Koh Samui sends us on our way with some rainy, humid weather, onto Surat Thani on the mainland. Here, we’re catching a night train to Bangkok and we’re quite excited about it. Thailand’s trains are supposed to be excellent. We’re not disappointed. We booked a first class ticket, which gives us a little cabin just for the two of us. It’s a bit crammed but it has a little sink and the sheets are spotlessly clean. Goodnight!
Late the next morning, a taxi drops us at our hotel, where, despite our early arrival they let us check in. Yay! This gives us time to rest and freshen up before we head out to lunch with our friend Florence, who lives in Singapore and came to spend the weekend with us in Bangkok. We meet her in Pratu Nam, where there’s supposed to be a whole lot of food – and lucky us, we can even go there by boat! We catch up over Pad Thai and a coconut. Flo has to go back to work for a few hours, while we run a few errands in the nearby Siam Paragon mall and in Khaosan road (ok, we may have had another Pad Thai there), before having a nap. In the evening, we have a recommendation to have omelette at a place called Jay Fay, in walking distance to our hotel (which is next to democracy monument). We stroll along the canal only to find ourselves presented with a whole street food area (on Maha Chai Road)! Little did we know, however, that Jay Fay is one of Bangkok’s most famous places for street food, she has a Michelin star. Our jaws drop when we see the queue and we decide to push that to another evening and head to the noodle place next door, which serves delicious pad Thai (we’d only eaten two that day, so that was fine). A bit of mango sticky rice, and we are off to bed with happy bellies. This little street corner would become our go to dinner spot, but spoiler alert: we never made it to Jay Fay. The next day, we send an email asking to reserve a table for the evening and they respond that they are fully booked for the next three months. Insane.
The next morning, we are late. We have booked a cooking class and are supposed to have a market tour with them at 8.30. We heavily underestimated Bangkok morning traffic and are not awake enough to have the taxi drop us off at a metro stop. We miss the market tour with the class, but have enough time to take a quick look around by ourselves. This market, the Khlong Toei market is the largest wet market in Bangkok, and quite honestly, first thing in the morning the smell is… intense. Living animals, dead animals, and what is thrown away of them, make for quite the odour mixture. With probably slightly green faces, we start making our way towards the cooking school. The market tour with the school can’t have been very long, because when we arrive around 9.20, 10 minutes before the class is due to start, everyone is already waiting for us. We throw on our aprons and are ready to cook! We learn to make Pad Thai, papaya salad, red curry, and mango sticky rice. Everything turns out delicious, we’re only a bit disappointed that our involvement in making the curry paste is very limited. The teacher explains the ingredients, but then one of the staff prepares the paste while we chop the veggies and herbs for the curry. However, this is the first time that we actually get to cook since we left Brussels, so we really enjoy ourselves.
Of course we ate everything we cooked and despite feeling more like laying down than walking, we decide to make our way to Lumphini Park, about half an hour away. It’s boiling hot outside but we brave heat and traffic to get to the park and look for the famous lizards that reside there. We don’t have to search for very long until we find a giant lizard swallowing a fish whole, unimpressed by the crows surrounding him, hoping he’d share. Yikes. These lizards are a curiosity of the park, where they live freely, but apparently they have started to become a nuisance to inhabitants, showing up in their kitchens and stuff. And they are HUGE. We’ll see what the future holds for the Lumphini park lizards.
After all this stress, we are in dire need for a massage and have a tuk tuk take us to Khao San road. Soon enough, we doze off on comfortable chairs while skilled massage therapists bring our poor feet back to life.
A dip in the hotel pool, dinner at our new favourite street food corner, and we call it an early night.
At 10am the next day, we sit on a train direction Ayutthaya. It’s a third class train, meaning fan only. Let’s just say that we’re quite happy to get off the train after about 1.5h – not that it’s any colder outside. Ayutthaya is basically an outdoor museum, home to a collection of temples dating as early as the 14th century. A few of them are fairly close to each other and we visit four of them. The weather app says it’s 32 degrees, but we are pretty sure it’s not telling us the truth. We move from shadow to shadow in sloth speed. Most other tourists (granted, there aren’t too many of them) travel by tuk tuk or bus, even on bikes there are only a few. Later, we chat with a Thai guide at the train station and when we tell him we were walking around he basically calls us crazy. Despite the heat, this visit is a definite highlight. At 4pm we are back on the train to Bangkok, exhausted, but very happy.
