Bangkok Things to Do Tips by Bangkokjoe

Here you go, links to maps and all the following tips you get on what to see in Bangkok are shown on the following street map links, neatly showing the names in decent English text, and also the bus routes (though I have never used a bus in my life in Bangkok). I have a set printed out and we use them in the car,seriously, we do, as they are the best we've come across. When you look at these you will realise there are hundreds of things to see in this barmy city.

1.Central Ratanokosin Island. All the glittery bits and Palaces
http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok_map/bangkok_map_rattanakosin.html

2. Chinatown. From the Railway Stn / Wat Traimit to the Central Ratanokosin Island
http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok_map/bangkok_map_oldtown-chinatown.html

3. Rachadaphisek / Ramkamhaeng. The Teak Mansion/Palace, Wat Bencha and the larger sprawling museums with decent surrounding grounds/gardens
http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok_map/bangkok_map_ratchadaphisek.html

4. Silom Road / Rama IV. Lumpini Boxing Stadium down to The Oriental Hotel on the Chao Phraya River
http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok_map/bangkok_map_silom.html

5. Ploenchit Road / Sukhumvit. From Jim Thompsons House to Nana (includes Lang Suan)
http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok_map/bangkok_map_siam.html

6. Sukhumvit Road. From Nana to Ekkamai Bus Station and My House (!) (includes Emporium Shopping centre)
http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok_map/bangkok_map_sukhumvit.html

7. And a summary of the Public Transport Map i.e. BTS and Underground Network
http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/bangkok_map/bangkok_skytrain_metro_map.html

Seriously... get a decent map off the above web sites. You'll be sorry if you don't.

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If you love antiquarian maps there is a superb shop with a huge collection of Thai maps in River City (On the Silom / RamaIV map by the river). Framed and everything. Bit of wire on the back. A little hook. Wrapped up in brown paper. Thai people are so nice like that.

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Wat Pho, Wat Arun and the Grand Palace have to be the Top 3 Must See's for even the shortest stay in Bangkok. And for good reason... they are the classical images we all have of Bangkok and an ancient Siam.

All can easily be visited in one morning or afternoon session as they are all close together... around the Rattanoksin Island in the ancient heart of the city.

It is worthwhile seeing the Grand Palace in the late afternoon, after 3.00pm as the tour buses drift off and the heat calms a little. In the early evening the sunsets can be spectaular - there is something to be said for a polluted sky . And after dark at 6.30pm the halogen lamps kick in to spectacularly light the chedis and prangs. (The downside to this is that the Grand palace entry ticket always seem to give you free access to the Teak Palace - which is 30 mins away, you won't get there in time.) This picture was snapped / wrenched from the built environment at 5.30pm on a rainy season evening. The sky wasn't quite that pink... until I had fiddled it in Photoshop.

And relax a bit. Do not be put off by those naughty pimps outside saying the GP is closed, it won't be between 10.00 and 16.00. Enjoy the respect the Thais have for their Royalty, in that you need to have covered legs and arms. They will hire you trousers and shirts if you are not prepared.

Inside the Palace there is ample to keep you interested for over two hours... too much to write here - guide books feature the Emerald Buddha and the other attractions. And the tops of these chedis and prangs are not lightening conductors... as some have asked me. Those bits on top of the chedi (the round slim bell shape things) are pli: seven for the most revered religious images and Royals. Those spikes on top of the prangs - the corn on the cob shaped towers - these three dimensional nine-pointed finials are called fak pega.

Can you imagine this Siamese palace when rules were enforced that no other building should be as tall as these towers? The mind just goes into overdive...

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Directions: Central part of the ancient centre.

We are now on the main tourist drag of Wat Arun, Grand Palace, and Wat Pho. If you only manage three dabs at Thai history and architecture these three are likely to appear on your itinerary. Understandable, they're dead good. Will take you about an afternoon to visit all three.

