One of the best things about our trip to Thailand was that all of our accommodations were paid for by points earned with our Starwood American Express. Cash back is an obvious choice as far as credit card perks are concerned, but for those who love to travel, Starwood American Express is awesome. In addition to the credits we earn, the card also makes obtaining gold status easier which means that we frequently get free upgrades when they are available and we also get other freebies like a choice of free cocktails, or wi-fi during or stay.
The Royal Orchid Sheraton was very nice. We had a great room on the twelfth floor overlooking the river Mae Nam Chao Phraya.
View from our room in The Royal Orchid Sheraton
We didn't waste much time settling in, just dropped our bags, washed our faces and brushed our teeth before setting out on a full day of sightseeing. As our flight to Phuket the next morning was around 9, we had to cram as much sightseeing as we could into the 24 hours we had in Bangkok.
We typically like to enjoy each destination as locals would, which for us means navigating public transportation, but we decided that with such a short stay we should make the most of our time and just take taxis. Taxis are extremely inexpensive in Bangkok if you've taken the time to educate yourself in advance. Rule number one (come to think of it, the only rule), always insist that the meter be used. Many taxi drivers in Bangkok take advantage of tourists by agreeing a flat-fare 2-3 times more expensive than what the meter would actually run. As a matter of fact, we got out of a taxi later in the day because the driver refused to use the meter. We found that 50 Baht which is roughly equivalent to $1.50 covered just about any taxi ride we needed around town even during rush hour traffic. To and from the airport was a bit more expensive; about 350 - 400 Baht.
One other side note--it was so hot! Around 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit. It was also extremely humid. I stayed damp pretty much the whole day, or at least until the sun set. Over the years I feel like I've really built up a tolerance to heat and humidity between growing up in South Carolina, going to school in Charleston and then Gainesville and more recently living in Atlanta and visiting India frequently. Perhaps it seemed extreme because of the previous 6 months of living in London. But, we had just spent a whole week in India!! Maybe it was the lack of coastal breeze that we get in Mumbai or perhaps it was because it was a jam-packed day with little time for sitting down and cooling off. All I know is at one point I told Mo I didn't think I could spend more than a day or two in Bangkok under those conditions.
Side notes officially out of the way, we took a taxi to The Grand Palace. Before going in, we decided to walk away from the main tourist sights and try to find a spot for breakfast that didn't solely cater to tourists. After a decent walk around, we settled on a cafe near a small outdoor market area. We had a traditional Thai breakfast of some sort of hot broth soup. I'm not really sure what else was in the soup which is why I wisely opted for the veggie version. Mo loved it and I must say his broth was better than mine--not sure about the mystery meat though. While I could tolerate my soup, I enjoyed it much less than Mo. My broth was sort of sweet which was the main reason I didn't care for it. Regardless, 2 soups and a Coca-Cola was 60 Baht so the price was certainly right at about $1.80.
Our first sight of our big sightseeing extravaganza was The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. We actually ended up deciding not to go in because Mo was going to have to rent a sarong to cover his legs since he was wearing shorts. The Grand Palace was extremely busy and there were lots of folks around the perimeter heckling the tourists. In the end our decision to skip going inside was the right one for us this day but we still got to see the distinctly Thai architecture from outside.
The Grand Palace - busy with tourists on a Sunday morning
Entrance to The Grand Palace
We walked over to a riverside park that had a nice view of Wat Arun across the river. Wat Arun consists of four stupas around an elongated tower all covered with Chinese ceramics and seashells. As Wat Arun was the only sight on the other side of the river that we had any interest in seeing we decided not to make the effort to cross the river and instead see it from afar and focus on the side of the river where most of the noteworthy sights were.
The view of Wat Arun from across the river
Next we went to Wat Pho which is Bangkok's largest and oldest temple. The main attraction at Wat Pho is the Reclining Buddha and it did not disappoint. The pictures do not do it justice. It was enormous. Way beyond what I expected. The Buddha itself is 46 meters long and 15 meters high and includes 3 meters high feet with inlaid mother of pearl.
The reclining Buddha
Stone giant at the entrance gate
Temple grounds - the design in the grass says "Welcome to Wat Pho"
Buddha statue with Naga in Wat Pho temple
Wat Pho temple grounds
Wat Pho temple grounds
Our next destination was Chatuchak Weekend Market. It's a gigantic market, according to my guidebook, the daddy of all Thai markets. Around 200,000 people visit the market every Saturday and Sunday. Our first purchase (not including use of the toilets) was some fresh guava that we enjoyed as we walked around checking out many of the stalls. A bit later after we were all finished browsing, we had lunch at one of the covered restaurants/food stalls. We had a couple of dishes including some excellent pad Thai.
Waiting to eat some pad Thai
Trying to stay cool while waiting for lunch
Our next tourist attraction was Jim Thompson's House which is actually a complex of six traditional teak buildings and the legacy of the American businessman who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry in the 1950's and 1960's. The traditional wooden houses were collected from as far away as northern Thailand and as near as the Muslim village of Baan Krua, just across the Klong river where silk is still woven today. Jim Thompson had the buildings reassembled as a private mansion, which took a year, and he lived there up until his disappearance in 1967. We took a guided tour of the entire complex. This was definitely one of my favorite tourist sites. It was very well maintained and managed. There was a lovely restaurant and gift shop on sight. I really wanted to purchase something from the gift shop because there were so many beautiful things, but I didn't because I wanted to be sure and avoid travelers regret.
Our next and final stop before heading back to the hotel was one of the many sky-high bars. We went to Moon Bar on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel. The views were awesome. Yet again, we weren't dressed appropriately so Mo was loaned a pair of loose black polyester pants and we both had to borrow a pair of men's slippers.
View from Moon Bar
Another view from Moon Bar
The view from Moon Bar after sunset
After a long day, we headed back to the hotel. After finally taking a shower we went out for dinner. I had read some reviews about a place called Harmonique a short walk from the hotel so we first tried to go there, but found that it was closed. Instead we ended up going to The Gallery Cafe which was very quiet, and not very busy, but very nice. The food was excellent. We had a curry crab dish which was delicious and packed full of crab meat. With our fully bellies we returned to the hotel for a good night's sleep before our early flight to Phuket. Is it just us, or does everyone agree that it's so much easier to get up to catch an early flight to go on vacation than to go to work!?!?!?
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