November Break Series: Exploring Bangkok

• Wat Phra Kaew (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha) in the Grand Palace, Wat Pho (The Temple of the Reclining Buddha), and Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan – These temples, in my opinion, were the most beautiful of any I saw in Bangkok. Pro tip: Take the BTS Skytrain to the Saphan Taksin Station and walk outside to Sathorn Pier, where you can take a ferry up the Chao Phraya River to the Grand Palace. Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho are adjacently located, and Wat Ratchanatdaram is easily accessible on the same day. Also, make sure you're appropriately dressed (i.e. wearing an outfit that covers your shoulders and knees) so that you can enter the temples.

• Bangkok by Night: Temples, Markets, and Food Tuk-Tuk Tour – I booked this tour through TripAdvisor after reading about it on the internet, and I’d say it ended up being a highlight of my entire Asia trip. Led by a Thai tour guide, I went on an four-hour-long excursion with a group of nine other English-speakers, during which we visited some temples, ate street food for snacks and dessert, and had dinner at a local restaurant, driven around on tuk-tuks. I really loved getting to know other tourists, tasting authentic food that I knew was safe to eat, and hearing about the city’s history from a local, so I could not recommend this tour enough! Enjoy a rare photo of me in a tuk-tuk below.

• Jim Thompson House Museum / National Museum Bangkok – The Jim Thompson House  showcases the former residence of the renowned Jim Thompson, an American architect who moved to Thailand and revitalized the country’s silk industry. He innovatively designed the house to be made up of traditional Thai structures which he imported from other areas, and collected a large number of ancient cultural artifacts to preserve Thai heritage, so this museum is well worth a visit. The National Museum, housed in a former palace, also has incredible artifacts on display, though very different ones considering that most relate to the life of Thai royalty.

• River City Bangkok / Bangkok Art and Culture Center – If you enjoy looking at or buying art, River City Bangkok and the Art and Culture Center are the place to be. The former is a mall-like structure containing mostly high-end art stores along with a couple of galleries, while the latter is a building with a spiral-shaped interior showcasing the work of local artists, much of which is available for purchase in the many shops on each floor. Both of these places make for an engaging visit and basically guarantee great souvenirs!

Honorable mentions to the infamous Soi Cowboy nightlife street, Michelin-rated Thipsamai Pad Thai restaurant (considered the best Pad Thai in the country—make sure to get the one wrapped in egg), beautiful Train Night Market Ratchada, and humongous (as in over 15,000 stalls) Chatuchak Weekend Market. I’d definitely, however, skip Jodd Fairs Night Market. Even though many people recommend it online, I felt that there was not much to see there and that my time was better spent visiting alternatives (this market in particular is also one of the locations in Bangkok that smell very bad, so it was frankly unpleasant to be there).

Thus ends my amazing trip across Asia. I’ll be back in Japan finishing up school and enjoying the last couple of weeks of the semester before flying home to the U.S.. Look forward to one more blog post about my time in Tokyo!