Look out for the upcountry tour parties of monks on a day trip when you are doing Wat Pho - Bangkok often gets these visits around the religious days; Thai Lent, Lord Buddha's birthday and the like. These boys add atmosphere to the place. And as many festivals crop up in rainy season you'll get to see locals enjoying their own historical sites even if it is a tad moist out. For me, the best parts to Wat Pho are the extremely long reclining Buddha with his mother of pearl soles, and some rather nifty roof tops. You get the roof tops in this pic. You can go and see the Buddha for yourself... superb toes, promise (now there's something for you to look forward to).

I'll throw this bit in here as well while I'm at it. Because we were talking about it when doing the Pho. If anyone tells you Bangkok is a dirty, treeless city kindly inform them they are not looking closely enough. We bet you will see more trees than you will see locals dropping litter.

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Directions: Thai Wang Road, round the side of the Grand Palace.

Now then. The main entrance of Wat Pho is... where all the huge tour buses are (Thai Wang Road), next to the white crenallated walls of the Grand Palace. But this back bit of Wat Pho rarely gets a look in by the tourists. You can sneak in around Maharat Road (Here's how to get there: stand with your back to the regular tourist main entrance of Wat Pho, head off to your left. 50 metres heading down to the river jetty, stop at the end of the road, don't cross the road (glance over it and you'll catch some nifty 19th century shophouses), instead hug the temple wall left as it goes around the corner. Bingo! Ten metres round the corner and there is a small gate way.

In you go (not showing off your camera trying not to look like tourist). And you're in to the temple school area with some good Chinese derived shrines, neat salas, fountains and small water features, some quite subtle smaller sized chedis and... a basketball court (of course). You'll also see a few locals taking the time of day in here, treating the grounds as a sort of enclosed urban park. I was treated to four orange clad lads playing basketball; proving emphatically that Asian Men Monks Can Jump.

It's dead quiet in here and way from the swarms of tourists. Costs you nothing.

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Directions: On Maharat Road opposite the Chinese Style Shophouses and the Bangkok Bank.

Bangkok's Big Three. Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. A neat little afternoon that gets you seeing:
- Royal ornate architecture, golden chedis with miltary bits (i.e. the Grand Palace).
- Fascinating, massive, lying down on his right hip and elbow Buddha image and some pretty nifty religious rooflines (i.e Wat Pho).
- An active river environment with marvellous Bangkokian folk going around their daily business, with the opportunity to climb up a chedi for a better view (i.e. Wat Arun).

Wat Arun is also known as the Temple of Dawn (please don't get all upset if you see one and not the other - I've heard conversations about this, believe me). Wat Arun Dawn What Ever, is more of an impressive monument to look at, rather than a place to get involved with and wander within. An analogy may be: doing Nelson's Column and Trafalgar Square, rather than wandering about Windsor Castle and Westminster Abbey.

Wat Arun. A "doing" site rather than a "looking" site. Doing the ride over on the boat, doing the climb up the steep stepladder angle steps up the side and then, errrr, err, erm, and then, well, you'll probably start looking at some of the detail work. And to be fair an hour should be the longest you will need to stay for. Unless you particularly enjoy photography, or chatting with complete strangers, or trying to identify some detail of Buddhist spirituality - maybe all three.

A refreshing can of Coke will cost you 15THB. You'll need a cooling one believe me. (Gabong colaaah krab). Sometimes you get yoiur fizzie pop in a placcie bag sealed with a rubber band. A straw lobbed in at no extra fee. Crushed ice, straight from the tap. Give the ice a miss or your boat trip home will be an experience you may wish to forget.

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Directions: On the banks of the Chao Phraya. The far banks of the Chao Phraya.

This wat is not the architecture of a big, big super-duper Bangkok Wat. In fact it is more like a chaotic small temple lobbed in the middle of the ChinaTown, almost a rambling two storey house affair. Its excellent! And up on the second floor (that's correct ? up on the second floor) is a five and a half ton solid golden Buddha. Five and a half tons. Gold.

