宇宁: Thailand trip 2019 Day 1

Thailand Trip Day 1 - Bangkok

Boat tour on Chao Phraya River

It's been more than 12 years since i last visit Thailand. It's still very affordable and great place to visit. Our plan is to spend 3 days in Bangkok before flying to Chiang Mai for 4 days.

Bangkok
This is my first time in Bangkok where i feel like a tourist learning their culture, visiting temples and palaces, even though it's not my first trip here to Bangkok.
Our hotel is White Ivory hotel on the other side of Chao Phraya River as it's less crowded compared to staying near Chinatown or MBK.

Great Hotel with good breakfast and room

As traffic is notoriously bad in Bangkok, it's easier and faster to grab subways from the airport. So we took an airport train before switching to local skytrain system BTS to get to our hotel and got situated

We are well prepared for the smog in Bangkok

Little coin that is our airport train ticket

We had some time before our city tour that night. So we took a river tourist boat and went up and down the Chao Phraya River. Most of the sights in Bangkok can be reached via the boat, and we saw some spectacular sights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chao_Phraya_River

Bangkok River view, the old and new district contrast

Fascinating new building that i really liked, at the far end

Chinatown with floating boat restaurant

Icon Siam, a 2 months old shopping mall from the River

Bangkok City View from the river

Bangkok City View on the river

The King's 70th anniversary temple

Highlights from our City and street food tour at night

We did a night time city and food tour on the first day that's very enjoyable.
We met the guide P and we are a group of 12 for the night.

A caravan of 6 Tuk Tuk is quite grand!

Start of our tour

Details of our tour location

Khong San Market
Our first stop is a local food and goods market call Khong San Market. We ate local snacks in a night market and pack some food for a picnic at Wat Arun.
We enjoyed this market so much that we tried to go back 2 days later to get the grilled fish and ate at a local stall for Thai food.

Local Street food like chives empanada, local sausage (with vermicelli), Pandan toast, pancakes

Wat Arun

Wat Arun at night

After the market, P brought us to Wat Arun for a picnic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Arun
This means Temple of the Dawn and contains a museum for the emerald Buddha (one of the most important Buddha in Thailand), housed in the palace.
To give an idea of how big this pagoda is, this is a view of the Wat from the river

Wat Arun from the River

At the picnic, P explained why the locals guys all have to have experience being a monk. Before they get married and getting a first job.
First is to learn how to get along with others that's not family and be tolerant.
2nd is to learn anger management by meditating and diverting angry thoughts through breathing.
3rd is to learn a healthy life style by not eating any food after lunch to ensure good night sleep and sleeping on the right side without stressing the heart.

Giant Swing
After Wat Arun, we went to the giant swing which is next to another temple. Apparently 100 years ago a Hindu monk prayed for the city by doing acrobats on the swing! But the Thai King has made it illegal now for safety reasons.

Giant Swing

At the giant swing, we got a chance to take pictures with our Tuk Tuk. Needless to say, we went nuts =)

Tuk Tuk anyone?

After that we went to saw the Royal palace from far (as it's closed) and ate dinner at the Navy club.

Traditional Thai Dinner at Navy Club with the river view

River boat at night from Navy Club

Wat Pho
After that we visited Wat Pho at night. This is another important Wat, not just for the reclining buddha.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Pho

Wat Pho Pagoda that house the buddha destroyed in Ayutthaya

Twin Pagodas in Wat Pho

Wat Pho also shows the origin of Thai education passed from previous Thai Kings, including medicine and Thai massage, on wall and ceilings.

Thai massage depiction

Ceiling depicting Thai massages

P said there's 250+ buddhas that's moved from Ayuthaya to Bangkok when they moved the capital.

Walls of Buddha images

The grounds of Wat Pho is peaceful and quiet at night, which is one of the main benefits of doing a night tour!

Flower market
The flower market operates 24 hours in Bangkok. As it's near the river, a lot of these warehouses become whole sale stores for goods to come in/out of Bangkok. But to accommodate traffic and local needs, they decide to make it 24 hours for easier delivery at non-peak hour.
Again, much nicer walking through the market at night vs the day time with the crowds!

Beautiful images of the flower market

P brought us to the tour agency office in the flower market where he prepared a surprise dessert for us - guava, local thai flavour ice cream, mango sticky rice.
He also show us how to fold the lotus flower to form different kind of flowers.