Day 86 - People in Bangkok

A quiet day without any proper sightseeing, jut walking around town and checking out both entertainment areas.

We started off with Silom before heading to Nana and see what the difference is, both look very similar in a way with Silom more spread out while Nana is more concentrated.

Since it was Halloween, we had a few drinks in a bar and enjoyed the entertainment provided. At least the drinks were not too expensive.

Day 85 - Grand Palace and more of Silom

The morning was all about seeing the Grand Palace so we got up earlier and headed there to take pictures. The light wss fantastic with some clouds in the sky providing great contrast.

The Grand Palace is very grand indeed with a lot of details to be found in the different temples and buildings. It is very impressive and very 'bling' with a lot of glass, gold and reflective surfaces.

Walking around you can easily spend a whole day in there if you take your time to see everything.

We only spend the morning and early afternoon there before heading back to Silom again for a walk during the day and then the evening to see how the area changes after it gets dark and the bars start opening.

Probably the most impressive part of Silom is the Japanese street with the very nice looking escort girls waiting in front of the places for the, strictly Japanese, clients. The night market is also nice to wander around and you can always free sample all the other establishments if you have nothing better to do.

For drinks we ended up of all places in an Irish pub since it has the cheapest pints.

Day 84 - Temples and Nightlife

We started the day by visiting the Sao Chingcha temple near the hotel and the Romaneeart park, which used to be a prison at some point judging by the remaining structures like guard towers and a cell block.

After this we walked to see one of the main temples, the Wat Pho temple near the Grand Palace. The temple is really big and very nice with a lot of different areas to explore and of course the famous Reclining Buddha.

After visiting Wat Pho we had some lunch and were about to go and visit the Grand Palace when we realized it was 15:27 and the last admission is at 15:30 so we decided to do this tomorrow instead and just wander around the area some more.

We took the boat again to go and explore the Silom area, one of the main nightlife and entertainment areas.

Aside from it being very touristy with inflated prices to match, it was again not as expected. You have bars, the night market, little Japan, gogo dancing, sex shows, massage places and streets for girls, guys and ladyboys. Still, it does not feel very seedy or crazy but more organised and 'clean'.
It's certainly very interesting to wander around and experience this as it's one of the sights and probably for some main reasons to come to Bangkok.

Day 83 - First Day in Bangkok

The morning was spent walking around and exploring the area near the hotel. The hotel is conveniently located for all the main sights.

I am not sure what I expected but after seeing movies, I kind of expected Bangkok to be more like Hanoi with tuk-tuks and bikes everywhere and people rushing about.

Instead it was all pretty quiet with mostly cars around, a lot less tuk-tuks an bikes than expected and orderly driving.
People were also nice and just went on with their business, although in the more touristy places you get approached by different people wanting to sell you suits or a tuk-tuk ride.

The area around the grand palace is quite nice and has most of the main sights in Bangkok near each other so you can get to see quite a bit in one day. We decided to just get a feel for the place and not rush to see everything in one go.

In the afternoon we took the boat services to the shopping mall district to look for my Surface charger and after a bit of a search I finally found a shop that not only carries the Surface but also sells all the accessories. This means now I have a charger and a functioning Surface again.

As for Bangkok, even the different area is not quite what I expected and it feels a lot like Taipei.