Twenty Four Hours Bangkok

Bangkok, 4am: Never dark, at this hour a myriad of neon lights focus our eyes on every single bit of human activity. A cool breeze, unobstructed by a congested city, finally manages to cool down the day excesses and people sit down at the many stalls scattered around, amusingly watching the crowds standing inside the counted, speeding buses. Many markets, especially those selling food and located next to travel centers, are open at these hours.

Bangkok, 10am: This is a good hour to begin a shopping day. A new shopping mall pops up every month in this behemoth of a metropolis, but the main ones are comfortably placed in a relatively small area next to the central Ratchaprasong intersection.

Bangkok, 4pm: This is the perfect time to relax after a day packed with excitements; a time to gather strength for the approaching night. A combination that fits the hour, the climate and the city is a relaxing session of traditional Thai massage followed by a visit to a good coffee shop. Most top quality hotels offer both, but somehow, inside them this wonderful city fades out. The best place for a Thai massage would be at Wat Pho – the main school of the art in the country - or at the nearby Khaosan Road, where there are more options for a coffee afterwards. If choosing the last, the best places are in the wide alley connecting Khaosan Road with Thanon Rambuttri. A session of ninety minutes – the very minimum for a whole treatment – costs around six dollars.

Bangkok, 10pm: The Big Chili’s can offer some unusual sights; floating on the calm waters of the Chao Praya River await the visitor romantic dinners and awesome views. The murmuring, slow-flowing water around the boat is part of the magic of seeing the city slowly revealing its wonders.

Quick Tips:

A huge metropolis, Bangkok offers so many hotels and guesthouses that it is recommended to arrive with at least an idea of the price range and area wanted. Khaosan Road offers some of the cheapest options, as well as a superb access to the best travel agencies in the country. Sukhumvit Road has many top-quality hotels nearby the biggest shopping and entertainment centers in the town. The Chao Praya riverside hosts the two best hotels in Bangkok: the Oriental and the Shangri-La. The Oriental is considered to be among the best hotels in the world and it is highly recommended to spend there at least one night; seldom is such quality so accessible. The Sukhumvit Road and Chao Praya riverside hotels have also the advantage of having access to the Skytrain, the fastest way to move in Bangkok during the day.

Visiting such a culturally rich city as Bangkok demands a careful planning, unless an unlimited time is available. On the other side, most of the main attractions appear in clusters, as in the Grand Palace area, thus facilitating the visit. Planning a day for each area is a good way to explore the city efficiently.

Wat Pho is a very popular, visiting the site at the early hours and planning for a Thai massage before noon, to help heal the body after the strenuous effort, is the best way to enjoy the place. There are endless opportunities to explore the waterways in Bangkok, sticking to the main ones, at least in the first visit, is the best way to ensure a good sight of the main attractions. Thompson House is so close to the main shopping centers, that it makes the perfect break during a busy shopping session. Bangkok’s humidity and heat can be overwhelming at the beginning; breaking a visit with short day trips in its surroundings is a good way to enhance the experience. Kanchanaburi and the Bridge over the River Kwai offer a combination of countryside with historic views that illuminate less known aspects of the Second World War. Ayuthaya, a former capital of the kingdom, is sprinkled with ruined stupas and oversized Buddhas, and Damnoen Saduak, a floating market, offers many postcard-like views of how is it to live in rural Thailand. Pattaya is the closest beach to Bangkok and offers a perfect Western-Thai hybrid environment.

Best Way To Get Around:

Taxis charge according to distance and time; crossing the town from one bus terminal to another at the small hours – when the taxi can cross the city at 100KMH – costs around six dollars. However, at the peak hours, Bangkok avenues can remind parking lots, and then taxis are not convenient; arriving at the desired area early is suggested. The taxis local mutants, the tuk-tuks, are not recommended; sometimes you will find yourself at the driver’s tailor uncle instead than at your desired destination.

Bangkok is a huge metropolis and covering it by foot is not easy. Foreign letters, strange sounds, and many variations of public transport do not transform the task of traveling around into an easy one. Traveling in an air-conditioned bus is more comfortable than in a taxi and both advance at the same speed in this crowded metropolis. After boarding the bus, do not attempt to pay; a ticket seller will approach you during the trip, expecting to get approximately the right fare; do not pay the B7 fare with a B1000 note. Buses in Bangkok are very cheap and effective, and they will take you anywhere at anytime.

Northern Terminal (Mo Chit): not far from the Chatuchak Market, this is the departing point to Ayuthaya. It can be reached with bus #3 (7 Baht) which passes through the closest road to the Chao Praya River, just west of the road around the temple at the west end of Khaosan Road.

