Thailand Adventure

Claire Summers on 11 April 2015
Saweedeka (Hello in Thai)

Our holiday this year was back to Thailand as I was lucky enough to win a prize of 6 nights in Khaolak and Phuket. So I decided to bolt on Bangkok this time around. The Khaolak and Phuket travel journeys can be found on my webpage too.

We stayed in a modern 4 star hotel in the Sukhumvit area, it had a swimming pool, fitness centre, spa facilities and spacious well designed bedrooms, the location was fantastic, within walking distance of the Sukhumvit Road which is full of bars, restaurants and the adult only area with more bars and nightclubs.

The Sky train station was only a 5 min walk from the hotel. The Sky train is a simple monorail system designed to get you up above the traffic and it is cheap and easy to get about. You can buy a day pass for £3 per day. You can also use the Metro to get about as well but the Sky train covers the main tourist spots.

I would definitely recommend catching an evening of Muay Thai boxing at Bangkok’s oldest stadium (Rajadamnern Stadium), tourists pay £40ish each for ringside seats for 4 hours of boxing but you can arrive and leave when you like if you don’t fancy being there that long. Drinks are not expensive and there is a great atmosphere with locals noisily betting on the fights.

For attractions in the city you can visit the Grand Temple (Wat Arun) and the Grand Palace, but women need to cover their shoulders otherwise they won’t be allowed in. You can also visit the largest Reclining Buddha at Wat Po (they are not so fussed about how you dress). All these places can be reached by going to the Central Pier and using the water boats, so you get a great trip up the river.

Central Pier is easily reached by the Sky Train. I would recommend taking the blue tourist boats (£3 per day) and you can get on and off any pier along the route. The blue tourist boats are called Chao Phraya Tourist Boat, there are cheaper ways to travel on the river but as a tourist this makes your first journey less complicated.

There are yellow and orange boats but you need to have researched your way around this to understand it plus you can also hire private longboats too.

Thailand celebrates its New Year on 13th-15th April (they call it Songkran), which is their water festival so everyone has a water pistol and everyone gets soaked. The traditional water pouring is meant as a symbol of washing away all of their sins and bad luck. You can’t go anywhere without getting wet so either join in or avoid those dates!

Bangkok has a great energy, it is a very busy city, it is a shopping mecca, there is nothing you can’t buy which ranges from cheap to high end and it is easy to get around using the transport options, the food is great and the city has a real buzz about it. I would say 3 nights is enough to visit the attractions and get a feel for the place.

The airport is approx 40 mins from the city with good no traffic but can be double this if congested, so it is worth bearing in mind when you have flights to catch.