Bangkok, the city of ornate shine and energetic street life

Bangkok, Thailand - Thuy Pham Photography

BANGKOK

Prior leaving to Thailand, I have asked couple of people around for some suggestions and their opinion on Thailand. Many of them (actually all of them) has said that Bangkok was boring, that they have stayed in Bangkok just few nights before traveling to different parts of Thailand.

From those little conversations, I was a bit nervous whether our plan to stay in Bangkok for 5/6 days was too much. However, I have to say, even though Bangkok is just like another metropolitan city, we were not bored at all. Quite the contrary, we didn't have even enough time to visit everything that I planned to do!

"Same, same, but different"

Is the way somewhat I would summarize Bangkok. I have been in many Asian cities before. Thus, the culture was shocking for me as for the first time visitors. In fact, Bangkok has many similar lifestyle and culture as other cities, such as in China or Vietnam. The vibrant street food stalls, endless markets or the vibrant city life. However, it is somehow different compared to other cities I have been. I have noticed, that in Bangkok people are driving on the left as in the UK. Majority of people and especially sales people on the market do speak basic English. Streets in the Bangkok are very clean, people don't spit on the streets as in China, the king is everything, people don't stare at Western foreigners as they do in Beijing and Thai people are very polite and respectful. In summary, Bangkok - Thailand's capital is the city of gold spiral temples, royalty and vibrant streets.

"The mixture of exotic and familiarity made my couple of days staying in the city very comfortable and easily adaptable"

Arriving to Bangkok at midnight with Air China, jet-legged and exhaustively we are checking in to our Hotel Royal Bangkok right at the heart of Chinatown (how funny that we are in Thailand but staying in a hotel in Chinatown district). Before getting to the hotel, we had a bit of an issue of getting an Uber from the airport. Annoying, we have been trying to order an uber at least 4 times, but it always canceled on us, because we and them were unable to find each other. On top of that, they were not able to speak in English in order to communicate (They should learn some basic English, if even sales people on the market are able to communicate with foreigners though). We gave up on Uber and got a taxi from the airport to the hotel room with a fixed price of 600 baht.

Luckily, we had Seven Eleven opened 24 hours next to our hotel, where we bought water and snacks. Seven Eleven (something like Tesco Express) saved our life during our stay in Thailand. It was our destination where to go for snack and cheap quick dinners (thank god they do heat up food!). Our first day pretty much ended by seeing the hotel's surrounding and pretty dead China town street at 2 am. Not yet very impressed by Bangkok, but ready to get some energy for exploration.

The days went by so quickly and we were having great not in rush time exploring its temples, markets and vibrant city by evenings. Our Hotel Royal Bangkok @ Chinatown, has especially cozy cute rooftop pool with the view overlooking Bangkok. Beautiful to witness the sunset and city by dark. It is funny how in Thailand everybody starts to speak with me in Thai. Just because I am Asian, looking like them, then they should give it a try if I can understand them. It makes me feel sense of belonging though.

"Another city, that never sleeps"

Bangkok is indeed great for shopping (and I wish I had more days or at least one full day for shopping there!). On the other hand, Bangkok is also great place to stay in order to do day trips in the surrounding areas, such as to Pattaya, floaring markets, Ayutthaya, Kanchanaburi or different cities and regions.

Those 5 full days in Bangkok passed so quickly and we soon were packing our luggage to go to the airport to travel to our next destination in Thailand. Subscribe and follow because I am preparing an ultimate travel guide for Bangkok as well as Youtube video! Meanwhile, enjoy my visual photo diary of Bangkok (don't forget to share and pin it guys!)