During my trip I have visited Bangkok a
number of times. My first was arriving
to meet Jonas prior to our trip to Vietnam.
He has been to Bangkok often and was kind enough to act as a guide to me
whilst we explored some of the more frequented touristy areas in addition to
those areas that Bangkok is so famous for.
Bangkok was my hub for my trips to the
southern and middle regions of Thailand; for my trip to Myanmar and my last
minute trip to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
The central location if offers made travel to these places simple and at
low cost. The airport offered flights to
anywhere in the world, from Toronto to Sydney, Manila to Tokyo and using www.skyscanner.net
you can easily find cheap those budget flights.
Lonely Planet introduces Bangkok in it’s
well read South East Asia guide as – ‘Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your
seatbelts. You are now entering Bangkok, a city that is always on the move. ‘ But my take on the city is somewhat
different.
But first some facts (as you know I love
facts). The city isn’t really called
Bangkok. It was name bestowed upon it by
westerners. It is in fact called Krungthep
mahanakhon amonratanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok popnopparat ratchathani
burirom udomratchaniwet mahasathan amonpiman avatansathit sakkathattiya
witsanukamprasit.” Whilst the name is long (the longest of any city in the
world) the locals shorten it to Krung Threp, which translates as ‘City of
Angels’.
Most people I have met love the city in a
unique and overly passionate way. They
are attracted by its low cost of living (compared to western cities), the
warmer climate and the party going atmosphere dominated and grown by the Europeans, Americans and Australians.
I’m not a Bangkok fan. I don’t despise it, of course not, but I’m
not attracted to the city and what it has to offer. I really don’t think it’s anything special and
I look at people with bemusement when they think it’s the best place in the
world.
The Bangkok skyline |
The city is of course nothing like what you
see in movies such as ‘The Hangover 2’ (a terrible film). There is a perception that Bangkok is
brothels, prostitutes and ‘ping-pong’ shows.
It is not. There are say just a
few roads with these on but that’s it.
Similar to Amsterdam and it’s red light district – it’s just a very,
very small part of the city (and one where you don’t see any locals there
either).
Kosan Road at night |
The main party street in Bangkok is called Kosan
Road. To describe this road simply look
at a typical ‘English street’ that you would find in the Costal Del Sol or one
of the Greek islands such as Kavos. The
place is busy during the day and then chaotic in the evening. Dotted in the middle of this pedestrianised
road are food vendors offering an eclectic mix of beetles and bugs to consume.
The city offers a great selection of malls
and shops; another thing Bangkok and on the whole Thailand is famous for, and
quite rightly so. A thing that I’ve
noticed a lot on my trip is that Asia likes to build all their malls together
rather than what we have in the UK where there tends to be a mall in every major
town and city.
The size of the malls in Asia far exceeds
the scales that we see in the UK too.
Many are seven or eight floors and can take more than a day to navigate
around. For Bangkok they had the
largest, MBK and also the most sophisticated, Siam Paragon. In between these two malls stood a further
three malls all interconnected via open and covered walkways.
MBK Mall |
Sian Paragon mall |
MBK is the mall you should attend if you
are looking for the typical high street stores and also if you are hunting for
a bargain. Siam Paragon focuses on
designer apparel and the chic.
As I was in Bangkok for twenty days I did
frequent them often, but not just for shopping. All the malls contained multiplex theatres,
Siam Paragon was by far the best. They
boasted a 4D cinema (if you’re not sure what that is check out my Beijing
post), and also an IMAX cinema too.
What makes Thailand slightly different for
the cinema-goer than going to the UK is not just the Thai subtitles on English
films but what happens just before the film starts. The lights dim fully, and some calming music
begins to play. Everyone stands up. Some hold hands. Then the screen starts showing a video of the
King, in all his awesomeness. Pictures
of him growing up, visiting his subjects, and making decisions. Basically highlighting his importance to
Thailand and how he feels he has helped to shape it. At the end of the montage which ends with a
big orchestral piece you sit and the film commences.
A video clip of the opening montage to the King
Siam Paragon Multiplex theatre |
If you are planning to stay in Bangkok and
are looking for hostel then I strongly ‘Lub D’ in Silom Square. The hostel is very modern and chic, and is
the second best hostel I’ve stayed in (the first being ‘BackHome’ in Kuala
Lumpur).
I met a few groups of people during my
stay. One of the groups I met, a group
of girls from Ireland, all decided to head out on a trip to the ‘famous’
floating market (a place often plastered all over guide books on Thailand),
then to the Bridge over the river Kwai and then finally to a Tiger sanctuary.
Leaving the day after booking the weather
started off fairly okay. We had a long
trip, I think about an hour or two to get to the floating market. As we arrived it slowly started to rain, and
then it got heavier and heavier. It
turned into the typical Thai rainstorm.
We were getting drenched. We
chose the wrong day to go around the floating market and worse still we were on
a boat without a roof.
How we wished for a boat with some cover |
Ignoring the rain the place still didn’t
look like the pictures you. It was full
of tourists and is now far from what it was during traditional times. It almost seems false and is simply there for
show.
Leaving the floating market we headed to
the bridge over the river Kwai, which was a bridge basically over a river
(hence the name).
Finally we headed to the Tiger
sanctuary. It was still raining, but
lightly this time, and it turned out to be a really enjoyable afternoon. The sanctuary opened after a tiger was
rescued from a circus I believe. Since
then they have been bringing in rescued tigers and looking after them in the very
large outdoor complex. The organisation
are primarily staffed by volunteers and receive funding through large
charitable donations and also by offering tours to tourists, like me, to see
them, walk them and pat them!
A theme of yawning cats as my conversation wasn't that entertaining |
Even the small cats where nothing compared my two cats, Tiger and Chief |
Overall the city is popularised by a false
image of what it actually is and it is this false image that attracts the
tourists, for their economy is that a bad thing? I don’t know.
Beyond the false image, you do have a thriving South East Asian city
that is pretty much the ‘same-same’ as all the other Asian cities I have visited
and because of this I wasn’t overly wowed by it like many others.
Hi Dave Lovely photo's.They cat's are beautiful a want one.Chief n Tigger would have them for starters though.Lol.Mumxxx
ReplyDeleteNice blog. BKK used to be a lot of fun, but nowadays with all these "party-tourists" flooding the city, I also use it merely as a Hub... and to hit Subways, of course!;)
ReplyDeleteGreat pics! Love the tigers, but its kinda frightening to see two bloodthirsty gingerhaired creatures in one picture! :)
I am fairly certain I was there when you took the first one on rainy patpong?
Keep the posts coming, its what keeps me going in what they call "summer in europe"!
Cheers
Glad to see that you posted again! Sounds like you're having fun :-) I hope you have a good time in Sydney too.
ReplyDeleteHey bud - your "agingerabroad" email is not working. We met in Thailand - hangin' with the Irish. Hope all is well! How can I reach you via email?
ReplyDeleteKarim
Hey Karim, hope you're doing well. what's your Facebook name and I'll get you added. Dave.
ReplyDelete