Perhaps it's because we went in with fairly low expectations, but we left Bangkok on Monday night in love with this city! From markets, to rooftop bars, to tuk tuks, we left feeling like we really got a good feel for the city.
The first thing that impressed me about the city was our accommodations (I could probably fill an entire post with just photos from this hostel). After scouring the internet for Airbnb's or last minute deals, we came across this unique hostel that doubles as a co-working space and restaurant. The space was modern, clean, and very uniquely designed. Though we opted for the 8 bed dorm (half the price of a private room), it felt more like a boutique hotel than a hostel. It was located in a more high end area of the city and was just a five minute walk to the sky train, so the rest of the city was very accessible. The hostel was quiet and seemed to host a more mature crowd than many other hostels we've stayed at. I would definitely recommend the One Day hostel if you're looking for a place to stay in Bangkok. It inspired me creatively and taking photos of this place was like a dream...
Enter: the most amazing communal kitchen:
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| Breakfast? Don't mind if I do. |
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| 8 bed dorm room |
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| MY DREAM BATHROOM |
And then there is this beautiful little flower shop out front that I fell in love with instantly...
SO. If that's not a beautiful place to stay, I'm not sure what is.
Though I probably could have spent the entire weekend hibernating in the hostel, we wasted no time and were out exploring the city by 9am (we flew out of Chiang Mai at 6:30am that morning). We decided to check out the area that our hostel was in (south east of the downtown core). Our exploring took us to a unique shopping area, a root garden/café, a hidden alleyway with vintage shops, and later we found ourselves taking cover from the rain at a coffee stand sipping lattes. After enjoying some noodles and chicken curry, we called it an early night so that we'd be fully rested for the day tomorrow.
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| this bicycle has seen better days |
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| Alleyway with vintage shops and a tea room. |
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| Really cool shopping area |
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The next morning we checked out Chatuchak Market. Amazing! This market only runs on
weekends and is one of THE largest markets in the world. We spent the entire morning wandering through
the stalls and alleyways, and only saw a small portion of the market. The array of things to see and buy is
unfathomable! It really has a vast
variety- from clothing to houseware to food to really fabulous handcrafted
furniture… it has it all. We especially
loved some of the furniture and design shops.
There is one section however, that I wish someone had warned me
about. I kid you not, there are thousands
of animals in cages in one section of the market… it was a nightmare. All of a sudden, we found ourselves caught in
the middle of cages of baby squirrels, puppies, turtles, chickens…. You name it, it was there. It got considerably worse as we tried to find
our way out and it actually makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach now typing
this. I didn’t take any photos of this section other
than at the beginning when I saw all these fish in bags.
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| That's a LOT of fish in bags... |
So take this as my warning: If you come across the fish in bags area, do
not walk any further (unless these things do not bother you at all). I understand I come from a completely
different culture, but even so, these things do not sit right with me.
Now, moving on…
The market it situated within a large park which we took a
little rest in afterwards. Bangkok has some really nice parks throughout the city
including Lumphini Park, which is another one we checked out). We then took the sky train over to China Town
area, where we enjoyed some dumpling soup.
We could have spent a lot more time exploring that area, but we had to
move on to our evening plans! Our big
evening plans involved going to one of Bangkok’s many rooftop bars and then
checking out Jatujak Night Market (JJ Market).
Both of these were highlights of our weekend. We went to a bar called “Cloud 47” because we
read reviews that it was more casual than the rest (we didn’t have the attire
to hit up one of the fancier ones). We
went just before sun set, and though the haze didn’t offer much of a sunset, it
was still incredible to be up above the busy streets, watching the daylight
fade into night. The JJ Market was then
the perfect spot to end the night. This
market includes many delicious food stalls, handmade items, bars, and live
music. It was a young crowd and felt
more of a local hangout than a touristy spot.
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| View from Cloud 47 |
I will end this post by telling our Tuk Tuk story. Perhaps you can use this to your benefit if
you ever find yourself in this situation.
On our last day, we planned on heading over to the river to
check out some of the “must-sees” of Bangkok.
The Grand Palace and other attractions that lie along the river. We took the sky train to the closest
station, and decided to walk the rest of the way (which was a decent walk still…
probably 45 minutes). As we were
crossing the street, we ended up in conversation with a local Thai guy with
fairly good English. He asked where we
were going and started giving us pointers on what else we should see that
day. He continues to tell us about a
special deal that Bangkok offers to tourists.
For just 60 Thai Baht (2 dollars), you can have a Tuk Tuk driver take
you around for the afternoon to all the major tourist spots! He/she will basically be your personal
chauffeur, and the government subsidizes this as a way to give tourists a positive
experience in Bangkok. He also mentioned
something about some “suit” shop that has amazing quality clothing… though we
weren’t really interested in that (KEY point of the story here…). Next thing we know, our new friend has a Tuk
Tuk pulled over for us, and we’ve paid him 60 baht. We thought, for just 60 baht we might as
well, right?! Well, I guess it depends
how much time you have on your hands. He
did end up bringing us to the Grand Palace, and stopped at a Temple with the
Black Buddha for us to look at, but along with that, he brought us to not one,
but THREE different export clothing shops.
If we were in the market to buy a full tailored suit, maybe this would
have been okay. But we clearly were not,
and even told our driver we were not going to buy anything. He insisted though, that we just take a
look. We then found ourselves inside a
large room with a lot of fabric and suit swatches, and about 25 employees
waiting at the door ready to pounce (okay, maybe not 25, but there seemed
to be a lot of workers). In the end, it
just felt awkward. They didn’t want us
there to just browse, they wanted us to buy something. We didn’t want to waste their time, but didn't want to upset our driver who was driving us all over the city. We later read that the drivers will sometimes get commission off of any purchases we make at these places, so it all makes sense. In the end, it was an experience!
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| Grounds at the Grand Palace |
After our tuk tuk experience, we went for a long walk down the river, stopped for lunch, and weaved through a street market. Bangkok made for an amazing three day weekend and I look forward to the next time we can go back!
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