Marc's Blog: thailand2023 - A few Days in Bangkok

π 2023-10-19 01:01 in Ntrips, Thailand, Thailand2023

I had never been in Thailand, and a combination of Transmission Bangkok Festival and Diving The West Coast of Thailand on the Phinisi was enough an excuse to spend the many miles to fly to Thailand and do both

Even though the flight from Singapore to Bangkok was short, it was a nice plane, even with food despite it being just 2H:

Arrived in Nana area, didn't do much the first half day, way too tired.

Found out weed is legal though ;)

Day 1: Downtown temples

On Day1, I was supposed to go to the Royal Palace first, and found out that most taxis do not run the meter and quote you a set fee, which is not always in your favor, but the typical 200 Baht is just around $5, so who cares? :) Unfortuantely, being jetlagged and approached by a very skilful guy close to the royal temple, he managed to convince me that it was going to open 3H late that day and I should go on a boat tour in the meantime. Took me close to 1H to realize it was a scam, and the royal palace was opened as usual, but by then I was on that stupid boat tour instead. All in all it wasn't bad and went to a nice temple with a big golden buddha, but it messed up my sightseeing plans and order somewhat, and I was upset to have fallen for it.

this is when I found out that they use car engines on boats :)

Took way too long (1h wasted) but eventually got to the Golden Buddha:

Very nice ceiling inside:

Good view from there

Back to the boat, and I jumped out half way to get to Wat Arun, the next temple I wanted to see:

Then the royal palace (follow link) was next:

After that, Wat Phra has the big leaning Buddha:

nice feet :)

Down the street was Museum Siam, which talked about what it is to be Thai:

From there, I tried the subway to chinatown, and found out they have metal detectors and security gates because of mulsim terrorists, sigh...

Chinatown was scenic indeed:

fun cabling :)

From there, I left a little bit too late for Golden Mount and missed sunset, but still got nice views:

the night I spent at Space Plus Bangkok for Cosmic Gate, very nice club:

Day 2: Aquarium and Madame Tussauds

I only had a few hours in the morning before going to see Transmission Bangkok Festival

So I went to check out the nearby Sea Life Aquarium

nice mall

ended up stopping for Wagiu Beef Shabu Shabu, yum!

And then Bangkok Mme Tussauds

After that, was Transmission Bangkok Festival

took the elevated train to Bitec Convention center for Transmission

And Transmission Bangkok Afterparty at Amnesia

Day 3: Bangkok National Museum

Due to the very late night with Transmission and afterparty the previous night, only had a half day. That was fine, because it was enough to go visit the Bangkok National Museum (follow this link):

On the way back, walked through Rocco Khao San which is supposed to be a tourist street:

That night, I went to my last party, Transmission Bangkok Afterparty Portal

Day 4: Ayutthaya Day Trip

Ayutthaya was the capital of the Kingdom of Siam from 1350 to 1767 and was a prosperous international trading port. It has lots of temples left over from that area, and was a very nice day trip (click link)

Day 5: Damnoen Floating Market, Tiger World and Train Market

For my last day, I did a day trip to Damnoen for Damnoen Floating Market, Tiger World and Train Market (follow link)

Day 6: Half Day: Google Bangkok Visit and National Coin Museum

Then I stopped by the bangkok google office, which was very nice:

I was planning on seeing what google maps had as another National Museum, but it didn't actually exist, so I ended up going to the national coin museum, not expecting much, but it was actually surprisingly good.