After a much much needed shower, we decide to shake it up and have dinner elsewhere than Maha Chai Road. It’s an important holiday weekend in Thailand (Vesak) and many restaurants are closed, but we find a lovely place that whips up some delicious curries for us. On the way home, we munch on some mango sticky rice before falling into heat and food induced comatose sleep.
The next morning, we have more activities planned (our batteries are fully charged after our time in southern Thailand!): we want to see a floating market and picked the one in Taling Chan (we have no desire to get up at 6am to take a tour to one of the bigger but apparently very touristy markets outside of Bangkok). We reach the market in just about 15 minutes by cab. It is delightful! The floating part is limited to a few boats and the main area where you can sit down to eat your lunch. The non-floating part holds the bulk of food and souvenir stalls.
It’s a bit early for lunch (is it, though?), so we decide to hop on one of the boats that proposes a canal tour and a temple visit for only a couple of euros. Let’s call the experience interesting. The canals are charming, it’s very green and you get a glimpse into the life of this neighbourhood. Sometimes, there’s also the pungent smell of sewage. The boat stops at a place where we are encouraged to buy bread to feed the fish – apparently that’s more of an Asian tourist thing. The Koreans behind us throw large chunks of bread into the water, and the basically whale sized fish almost jump into the boat. (None of us had fish that day.) We continue on to a nice temple where locals are enjoying the Vesak holiday with a major feast. Nice! On the way back, the guide on the boat suddenly seems inspired and keeps talking non stop in Thai and then in English. She has a strong accent, so we can’t really tell you what she said, except for pointing out fruit trees at the sides of the canal. She finishes her show with a rendition of “Nothing’s gonna change my love for you”. That’s a whole lot of entertainment for 70 baht. Time for lunch! We enjoy omelette, coconut noodles, papaya salad, pad Thai, and pancakes on the floating dining area.
It’s still pretty early, so one more cultural stop fits into our programme. We take a Grab back towards the city, to Wat Arun, one of the main attractions of Bangkok.
A literal one minute ferry ride takes us across the river afterwards (you end up next to the Reclining Buddha temple) and we are ready for a nap. Flo wants to buy some decorations at a basket shop we spotted the other day, so we stop there, then have a snack at the our favourite street food corner which just so happens to be right there. We nap, take a dip in the pool and then make our way one last time to Maha Chai Road, because two days earlier we had noticed that people were not only queuing at Jay Fay, but also next door at a place called Thipsamai. Google tells us that not only does the prime minister like to take guests there, but that the inventor of Pad Thai has declared the place has Thailand’s best Pad Thai. So we have to see for ourselves. When we get there, the queue looks like this:
However, there is nobody at the take out counter, so we opt for this short cut. We still wait for a good half hour before our number is called. We have to look for a place where we can sit down, as the tables on the sidewalk are meant for the people who eat at the other restaurants. We buy dessert and the guy kindly proposes us a seat, where we finally finally get to enjoy the Pad Thai. Honestly – they are really really good. Perfectly cooked. Not greasy. Delicious. However, in a city like Bangkok, where you can find Pad Thai just about anywhere, we wouldn’t queue for what looks like at least 1h to get into the restaurant. You can work around all this and get a delivery, but maybe order early. At least we made it to one of those hip foodie places! We celebrate with coconut pancakes and mango sticky rice before heading back to the hotel.
The next days is already our last in Bangkok and we opt for a little walk in Chinatown, all the way to little India. Chinatown is a great place to get lost in the streets and markets, both food and non-food.
We end our visit with lunch at the Phahurat Market food court, located in Little India but serving Indian, Thai, Chinese, and even western food – seems to be a local favourite.
We have time to relax a bit by the pool before Flo leaves us for the airport and we are off to the train station.