What is this Wat about? I?ll tell you. In the Sukkothai period (around the 1400s-1550s) the Thai People made this massive, huge, immense and very, very, very, expensive Buddha. The Burmese neighbours were playing up at that time - and getting all shirty. So our Thai people (in fear of the Burmese nipping in and nicking the Buddha ?and melting down the gold to fund nasty war faring peeps who would then be able to cause chaos in the rest of Thailand?) our Thai folk hid it. In clay / concrete!

Then (like all lads who put their keys somewhere safe so no one will accidentally pick them up) the concrete encrusted Buddha got sort of lost. Enter the East Asiatic Company ? an import export, warehousing brigade from Europe ? who bought the house and inside got this ?clayish / concrete? Buddha. "Let?s lift it out of the way and make some room" said the CEO, and in the process the workers chipped the thing. The normal approach is for workers to ?flee the scene? of a work cock up - some did. Though some hung around and realised what was inside. The Five Plus Ton Golden Buddha. And they stuck it up on the second floor, charge 50THB to look at it, and everyone lived happily ever after. Except the Burmese. They woke up and found it was all a dream and had no money to fund overseas pillaging ? which is why the current Burmese junta stops at home and causes chaos in Rangoon.

An interesting place is Wat Traimit, if only for the way the Buddha is placed in a pretty small room, and the side bits going on around it. Like a shrine to the abbot, the chipped concrete leftovers, a postcard seller, and the temple moneychanger.

40 minutes should see you fit.

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Directions: Traimit Road end of Yaowarat Road close to the China Town area and near Hualamphong Railway Station.
Open 9.00 - 5.00 everyday.

...not more than 300 metres from Wat Pho !

I love this town ! The Lonely Planet and other tips are giving you the gentle side of life, visit the temple, have a traditional massage and not a sparrows hop from Wat Sit Called (aka Pho) the local masochists are shooting off Smith and Wesson / Gloch clips at human shaped targets.

After you've been all spiritual and have done fifty humms in the Wat you can get your Rambo jungle greens on, cross the road and shoot some rifles at targets. With helpful Territorial Army boys coaching your skills. Turn right out of Wat Pho's main entrance, up to the the roundabout, through the impressive gateway on the other side of the road (see my Roundabout Tip in Transportation) with the Grand Palace over to your left. The gate is actually next to a signpost marked Rama VI Museum, so you may pretend you are being artie and at ease with the world (when if fact you are off to shoot off a few clips and get rid of your "I've been stuck in a tuk tuk all day" tension).

In the archway and the soldiers will escort you through their parade grounds to the Royal Thai Army Shooting Range (after you have passed the guard house with a squaddie standing rigid, with the Company safe in a barred cage to his right. With the wages in). Just make shootie noises and point your fingers like a gun, they'll get the jist. (Though do try to avoid looking like you are about to hold up the squaddies' salary safe.)

It only costs 1000THB for fifty rounds of a pump action shot gun. Tip the Sarge if he is helpful.

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Directions: Terrtitorial Army Barracks on the corner of Thai Wang Road and Sanamchai (slap bang next to Wat Pho and the Grand Palace).

On Soi Praphinit (off Suan Phlu which itself is off Thanon Sathorn) this house holds a personal meaning for me. When I first moved to Bangkok I rented an apartment almost next door. That month Khun Kukrit passed on and the house was decked in blacks and whites, with all sort of visiting dignatries attending his home.

You see, the late M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, Thailand's former prime minister, was an authority on Thai culture. In the 1960s he founded the Khon Thammasat Troupe to create an informed audience capable of appreciating Khon Ballet. The troupe is still active, if not a little arthritic. Kukrit wrote poetry, fiction, plays, academic works and television scripts. (And supposedly he was invited to join Marlon Brando in a Hollywood film.)

So naturally, M.R. Kukrit's house reflects his character. Five teak buildings, a functions hall and a garden. The houses are antique Thai structures assembled under Kukrit's supervision. The gardens are serene and beautiful. The house contains a fine art collection, though remember your man Kukrit's house is not so much a museum as it is a genuine home. And as such it is a neat record of his lifestyle and interests.

