Bangkok City Tour

We've joined a group tour showcasing the best of the north of Thailand over 9 days, swapping beaches for historical sites. In addition to a change in scenery, we're looking forward to enjoying social activities & shared experiences with a tribe of fellow travelers. Our tour begins in the vibrant city of Bangkok 

Day Zero: Meet & greet in Bangkok

We flew out from Koh Samui's local airport, which is unique for its open air-terminals & shopping spaces making it feel like still you're in a resort environment for a few more hours before heading to the hustle & bustle of one of the busiest cities on earth.  

We'd heard that 3 things define Bangkok: Thai street delicacies, Buddhist monuments, & busy-ness. From spicy street food to golden temples and stirring street life, everything quintessentially Thai resides in Bangkok, & we are nervously excited to compare this experience to the blissful beach-bumming we'd been enjoying until now.

On arriving in Bangkok, we easily found our way to the airport train which passed near our hotel, The Grand Mercure Bangkok Atrium. After checking in, we headed up to the pool area for a dip and the view out across this sprawling metropolis. 

The tour company we've chosen is Travel Talk Tours, as their "Best of Thailand" itinerary focused on northern highlights (so no double-ups on destinations for us) & it conveniently begins tomorrow. Note: We don't get anything for endorsing them, or any other links we share on our blog posts.

We headed to the lobby at 6pm to meet our tour guide, a lovely Thai lady named Kung, & the diverse group of folks that we'll be spending the next 9 days with as we venture from Bangkok to the far north of Thailand.  There are 13 of us, mainly 20's to 40's with a lovely couple in their 60's as unofficial "chaperones", all from various countries & occupations.  Kung shared an overview of the trip ahead including the protocols when visiting palaces, temples, & historical sites.  This included appropriate, respectful attire.  To be safe, a group of us took the train to a nearby shopping mall so that we could all purchase long pants to wear on temple visits & afterwards share our first dinner together. This social experiment proved that guys from around the world shop in the same way. Once we found a store offering light, linen pants, we simply bought a pair each in the same color. Simple & effective.  We're off to a good start!

Day One: Bangkok City Tour

The following morning our tour kicked off with a full day tour of Bangkok city.  We boarded the bus early to avoid the worst of the morning commuter traffic & made our way to our first destination of the day: The Grand Palace.

As Kung educated us, Bangkok is the 3rd Capital City in Thailand's long history, & this palace has been home to the various Kings since the late 1700's, including the current King Rama X.  It's a sprawling complex fully enclosed by tall walls filled with ornate buildings housing throne rooms, temples, administrative & residential buildings. Many of the formal buildings were commissioned by the various kings & influenced by the architectural styles that were in vogue in their time period.  

We also lined up to take a glimpse of the palace's resident "star" (besides the King, of course) the Emerald Buddha that has held pride of place within the Wat Pra Kaew temple for nearly 250 years. Whilst only 66cm tall it has a large tale to tell. It's believed to have been carved in India nearly 50 years before Christ was born.  Over its life it has travelled across, India, Sri Lanka, & Cambodia avoiding various wars & uprisings along the way, before finding it's forever home in Thailand in the 1400's. It's now one of the country's most prized relics for the prosperity & good fortune that it brings.

After our detailed tour of the palace grounds, Kung secured us a handful of colorful Tuk Tuks so that we could whiz across town in style, looking like a bikie gang from a pride parade.

Our next destination was Wat Pho, to take in the famous 46-metre-long Reclining Buddha covered in gold leaf. It's hard to find a spot to get it all into a single photo, but I've had plenty of practice on this trip:

After a delicious lunch at a local restaurant, we headed down to a pier sat alongside the Phraya River (River of Kings) that winds through the city of Bangkok.  We boarded a private longtail boat to tour the river & the many canals, or klongs, that branch off the main river, giving it the name "The Venice of the East".  There are many houses built on stilts upon the river, & we cruised through neighborhoods ranging from meagre and disheveled, to modern and palatial, giving insight into the vast differences in living conditions of the citizens of this city. I recalled from my time at the Cobra Farm in Koh Samui, that many of their exotic snakes and lizards were brought in from the rivers of Bangkok and we certainly saw many of the giant water lizards basking in the sun on the concrete riverbanks & under the decks of the houses.

After disembarking we headed over to our final destination of the day: Wat Arun, which translates into The Temple of the Dawn.  

This shrine is visually different to the many Thai temples as it is built in an ancient Cambodian style, with a pagoda that is 76 meters tall.  Once you get close-up, you can see that it's decorated with a plethora of tiny glazed ceramic pieces that reflect the rays of the morning sun. Kung explained that this was both stylish & practical. It became a favorite design of King Rama III as, during his reign, Thailand was a busy sea trading hub, importing goods like Porcelain from countries across the sea.  However, being fragile, many of the decorative vases & other pieces did not survive the sea voyages intact. Rather than discarding the pieces they were recycled into the facade of buildings, forever timestamping them & becoming a tribute to King Rama III's reign.  

After a jam-packed day of sightseeing, we found our way back to our bus, then back to our hotel for a refreshing swim, cold beer, & quick dinner, before an early night.  Tomorrow, we rise before the sun to begin our 8-day bus trip taking in more cultural highlights from Bangkok to the mountains in the far north.