Sights and Sounds of Bangkok!

It's a very, very, very big city and its noisy. Constantly noisy.

I think I've mentioned that in my last few posts. You just can't imagine the level of noise here, its as high as their pollution level! Just standing by the street for a few minutes to wait for a taxi and I feel like I've been enveloped by a blanket of soot. I'm constantly using wet wipes, facial wipes and sanitisers here. I'm no Adrian Monk, don't get the wrong idea. I'm usually quite used to being grubby, but my level of grubbiness here has increased tenfold that I'm so conscious of it.

Well, I spend some time in between shopping to explore a bit of Bangkok on my own. I found out about church, and mass times, English mass times. Google was my best friend for a while. It took me everywhere and told me everything I needed to know about Bangkok. So the second Sunday of my stay here, I made my way to St John's Church, which is nearby Chatuchak Market. Found my way there quite easily, after many sign languages and once I learned that to say church in Thai is 'bod'. It was a small church, which is located on the grounds of St John's International School. The mass was said by a French priest, and surprisingly it was mostly the Filipinos that attended the mass. It was a very nice, cosy church.

Interior of St John's Church

The next Sunday I went for mass at the Assumption Cathedral. It is located within the Assumption University grounds next to the Chao Phraya river. I got to the church easily this time, after Google told me how to. From the BTS station I had a nice walk to the church, passing by little shops, a big hotel, small shopping mall, street vendors and many, many people. To get to the church its best to head to Oriental Hotel, then from there you can ask the doorman directions, its actually just around the corner, but its somewhat hidden. Once I turned the corner, I was greeted by the sight of a beautiful church.

The entrance of Assumption Cathedral

I got there just in time for mass to begin. It's a very big church and not crowded. I'm comparing this to the Assumption Church in PJ. It's beautifully designed and well maintained too. The mass was said by an English priest and this time there were a variety of people who attended mass. I loved it here so much I came back for mass here when I could.

The Altar

In my last few days here, I had a friend visiting and we went touristing around Bangkok. We took a river cruise on the Chao Phraya River, we saw a weird looking snake head-alligator body animal in the water right under the houses. The boatman was very excited to us show this, I was very scared and kept telling him 'okay, we've seen enough, let's move on,' which he obviously didn't get.

Do you know what this is?

We saw lots of temples along the way, a snake farm and a crocodile farm too. We didn't stop at any of this though, I wasn't to keen to get up close with the creepy crawlies. Besides this, there was nothing much to see. I wouldn't recommend the canal river trip. Instead take the longer trips that gets you to Ayutthaya.

The temples were pretty much alike. We went to the Temple of the Golden Buddha and the Grand Palace - also the place for the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It was a very hot day to be walking around, so that's why I didn't enjoy it very much. Make sure you have on a good pair of walking shoes, water bottle, a hat or umbrella and sunglasses.

Temple of the Golden Buddha

Entrance to Grand Palace

The Royal Grand Palace

 Besides the temples and palace, there are many more things to see around Bangkok. But a few days is not enough to cover the whole of Bangkok. I was here for about 7 weeks and I couldn't cover the whole of Bangkok too.

Traffic in Bangkok is just horrendous, so don't bother renting a car while you're visiting. Much faster to get around in their taxis or tuk-tuk. The taxis are either, new Altis or Camry, or the older ones use Sentra and Corrolla's, they are all in bright colours so its easy to spot them from far. I enjoyed the tuk-tuk ride, I wish I could drive one.

Bangkok Taxi

Tuk-Tuk

The 'songteow' is another cheap transport that can get you around. For about 6 baht which is equivalant to Malaysian Ringgit 60 cents you get to your destination. But these 'songteow' are like buses, they have numbers on their roofs and the ply a fixed route.

The 'Songteow'

Bangkok life is constantly moving. There seem no end to the things that goes on. At night, places like Khaosan Road comes alive. This is like a little cowboy town. Many tourist - backpacking tourist choose to stay here, because its cheap and you can get almost everything cheap on this road. Rooms here can cost as little as RM40 a night. Same say there's even cheaper.