If you enjoyed the Jim Thompson House you will be bound to find this home fascinating.

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Phone: 02 286 8185
Address: The house at 19 Soi Phra Pinit, South Sathorn Road
Directions: Open on Saturday and Sunday (and the occasional official holidays).
10.00 17.00.

It's hard not to take the "standard photo" of Wat Bencha. It's almost a Bangkok symbol -up there on Taj Mahal or Eiffel Tower status. We were shooting it just before a rainy season thunderstorm broke.

The photo is of the Main Ordination Hall, though there is more in this complex than this hall alone. It was all designed during King Chulalongkorn's reign, in the late 1890s. Chula is known the kingdom over for bringing a great many European influences to Thailand and opening up the country to selected western ideas. He'd been to Europe for a tour and a look-see in his early years. He also managed to control which were best to fuse with Thai culture and which less so.

Think about the time, the 1890s. Before global satellite TV, before internet media and preceding jet travel. Few if any Thai kings had visited Europe before. So Chula brought back the influence of marble as a building rather than just a decorative material and had it integrated it into a high decorated Ayuthayan style bot design. The marble floor slabs in the courtyard create a cooling effect - a slippery, reflective and impressive chevron pattern playing off against the low temple walls. If my main picture wasn't up I would have given you this patio ! ...for the next half century the trend was for Bangkok's hotels to ship in marble from Italy as a sign of affluent opulence (the Erawan Hotel just one example).

In the surrounds are bridges, bell towers, dormitories and a "cloister" for want of a better word. Around that beautiful marble square? Over 50 Buddha images line the alcoves and the passages, a free museum taking in Laotian, Indian, Burmese and the Sri Lankan styles. Probably far more to the trained eye.

Oh indeed. A temple with the waft of incense in the air. Most people will see and absorb the whole shooting match in 45 to 60 minutes.

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Address: Corner of Si Ayuthaya Road and Rama V Road. near C
Directions: 8am to 5.30pm, every day. Admission 30 baht if they remember to collect.

Ask a taxi ? not a tuk tuk as they?ll try the scam and you won?t be able to shake them off for the rest of the year ? for Wat-Bench-aaahhh.

The Royal Barges are moored up in sheds in the Museum on Bangkok Noi Canal (Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya).

Not the barges that carry coal and stuff. Nope, these are golden, covered with fragments of glass and are fantastically decorated with carved prows (front bits). Our British Queen, Liz, has a big golden carriage she uses to open Parliament. The Thai King, Bhumipol, has a flotilla of barges? got the idea?

The most impressive barge is Suphanahong, the King?s personal. Subanahongsa, (golden hamsa) refers to the swan-like mythical steed of the Hindu god Brahma, of Thai lore during the Ayutthaya period (around 400 years back). When Brahma wasn't using his elephant, Erawan.

In the museum we also get treated to the century old one, and it is holding up well? built in 1911 to resemble that important river bird. 50 metres long? it is huge!!!! Hewn from one single teak tree. You can tell the barges the royal family use, they have golden pavilions on board to keep the baking sun off. 54 oarsmen are needed to get the largest rolling, paddling away to the beat of a drum. There are also five "smaller" (!), but not much, barges on display. The prows have various themes - all referring to gods - and must have taken an age to carve, paint, stick the glass bits on. With canon poking out front between the "gods' " parts. Beautiful.

I?ve only seen the flotilla on the river on TV once, the Kings 72nd birthday bash. It was hard to get a good view down on the river itself. 50 plus boats gliding through the water with over 2,000 oarsmen for three kilometres. Almost as good as watching the Head of the River the week before the Boat Race on the Tideway, London. Glad I don't have to stroke the things at full stretch, race rating.

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Directions: Take a Chao Phraya Express Boat to Rod Fai Pier. (Or hire your own longtail boat as part of a tour of the Thonburi back canals).

Two minutes away from the pier the locals will be able to give you directions. Open everyday there is a 20THB entry fee.