Bangkok Things to Do Tips by Innovator

I've never seen cabaret in my life cause it's something old from the 50's-60's but this one is really great!

Unbelievable acts with great costumes and retro music, the acts switch very fast, the hour flys over cause the dancers don't bore the audience one second.

A show dedicated to the old stars like Josephine Baker, Marilyn Monroe, Tina Turner,... and some very popular French cabaret songs.

I recommend this show to anyone, young or elder persons, and would return everytime.
In the end you can get for free on the picture with the 'women' ;)
Don't mistake they are all men :)

First you can eat a nice buffet with typical Thai food while Elvis sings live...

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Address: Asia Hotel. 296 Phayathai Rd., Bangkok 10400
Website: http://www.calypsocabaret.com/

You won't believe what you see here, what a different culture!

Strangest food in the world! Lots of pastery in strange colours (like pink) filled with fish, dried stuff, squids, special seafood, they even sell dried crockodile ***! The strangest culture ever seen!

Without having to visit China, visit Chinatown first for an impression.... Definitely a must see.

The Chinatown district is one of the oldest areas of Bangkok as Chinese merchants were originally moved to this area in the early 1780's when Bangkok was founded. One of the main streets of this area, Charoen Krung was actually Bangkok's first paved road, so it's English name, New Road, couldn't really be more inappropriate nowadays. The area has got a somewhat seedy historical reputation for large numbers of opium dens, brothels (which hung green lanterns outside, giving it the name of the Green Light district), pawnshops and a fondness for gambling.

Today, gold shops and pawnshops are still very popular in Chinatown and can be found almost anywhere. Drug dealing, prostitution and gambling (all now illegal in Thailand) are also still thought to be widespread in this area, though they are not likely to be very noticeable to the average visitor.

Though other attractions as such are thin on the ground, Chinatown is an interesting place to just wander around. A couple of Chinatown's most interesting roads are Yaowarat road leading westwards from near Wat Traimit, and Sampeng Lane, also sometimes known as Soi Wanit), running parallel south of Yaowarat.

Busy Yaowarat road is Chinatown's main street, and has surely one of greatest concentrations of gold shops anywhere, reflecting the love of gold the Thai-Chinese are often thought to have. There's dozens of them, all dazzlingly brightly colored, and with mainly very good prices. There's also plenty of restaurants round here also, where you can get birds-nest soup, dim sum, shark fin soup and other traditional Chinese delicacies.

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Address: Ratchawongsi Pier, Chao Phraya River Tour, Bangkok
Directions: To view typical China Town scences straight ahead to Ratchawongsi Road until the intersection of Yaowarat Road.

Not only Bangkok has traffic jams, also the floating markets!
Sometimes it's jammed completely with Chinese tourists, you can see them with their same coloured hats, very funny people looking very serious :)

In and around the floating markets you can buy typical souvenirs like a photo-album with nice elephant on, or statues, clothes, postcards, even lacoste t-shirts on the boats! Most people buy them in the shops when boarding on/of the boat.

The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is a very attractive
place for tourists to see the old style and traditional way
of selling and buying fruits, vegetables, etc., from small
boats. Tourists will also see traditional Thai houses, the
way they live and travel by boats, and please try riding
on a small boat to experience the floating market and to
see more. This is a worthwhile trip

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Address: Damnernsaduak
Directions: About 2 hours by car outside Bangkok city center

At one end of Chinatown, in the otherwise unremarkable temple of Wat Traimit, is hidden the world's largest solid gold Buddha image. Weighing in at five and a half tons, the 15-foot tall seated image is worth in the neighborhood of US$14 Million. That's some neighborhood!

The image has a colorful history, which is recounted in a free pamphlet distributed with your paid admission.

The Golden Buddha was cast sometime in the 13th century and is an excellent example of the gracious Sukhothai style that is still very much in favor to this day. At some point, it was covered in plaster, most likely in an attempt to hide the valuable icon from thieves or looters.

The disguise was so good that everyone apparently forgot about what was hidden beneath. King Rama III had the statue moved to Bangkok and installed in a temple near where the Oriental Hotel is today. That temple fell into disuse and was completely abandoned around 1931.

The true nature of the Golden Buddha wasn't discovered until it was moved to its present location at Wat Traimit in 1955. When the image was being prepared for its move, some of the plaster was chipped off, revealing the gold underneath. Bits of the plaster can be seen in a case to the left of the statue.

The statue sits in a plain building just barely big enough to hold it within the temple compound. On the terrace outside of the room housing the Golden Buddha are some interesting fortune-telling machines. You drop a coin in the slot and a sequence of lights indicating numbers flash around in a circle, wheel of fortune style, eventually stopping on a number. You can retrieve your fortune from the marked boxes below the machine. The fortune slips are in English as well as Thai and Chinese.

Admission Fee
Entrance to see the Golden Buddha is 20 Baht

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Phone: 623 1226
Address: Thanon Yaowarat
Directions: Near Hualamphong Station

For just about 150 years, Bangkok's Grand Palace was not only the home of the King and his court, but also the entire administrative seat of government. Within the crenelated walls were the country's war ministry, state departments, and even the mint. Thai Kings stopped living in the palace full time around the turn of the twentieth century, but the complex remains the seat of power and spiritual heart of the Thai kingdom.

The palace complex, like the rest of Ratanakosin Island, is laid out following the general outline of Ayutthaya palaces. The Outer Court, near where you enter the complex today, housed the government departments in which the king was directly involved, such as civil administration, including the army, and the treasury. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha takes up one corner of the complex next to the outer court.

In the middle is the Central Court, where the residence of the king and the halls for conducting state business were located. You are allowed to look at the fronts of the buildings in the central court, but only two of the throne halls are open to the public, and only on weekdays.

Behind the central court was the inner court. This was where the king's royal consorts and daughters lived. The inner court was like a small city entirely populated by women and boys under the age of puberty. Even though no royalty currently reside in the inner court, it is still completely closed off to the public

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Phone: 02-224-1833
Address: Maharaj Pier, Chao Phraya, Bangkok
Website: http://www.discoverthailand.com/