Bangkok is busy and polluted and right now, so incredibly hot! But we love it for all its beauty and all its food. See you soon, Bangkok!
Activities
This was our second time in Bangkok, so we’d already visited the Grand Palace and the Reclining Buddha, which are definitely must see’s. Wat Arun is just across the river from these two, so you may want to do them together. We were visiting Bangkok off season now, so Wat Arun was not busy. When we visited the other two in December, that was a whole different story. Be prepared for Chinese tour busses. Our itinerary in a nutshell looked like this:
Day 1: Pratu Nam for lunch – Siam Paragon and Khao San for errands
Day 2: Cooking class – Lumphini Park – Khao San for massage
Day 3: Ayutthaya
Day 4: Taling Chan Floating Market – Wat Arun
Day 5: Chinatown and Little India
Know that Bangkok is gigantic and that it may take you longer than you think to get places.
Taling Chan Floating Market
We really wanted to visit a floating market. The markets that attract the most tourists, like Damnoen Saduak, are located a bit outside of Bangkok and generally you seem to have to get up really early to get there. Taling Chan is only a 15 minutes drive or so from the Khao San area and you don’t need to get up at dawn to enjoy it. It is advisable not to arrive too late, especially in high season, as it gets pretty full around lunchtime. We got there around 9.30 or so and it was fairly quiet, and by the time we got back from our little boat trip, it got quite busy. The boat trip costs around 2€ and takes one hour with a stop at Wat Kor. It’s a fun thing to do, but nothing too incredible.
Wat Arun
Next to the Grand Palace and the Reclining Buddha, this should be on your must do list if you’re in Bangkok for the first time. It’s stunning and the visit doesn’t take very long. It costs about 1.50€ entrance fee. There is a boat connecting the two riversides between the Reclining Buddha and Wat Arun.
General advice: Bangkok is full of temples, so it’s advisable to be prepared with appropriate clothing. Long flowy pants or skirts are a good choice, plus pack a scarf to cover your shoulders (thin cotton is the most pleasant material in the heat). Note that when we went to Grand Palace in 2017, they wouldn’t accept a scarf, you have to wear at least t-shirt length. Some places are less strict in enforcing this but remember to be respectful.
Lumphini Park
This is a huge park that makes for a pleasant stroll. We went to look for the lizards (and found them). You can rent swan shaped pedal boats on the lake. There are refreshment stalls at the entrances of the park.
House of Taste Cooking Class
Most cooking classes in Bangkok propose a different menu every day of the week and we picked House of Taste because of the good reviews and the menu they propose on Fridays. The class cost around 35€/person. As said above, we missed the market tour due to traffic so do leave pretty early or get dropped at a metro. For the market tour, we’d recommend wearing trainers because floors are wet and slippery. The teacher was really nice and the class was good and interesting, we’d just have preferred to be more involved in the curry paste making (but worry not, we got to do that in Chiang Mai).
Khao San Road
This is the tourist centre of Bangkok and we don’t recommend spending too much time there. It is a good place to find postcards or elephant print souvenirs etc., it has decent street food in the evening and plenty of massage places. Don’t expect the most amazing massage experience, but it’s a good enough place to hide away from the heat for a while. We went to Herbal Thai Spa on Susie Walkway.
Chinatown and Little India
Bangkok’s Chinatown is a great place to wander around and get lost. You will have no problem finding places to eat and shop. Little India is small, located on the western end of Chinatown.
Day trip to Ayutthaya
We took the third class train to Ayutthaya, which you cannot book in advance. There are plenty of trains every day, so just show up at the station. The trip can take between 1.30h and 2h. There are a limited number of air conditioned trains, which you can book in advance. They were all sold out when we were there, possibly because of the holiday weekend. We paid about 60 cents each way, the second class costs about ten times that (as far as we know).
From the train station in Ayutthaya, take a tuk tuk to Wat Maha That (unless you already have another destination in mind). Here you can use the bathroom, have a coconut, rent a bicycle, buy a scarf in case you forgot to bring one… We bought the ticket that allows you to visit six temples for 6,20€ (220 baht). A single entrance fee is 50 baht. We visited Wat Maha That, Wat Ratchaburana, Wat Phra Ram, and Wat Phra Si Sanphet. It was possible to walk between these temples, if you want to go to the others you would need a bike or a tuk tuk. Our favourite were the first and last one. We had lunch in front of the entrance of Wat Ratchaburana.
