building in the complex. The queues are long, shoes and cameras are both banned in this building, but it is impressive.
The gold Phra Si Rattana Chedi, dominates the skyline at the complex.
The walls of the temple are home to over half a mile of stunning murals, many encrusted with gold.
The palace is not to be outdone by the Wat and the buildings are absolutely stunning and opulent.
You need to allow a couple of hours just to scratch the surface of the complex, you could spend a full day there and not take in everything.
The complex is open from 08:30 to 16:30, with last entry at 15:30. Modest dress is required, no sandals, shorts, short skirts or sleeveless shirts.
Admission is 500 baht (£13.33), relatively expensive by Thai standards but worth every penny as far as I’m concerned.
There are cafes before you pay your admission and as you exit the palace, nothing in between, so carry plenty of water. There are water bottle refill points in the complex.
A short walk away from the Grand Palace is Wat Pho, Bangkok’s oldest and largest temple.
It is renown for the statue of a reclining Buddha, 46 meters long and made of brick and plaster, covered in gold leaf.
All the guide books have photographs of the reclining Buddha but, being brutally honest, they don’t even begin to do it justice – it has to be seen to be fully appreciated and, even when you see it, you don’t actually believe what you have seen.
There is, however, a lot more to Wat Pho than the reclining Buddha, there are stunning, ornate buildings any of which would be worth visiting on their own but to have them all together is almost too much to take in. In addition there are countless shrines and statues.
The Hall of The Reclining Buddha is open from 08:00 – 18:30 and admission is 200 baht (£5.33) which includes a welcome bottle of water. Outside these hours the grounds are open until midnight and there si no admission charge – the site is well lit after dark and the buildings have a more serene feel at night.
Wat Arun dominates the skyline on the west bank of the river opposite Wat Poh and the Imperial Palace and it is reached from there by the 4 baht (11p) ferry which operates as a shuttle service.
Not all the site is currently accessible due to restoration works but it’s still impressive nonetheless
Although known as the Temple of Dawn, the best view of the temple is at sunset from the opposite bank where the golden sun sets behind the golden prang and once the sun disappears the floodlights come on and the golden edifice glows in the dark.
As well as the instantly recognised prang (tower) there are many other porcelain encrusted prangs on the site, along with neat ornamental gardens.
Admission is 100 baht (£2.67) although if you really are feeling miserly you can get a good view just walking around the outside of the complex.
South of Bangkok is a more modern attraction, Asiatique, this is a warehouse conversion which is now a bustling night market with hundreds of boutiques and restaurants, as well as, what seems to be obligatory in most city now, a big Ferris wheel.
Some of the shops are quirky but most prices are reasonable but it’s still a case of buyer beware.
Asiatique is also home to the famous Calypso cabaret show, celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2019.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this ladyboy / transvestite, in a way I was probably expecting sleazy, it was anything but.
Lip syncing to well known songs wit some pizazz looking at the “girls” you wouldn’t actually realise they were not as they appeared.
The miming wasn’t brilliant but the staging was good and you came away with a smile afterwards, an innocent, fun way to spend an hour and a half.
There is an opportunity to be photographed with cast members afterwards, in return for a tip, 20 baht (53p) is considered sufficient.
With the river playing such a prominent role in the life of Bangkok it’s little surprise there are plenty of dinner cruises on offer and my regular readers will know I love a dinner cruise.
Quite a few dinner cruises set of from Asiatique and with quite a few to choose from I was unlucky in choosing the wrong one.
The trip was with Arena River Cruise, which offers an Indian Buffet cruise with Indian entertainment.
On the face of it this was potentially a very good cruise and we may just have been unlucky.
To begin with the positives, all the staff were friendly and welcoming, the boat wasn't crowded and the sights stunning.
There was good live music, however the sound was so loud we both came away with headaches.
The food tasted good, however the following morning we both had very bad stomach upsets, which we can only attribute to the food we ate on this cruise, so it isn’t one I would recommend.
Bangkok used to be known as the Venice of the east due to its large canal network. Sadly many of the canals have been filled in as part of the ongoing development in the city.
There are still some canals off the east bank of the Chao Phraya and they are well worth touring as you get to see some of the more traditional ways of life for Bangkok residents, with canal side shanty living and the occasional boat selling trinkets for the tourists.
These vendors are probably more genuine than the ones at the tourist trap floating market, a site designed fairly and squarely to rip off tourists.
The best way to explore the canals is on a longboat trip.
A longboat costs 1,500 baht (£40.25) to hire but that is the cost for the boat, which seats up to eight people, so exceptional value of there is a group of you, although to be honest even if there are only two of you £20 each for 90 minutes isn’t to be scoffed at.
It’s an interesting fact that 75% of Thai homes do not have a kitchen, Thai’s lead a busy life and have small homes, so eating out is very common and street food abounds, along with restaurants catering for all budgets and tastes, but it is the street food which offers amazing food at great value for money.
I have to confess to being slightly sceptical when it comes to street food, how well cooked is it, is it safe to eat, what am I actually eating.
The answer is to put yourself into the hands of the experts.
Bangkok Food Tours offer several foodie related tours in Bangkok and I took the Midnight Food Tour by Tuk-Tuk, which combines various food tasting stops with visits to the flower market and Wat Pho
This trip will allay any fears and prejudices about street food you may have had. The tours have up to ten guests and operate daily. Officially the tour runs for four hours from 19:00 but it frequently runs past midnight.
The guide, Chanya, was amazing, friendly and informative, explaining the history behind all the food we were to sample and the food was sublime.
Each stop bough new delights and amazing tastes and textures. An important word of warning don’t eat anything before this trip, there is plenty of food to sate even the largest appetite. You actually get a four course mean with each course being served at a different location, including a behind the scenes look at one of the kitchens.
It’s not just food on the trip, although when we did the trip we had to miss out the flower market due to what can only be described as a down pour of biblical proportions – ponchos were provided to protect us from the worse of the rain.
Riding on the tuk-tuk was fun and the return to the hotel at the end was a bonus as the booking description said it was specified hotels only and our hotel was a bit out of the way.
If you want to experience the best of Thai cuisine then this tour is a absolute must, it’s converted me to the delights of street food. The cost is around £60 a head but it’s worth it.
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(prices quoted above are correct as of September 2019)