Khaosan Road Nightlife

Another place that is constantly bustling is Yaowarat Road, or better know as Bangkok's Chinatown. Lanes and lanes that are endless and winding, there is simply no beginning and no ending to the roads at Yaowarat.

A very small part of Yaowarat Road

These are just about some of the things in Bangkok, there are actually a whole lot more. I've just peeled off one layer. I hope that I can come back here again soon.

Shopping in Bangkok!

Written on July 2, 2010

The next best thing to Bangkok other than food is the SHOPPING!!!

Almost all the major shopping areas in Bangkok is connected to a BTS Skytrain or MRT station, making it so much easier to shop. From the station you can walk straight into a shopping mall via the bridges. No need to walk on the busy Bangkok roads. The LRT in Malaysia should take note of this.

The BTS Skytrain

Interior of BTS Skytrain

Once you get to either the MRT or BTS, get yourself a map. Its the best thing to help you get around. I relied a lot on this. I used the stations as my point of reference when I'm checking on where to go. It's quite straight forward, even the signages are well placed. So you shouldn't have a problem getting around unless you are really, I mean really bad with directions.

The sign at a BTS Station that points you to the last station.

There's lots of shopping malls in Bangkok that can rival KL anytime. The Mall Bang Kapi was the first mall that I stepped into. It was my first day in Bangkok and I was brought there so that I could get some food for the next few days. The supermarket reminded me a lot like Jaya Jusco, but it wasn't. I was glad that I could get lots of stuff here that you won't usually find on our supermarket shelves in KL, and they're cheap too.

The first weekend, I went to MBK shopping mall which is quite similiar to our Sungai Wang Plaza. Again, the food here was alright, the things to shop here was great!! I found some nice short sleeved shirts here for only RM20. I may sound overly excited and surprised, but that's because I could never find nice, like really nice short sleeved cotton shirts for myself in KL.

MBK Shopping Mall - great bargains to be found here

There's also Pratunam Market, more like Petaling Street style and Platinum Fashion Mall across the street from it, which has air-conditioning. Then there's Prantip Plaza which is an IT mall, where you can get IPhone for as low as RM500, I have no idea where its from though. From here the mall gets more upscale. Emporium and Siam Discovery is for the sophisticated, Siam Paragon is for the yuppies.

The trendy Siam Paragon

Sadly though I couldn't visit CentralWorld because it was still closed due to the recent unrest. I took the BTS and its passed right beside it, I could see the burned area. It looks sad that Bangkok's pride of the shopping malls was damaged. But its set to return soon!!

Besides the malls, Bangkok also has 2 famous street markets. Suan Lum Night Bazzar is only opened from 7pm till late and has rows and rows of stalls that sells almost anything. Lots of bargaining goes on here, and you must really bargain to get the good deals.

The entrance to Suan Lum Night Bazaar

The shops are well lit and airy too!

Chatuchak Weekend Market is another famous shopping spot. Here, there are rows, rows, rows, rows and rows of stalls that sells everything, I mean really EVERYTHING!! You want to get a live lizard, branded shoes and bags, paintings, house decor and cutlery and clothes and plants and accessories, here's the place to go and get them dirt cheap. They even have 'movers' office here to help you ship your things back. You will need to put on your best bargaining skills. It's amazing yah!! I went there almost every weekend and still I find new shops.

So, go around visit all the malls first and then when you're done with that, then only you go to Chatuchak to do your shopping. It the best place to buy presents too!!

The layout of the entire Chatuchak market.

Access to all these shopping place is easy, just hop onto the MRT or BTS and it takes you straight to the front door of the malls and markets. The trains are fast, punctual, cheap, air-conditioned and CLEAN!

Don't worry about food or drinks. It can be found in abundance at every corner of Bangkok.

Next trip : the Sights and Sounds of Bangkok!