We really recommend a visit to Ayutthaya. It’s perfectly possible to do it as a day trip, but we think it could be nice spending a night, as the temples are illuminated in the evening.
Food
Bangkok is a foodie paradise and there are so so many street food stalls. Wherever you go, you won’t be hungry in Bangkok.
Maha Chai Road Food Stalls
You already know by now that this was our favourite place. Jay Fay and Thipsamai are here, but many other places. It starts around Korrakanb restaurant and goes down to Tee Yentafo. Most places here open around 4pm or so.
Joke Pochahan
Also in walking distance from the hotel, this restaurant serves really nice curry. The street in general is nice and has a few options.
Pratu Nam
Plenty of options for lunch. We just walked east on Phetchaburi Road a bit and chose a place.
Phahurat Market Food Centre
Indian, Chinese, Thai – really good place for lunch, many locals.
Shopping
In Bangkok, you can shop til you drop for luxury brands, cheap knockoffs, and anything in between. For brands, Siam Paragon is a good option, you can find anything from Boots to Bulgari. Khao San road has your regular tourist shops. Chinatown has absolutely everything and it’s a place where people really shop for their daily use. So if you’re looking to buy a package of 300 hair bands (which Julia should have done as she keeps losing them), this is your place. Little India is known for its fabric shops. The best thing is to read up about what different neighbourhoods and markets have to offer, so you can find the suitable one for you.
Where to stay
We stayed at Dinso Mon Hotel and it was fantastic. It cost about 37€/night breakfast included. It’s about a 15min ride from the train station, and only a few minutes walking to Khao San. It had a pool, which was much needed during those hot days, and they have a bar and restaurant during daytime. Breakfast was nothing special but did the job. The rooms were modern and in great shape. We really enjoyed that we could walk to get dinner in the evening. Staff was really nice and helpful.
Last time, we stayed at Lamphu Tree House, not too far away from Dinso Mon. We also loved that place, just skipped it for budget reasons this time (it was around 55€ or so per night at the time). We walked by now and renovations of the swimming pool seemed to be going on. The hotel was less modern but more charming than Dinso Mon and the breakfast was really nice. The location just by the canal is very cosy.
Getting around
Cabs, Grabs, boats, metro, tuk tuks, busses… plenty of options. A fun way to get to Pratu Nam was to take the boat from Phanfa Bridge (every 15 minutes). Be careful to always ask the cab to turn on a metre, or at least agree on a price before. We know this but didn’t pay attention one time, because we took the cab from the official taxi stop at Siam Paragon. By the time we noticed the metre wasn’t on, it was too late. He wanted to have 400 baht to take us to Khao San road. We ended up paying him 200, which was also way too much. If you do get scammed, remember to take a picture of the number plate and report them to the Department of Land Transport (DLT), though we are not sure of course if this actually has any consequences. Grab is a good option to avoid scams, but not necessarily always cheaper than (metered) cabs. For tuk tuk prices, we were able to lower them (before getting on!) by about 30-50% many times. The tuk tuks close to tourist attractions (especially Grand Palace etc.) are the most difficult ones to negotiate with. At the train station, it was easier because they didn’t seem to have much business. The metro is only helpful when going east or northeast of the train station. You choose your destination at the ticket machine and pay according to where you go.
Getting here
We probably don’t have to tell you that you can fly to Bangkok. We arrived by night train from Surat Thani, which takes about 12h. First class tickets cost around 30€/person. We bought them on the official page of the Thai Railway, which turned out a bit cheaper than 12go.asia. We would recommend buying the tickets a bit in advance, so you can choose your seats (even for second class) and so it doesn’t sell out. Not all trains are exactly the same. The second class wagon for Chiang Mai (stay tuned) was actually nicer than the first class to Bangkok, so in this train the first class may have been even nicer.
lookingforcoconuts 