Eastern Terminal (Ekamai): on the eastern side of Sukhumvit Road, Ekamai can be reached with the Skytrain and is the best departing place for Pattaya. Another option to reach it is with bus #2 (7 Baht) from the stop in front of the Lottery Building on the main road leading to the Palace, just south of Khaosan Road.

Southern Terminal (Sathaanii Sai Tai Mai): this terminal is in the city of Thonburi (across the Chao Praya River from Bangkok) at the junction of Thanon Borom Ratchonni and the Nakhon Chaisri Highway. Due to its somewhat awkward location, a taxi is recommended (100 to 200 Baht). This is the departure point for Damnoen Saduak and Kanchanaburi.

Taxis to Pattaya charge between 800 and 1000 Baht; to the other locations in this journal expect to pay a similar price, but bargain hard and agree on the price before the trip.

Maybe I was returning from a trip to another city, suffering from a jet lag or just returning to the hotel after a long night, despite the circumstances, Bangkok at 04:00 AM was always a thrilling place.

Never dark, at this hour a myriad of neon lights focus our eyes on every single bit of human activity. A cool breeze, unobstructed by a congested city, finally manages to cool down the day excesses and people sit down at the many stalls scattered around, amusingly watching the crowds standing inside the counted, speeding buses.

Many markets, especially those selling food and located next to travel centers, are open at these hours. The one at the Mo Chit Northern Bus Terminal is worth a special visit; it is located along the semi-closed corridors connecting the departures, arrivals and local buses areas of the terminal.

It was at these hours when I discovered the secret behind the funny shaped pastries consumed here with the coffee. At that occasion, next to the coffee stall where I was sitting, there was a busy artisan preparing the pastries for the next day. Patiently, she cut small, perfect squares of fresh dough, put two of them next to each other and pressed at their center with delicate fingers. Then, in an endlessly practiced move, she dropped them in a deep, sizzling wok. Seconds later, a golden and sweet, they were added to a growing mountain of them.

One of my favorite coffee stalls is at the Lottery Esplanade between Khaosan Road and Ratchadamnoen Avenue, not far from the Grand Palace. There, a humble stall opens around 4:00 AM and serves first the passengers awaiting the trucks leaving for rural Thailand and afterwards – during the day – the whole sellers and buyers of lottery tickets. Sitting there, it is hard to engage in conversation – unless it is done in Thai – with the amused locals, whom are probably talking about a long-nosed foreigner – a farang – sitting amidst them.

Shortly after the extra-sweet coffee served with condensed milk and golden buns, it is time for the sunrise, that in Bangkok is accompanied by the most extraordinary light. Lush greens and yellows, blues, reds and whites blend up to create a perfect picture.

10:00 AM in Bangkok is a good hour to begin a shopping day. A new Bangkok mall pops up every month in this behemoth of a metropolis, but the main ones are comfortably placed in a relatively small area next to the central Ratchaprasong intersection.

CentralWorld (former World Trade Center) has recently emerged from a massive renewal; the old and dark structure was replaced by huge amounts of glass and is now a river of light. The biggest shopping mall in Thailand includes six shopping zones and two popular department stores (Zen and Isetan). All the main brands are represented here and it would take more than a day just to explore its 500 world-class stores and 50 restaurants. The building is huge measuring some 400 meters long and including an attached hotel 55 floors high.

Across the junction, is the Sogo Department Store, just next to the Erawan Shrine and connected to it with an elevated bridge is the Amarin Plaza. Amarin is the perfect place to search for traditional Thai products, many shops sell silk and silk-clothes are placed here. To increase the feeling of having entered a Thai space, the restaurants on their upper floors are mainly local and there is even a good stall-like place serving traditional Thai filtered coffee.

A few blocks east along Ploenchit is the Central Department Store, which includes the best Thai food plaza in Bangkok at its basement. A good book store occupies the top floor together with a mini-branch of Starbucks, the perfect combination for a tired traveler. Another Starbucks faces the street by the entrance and is pleasantly styled as a street facing bar. Central has other branches in the city, and it is recommended to check prices with the nearby Isetan and Zen before buying something of value.

Just west from the Skytrain junction is Siam Square, at the junction between Ploenchit and Phayathoi. At the corner itself, is the Siam Discovery Center, which is connected with an elevated bridge to the Siam Center and hosts the most luxurious cinema in Bangkok. Across the junction is Mahboonkrong, nicknamed as MBK, which is considered among knowing Thais as the best location for buying cellular phones. It is less stylish and has less expensive merchandise than the other malls mentioned in this entry. Nearby is the Siam Paragon, the most up-market shopping center in town, and maybe in South East Asia, with 250 stores and endless luxury items.

North of CentralPlaza is the Fashion Mall with the Pratunam clothes market across the street. A block west, along Petchaburi Avenue, is Panthip, the biggest computer's shopping centre in Thailand. The best electronic gadgets in Thailand are concentrated in its six floors; whole products as well as single parts, both new and used, are available at prices similar to the low prices of Singapore, but usually one generation behind those.

