TBK travels to a city that grew on me each time I visited: Bangkok, Thailand

Benchasiri park, Bangkok

As I said in an earlier Blog the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, ( or BKK for short) has grown on me over the years. I first stayed there on Rama 5 at the Young Women's Christian Association hostel in 1995 or thereabouts. I had a clean single room with cold water in a flask and a window seat. I remember watching for many hours as they resurfaced a road outside one day. There was a line of laborers kneeling working their way down the road with cloths soaking up the water and passing the wet cloths to the end of the line to ring out on the grass , then back, and slowly they inched forward and the road was dry and ready for the new asphalt.

Another early memory was watching Muay Thai boxing and as I had a camera and was white they called me forward to the front press bench and I got some great photos. Lastly I remember shopping and being delighted to get some very cheap red Benetton shorts. When I got them home and washed them the red colour ran and changed all my clothes pink!

I was staying there then to visit one of my Training Officers from my Little Chef Days, Pauline Craig, who moved there when her then husband was posted there. They took me to the British Embassy one day which was all Gins and Tonics and days of the Raj! I hated it. One lady asked what I did and she then proceeded to tell me about the last time she visited a Little Chef and the service was awful. Bizarre.

View from our room at the Novotel at the airport

15 years later I landed in Bangkok but my friend Mike had given me the details of a Taxi ( Mr. T Taxi) who you book on line, they meet you at the airport and take you straight to Pattaya ( 90 min ride) . The hotel there would then book me a taxi back at the end of my stay. Another time I was stuck at the airport on the way from Cambodia to Bahrain with no money , and I vowed the next time I would stay at the Novotel at the Airport. When I turned up they were overbooked so they upgraded me to a Suite , and I was hooked. It's an amazing hotel in a square with a garden in the middle and the rooms are stunning. They have a free shuttle to and from the airport and 24 hour restaurant so its great for late arrivals and early departures.

Our room at the Novotel with the beautiful bathroom through the window

In 2019 I asked Kevin Lovegrove the best place to stay in Bangkok itself and he suggested the Tai Pan hotel on Soi Sukhumvit 23, near the Terminal 21 shopping centre, parks, markets and museums. It is so easy to get around BKK with the RTS skyway, buses, metro etc. , and even I managed to get from the airport to the hotel on Public transport! ( check out the hotel website on
https://www.taipanhotel.com/ )

Our beautiful room at the Tai Pan hotel, Bangkok

So in 2019 as I was with Wanchai I decided it was time to explore Bangkok and I was really impressed. We found some great shopping malls and parks museums and restaurants and went on a day tour to the floating market and the railway market.

Most people tour Thailand in a coach but I prefer a Limo

The Maeklong Railway Market is a must see - you can get the train from Bangkok and watch as they move all the stalls off the line to let the train through. We went by car and were able to see the train arrive and depart and then wander among the stalls on the line after the train had passed through. ( you can watch on this you tube clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vH0VPW-PuEE)

Watch out the train is coming!

Wanchai looks for a bargain along the tracks

Benchasiri park is another place we visited many times- there is a shop selling ice cream and drinks, a lake, statues and modern art pieces and an out door gym. The kids walk through the park on their way too and from school , and the office workers come here for lunch. Its a great place to people watch, one of my hobbies.

It is hard to believe you are in the centre of a bustling city here

I have to be careful not to mention food too many times in these blogs as my eldest brother , Richard, will moan that all I do is eat. So does Wanchai and look how slim he is! We found a really great meat restaurant in Bangkok which had a huge variety of steaks, and some beautiful fridges to show them off. They also had some great wines but by 2019 when I was there I had given up on the demon alcohol after seeing how addicted my fellow expats had become in Awali, and the effect it had on them.

We had an amazing lunch with my new addiction - San Pellegrino sparkling water

No trip to BKK would be complete without shopping and they have everything here from Night markets, to street stalls, and high end Boutiques. Just remember my Benetton shorts story and Peter's famous quote- "If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it probably is a duck" . If its very cheap its probably not a genuine Rolex!

Shopping in Bangkok- December 2019

I loved it so much in Ramadan that I returned in December ( we had a lot of Public holidays at the end of the year in Bahrain for the National Days and so on) for some Christmas shopping. Wanchai and Aun were busy so I found two new tour guides. One was a Filipino teaching English and the other was a cute young Thai guy working in a 7- 11 store! We had a great couple of days roaming around and picking up Bargains .