Bangkok
Out of all of the places that I have visited over the years, I’d say the number one place I’m looking forward to going back to would be Bangkok. Actually, there are lots of places in Thailand I’d love to visit, but I would still like to visit Bangkok at least one more time. I visited over the national holiday, Songkran (the water festival which I have a whole post about) and that kept me from doing some of the things that were on my to-do list. Even though I spent four full days there, I just barely scratched the surface of all that Bangkok has to offer. There are so many beautiful temples, each with their own special attractions. One that I went to was Wat Arun Ratchavararam, the Temple of Dawn, which is located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. The other was Wat Pho also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, which is 46 meters long and covered in gold leaf. Both were amazing in their own way, but there are still so many more temples worth seeing.
If you’re not into temples—you’re crazy! but there are other things to see. One of those being the Grand Palace. It was built to be the royal residence in 1782, and it is a complex of structures that covers 218,000 sq. meters. In addition to the residences (no royalty lives here anymore), there are temples, government buildings, ceremonial halls, and administrative offices. It is an amazing place to see a variety of architectural features—unlike anything I’d seen before.
Thailand is also famous for its food, so Bangkok is obviously a great place to experience the local cuisine. I sampled tasty street foods while walking around the famous Khao San Road and had more modern interpretations of classic Thai dishes in the upscale Iconsiam Mall. These two areas are perfect examples of the extreme old vs. new that is so prevalent in Bangkok. Khao San Road is in the older part of town where you’ll find lots of cheap hostels, street food vendors, as well as little restaurants and inexpensive clothes shops. Then, just a 15 minute taxi ride away, you can find yourself in the fanciest mall I’ve ever been in. The mall has 11 levels and just about every store you can imagine. I’m talking about stores ranging from your basic 7-11 to a Rolls Royce dealer (and everything in between). They have even recreated a traditional floating market in the bottom level!
Even with all of the things I managed to cram into the few days I was here, there are still so many places I want to visit and foods I want to eat. I have no choice but to go back someday. Plus the people there were so nice, granted some of them try to scam you, but if you know what to look out for before you go, Bangkok is a safe and friendly city. Oh, and HOT! I almost forgot to mention that it’s hotter than Hades here, but I still recommend it, so that’s really saying something!