4:00 PM in Bangkok is the perfect time to relax after a day packed with excitements; a time to gather strength for the approaching night. A combination that fits the hour, the climate and the city is a relaxing session of traditional Thai massage followed by a visit to a good coffee shop. Most top quality hotels offer both, but somehow, inside them this wonderful city fades out. The best place for a Thai massage would be at Wat Pho – the main school of the art in the country - or at the nearby Khaosan Road, where there are more options for a coffee afterwards. If choosing the last, the best places are in the wide alley connecting Khaosan Road with Thanon Rambuttri. A session of ninety minutes – the very minimum for a whole treatment – costs around six dollars.

Thai massage is very different from other forms of massage and is based on the twisting and bending of every limb in somewhat unconventional ways. Slightly scaring at the first time, it provides a wonderful relaxation and is able to heal light mechanical problems after a trek or other strenuous physical activity.

In the beginning it is frightening; who could imagine our joints could create such angles or support such pressures? Knees and elbows, hands and feet, the masseuse uses every extremity in her body to apply unforgiving pressure. Then comes the pain; building slowly but steadily it indicates a deep fear that our body would not stand the treatment. A fear of dislocations, of snapping bones, of bent fingers or broken neck, creates awareness to every minute move of the masseuse. However, as she stops every time just a second before our body breaks, a relaxing heat overpowers the fear and the joy of experiencing a blessed experience fills our hearts. Feeling the owner of a new, younger body, it is time for a coffee.

Starbucks Thailand is quite different from the branches in the USA. Gone are the paper cups, for Thais like nothing less than chinaware and better if it bears the Starbucks logo and some picture of one of their beautiful cities. Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Phuket, Koh Samui, Hua Hin and others have been honored in such a way and are proudly displayed for the customers to buy. Sold roughly at the price of three cappuccinos, if buying one, the first coffee to fill it is free.

The Starbucks coffee shop at Khaosan Road – roughly at the street’s center – is one of the newest branches in town and offers a spotless place, comfortable coaches, soft music, a well-lighted and air-conditioned rooms and the option to taste pumpkin-flavored coffee. As if all this wasn’t good enough, afterwards, from there, it is easy to reach the main night attractions of Bangkok.

At 10:00 PM, the Big Chili’s can offer some unusual sights; floating on the calm waters of the Chao Praya River await the visitor romantic dinners and awesome views. The murmuring, slow-flowing water around the boat is part of the magic of seeing the city unhurriedly revealing its wonders.

The Loy Nava cruises comfortably leave from the Oriental Hotel Pier, twice every evening, at 6:00 PM (the Sunset Cruise) and at 8:00 PM (the Bangkok at Night cruise). They have an inclusive fare (trip and dinner) of B880 (around $25) per person, while providing a top quality experience. Due to the need to get approval for credit cards transactions, and the lack of fast aerial connections in Bangkok, it is recommended to pay in cash.

One of the most exciting aspects of the evening is the boat itself, an adapted fifty years old rice barge called Tahsaneeya Nava, built of teak wood – the traditional Thai construction material – and with a roof made of seven layers of woven split bamboo skins. It began operating in its actual fashion some thirty years ago and is unique among the "dinner on the river" deals. To ensure the quality of the experience, there are less than twenty tables on the decks, creating an non-crowded, pleasant environment.

There are three menus to choose from: Thai Traditional, Thai Seafood and Thai Vegetarian; the setting was calling for a Traditional Thai dinner. The Hors D’oeuvres included an excellent pork-satay, rice-chips and tasty roasted nuts that were the perfect prelude for the classic – and spicy - Tom Yam shrimps-soup. Extraordinary steamed jasmine rice accompanied the chicken green curry chosen as main dish. Fruits and coffee ended the meal. As an extra, it is possible to buy the drinks package that adds an aperitif, a glass of wine and a digestif liqueur to the meal. However, another option is to pay for the dinner and the drinks separately – and that is when the cash becomes handy. Most drinks, with the exception of wine bottles, cost less than five dollars each and the variety rivals every bar in the city.

Yet, the sumptuous meal and the gorgeous boat pale while compared with the city surrounding it. Because of the traveling direction, it is best to be on the right side of the boat, where the sights are best appreciated. Many are the views to enjoy during the cruise; the most impressive ones include the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Pho, and the awesome Wat Arun (temple of Dawn), all these are exceptionally well lighted and create views from Wonderland. Stupas and beautifully shaped pagodas craft views that will take a lifetime to forget. Other views include the Royal Barges Open Museum, the Vichai Prasit and Phra Sumane forts and the Assumption Cathedral. Day or night, monsoon or clear-skies, green curry and red chilies, the City of Angels always electrifies all the senses.