Bangkok was one city I’d wanted to visit for a long time.
Ever since we went to Phuket and Phi Phi Island, Thailand very swiftly rose in the rankings of some of my favourite places to holiday in and thanks to that, the capital city has beckoned for quite some time now.
Visiting Bangkok, we arrived in the evening and it was dark by the time we got to the hotel (the LiT BANGKOK Hotel) so between the jetlag and the travel exhaustion, the only plans we have for the evening was dinner and bed. (I mean, I wouldn’t say no to a nice cocktail or a glass of wine though… 😉 ).
I maaaaay have ordered more than one mail meal! (In my defence, the portions were small so doubling up made sense…).
The next morning, after a marathon sleep sesh, we got up bright and early eager to explore Bangkok.
Side note: My trick to defeating jetlag after such a long haul journey like this is just to try to stay awake as long as possible but then go to bed really early.
The combination of exhaustion (meaning you can go to sleep straight away) and going to bed early (meaning you can have lots of sleep) sets you up right for the next day and so even when jetlag comes a-knocking, you still feel like you can fight it based on just the amount of quality sleep you’ve had.
That morning our first stop would be The Grand Palace and suffice to say, it’s one place in Bangkok you absolutely have to visit.
It’s also one of the busiest places in the city! 😄
You do need to wear trousers or a sarong when you’re here. You’re not allowed to wear shorts – a fact we didn’t know about prior to visiting but was easily rectified as there are so many shops around selling these.
The Grand Palace in Bangkok is absolutely beautiful and I just couldn’t get over the detailing here.
There are so many amazing buildings here, all in lots of different styles and serving different purposes but it’s easily one of the most opulent places to visit in the city.
I feel like I could ramble on and about how impressive it was but I feel like I’d rather show you instead so here are the photos from here.
Hours went by in a blur as we roamed through the palace and popped into whichever buildings were open. You’re not allowed photos inside the main ones so alas, I haven’t got any of those to share with you but I guess it’ll be even more fun to discover when you visit. 😀
After a quick stop for some ice-cold water to cool off, we left the palace and made our way over to the Chao Phraya river to hop on a boat tour of Bangkok. More specifically, a tour of the Klongs (canals) of Thonburi (a part of Bangkok).
You can share boats here with other people but we opted to get our own boat (which, to be honest, while being the more expensive option, does mean you get to see exactly what you want and stop for longer in places that you find fascinating).
One sight that I just couldn’t get over along the Chao Phraya river are the giant monitor lizards just chilling on the side of it. They’re not harmful and the residents seem to quite like them but they’re mahooosive and look almost prehistoric!
As you sail down the river, you’ll find different spots where you get to feed the fish (it’s a thing temples here do where you buy the bread from them and feed some rather huge and ravenous fish in the river)..
You even get little floating shops with merchants on them trying to see you all sorts of stuff from soft drinks down to little trinkets.
Eventually, our boat tour took us right past the rather impressive Wat Arun Ratchavararam temple. (Most people just call it Wat Arun). This where the boat tour ends which came at a great time as, by this point, I was absolutely ravenous!
We stopped by at a rooftop restaurant for lunch and much-appreciated beers too cool off with.
Again, greed and gluttony led the way with lunch as we opted for Thai Green curries, a ‘salad’ I do not remember the name of and multiple helpings of chicken satay!
With that, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel for massages (first thing we booked as soon as arrived at the hotel the night before) and to cool off by the pool!
Post-lunch might seem a bit early to stop exploring but there were two reasons behind this – first, we’d decided that this trip was gonna be one of balance – one day exploring – one day just relaxing and with that in mind, actually planned on staying longer in Thailand that we perhaps would have otherwise.
Also, closer to midnight, we had special plans in the city and definitely wanted to be well-rested for that!
Will catch you up all about that in the next post. 😀
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