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The Silk Route - World Travel: Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand

Thailand: Bangkok
August 2004

BangkokJim Thompson House ChinatownTwo Excellent Restaurants
Chao Phraya River Chatuchak Weekend Market Royal Barges National Museum
Anantanagaraj, Royal Barges Museum, Bangkok

Hot and humid but a fascinating city. Apart from the fabulous temples, there are ornate Royal Barges, local and larger markets, and the busy Chao Phraya River binding it all together.

Plus some really excellent food - from riverside walk-ins to first rate Thai fusion.

Related page: Bangkok Temples

 

Bangkok

Bangkok
Wat Arun

Arriving on time we were very efficiently met by a hotel driver and taken to our hotel: the Sofitel Silom. There was a slight mix-up on check-in so we didn't actually get to move into our Club Room until the following day but too tired to care! We had an excellent dinner in the hotel Chinese restaurant at the top of the tall building while a storm raged outside!

sky  train tickets
Sky Train 1 and 3 day passes.

We had some very good meals in the hotel during our stay, including a Thai Tasting Tree one evening in V9. Room service was memorable: a crisp, white table-cothed table set up for us in front of our room window, everything beautifully laid out - for excellent hamburger and fries! The breakfasts are excellent too - superb eggs benedict.

Bangkok was very, very hot and very, very humid. Going out was like walking into a sauna - coming back was one of the blissful moments of the day, to walk into the Silom's air conditioned coolness.

Bangkok was created when King Phrajai (who reigned from 1534 to 1546) diverted the course of the Chao Phraya River 76km south of the then capital Ayuthaya, and created Thonburi on the west bank and Bang Makok on the east.

Bangkok
On the west side of the river, a food seller;
the heat gets to everyone!

 

Our first day in the city we took the Sky Train down to the Chao Phraya River area where we could get a river boat. We bought one day river passes so we could hop on and off and discover the waterfront areas.

Bangkok fort
Phra Sumane Fort

To begin with we stayed on the boat all the way up to Pier 13 - Phra Arthit Pier - and took a look at Phra Sumane Fort. This is one of the 14 city fortresses built in the eighteenth century to guard against naval invasion. It is rather an attractive octagonal shape and stuccoed white with very decorative battlements.

At Phra Arthit Pier, right on the river. we had an excellent lunch of beer and an array of local appetizers, though we had the staff hurrying to advise us when we attempted to eat the leaves in which some of it was wrapped!

After lunch we took the ferry to the other side of the river and walked around a domestic area. It looked very poor by our standards but everyone was very friendly and smiling.

 

Jim Thompson House

Jim Thompson House

The Jim Thompson house is quite different from all the fantastically decorated temples and palace buildings in the city.

Jim Thompson was an American, born in Delaware in 1906. He volunteered in World War Two but the war ended before he saw action. He was then, however, posted to Bangkok as a military intelligence officer and after leaving the service decided to move here permanently.

An architect before the war he was also a gifted designer and colourist. He was a great admirer of traditional Thai hand-woven silk, a cottage industry, and he supported and promoted the craft worldwide.

Jim Thompson House
Traditional teak building.
Jim Thompson House

However, it is his wonderful home for which he is best remembered. Constructed from six teak buildings, most over 200 years old, which were dismantled and brought to the current location. He was committed to the traditional way of building so his house is elevated one storey above ground level - a practical precaution against flooding - and the roof tiles were fired in Ayuthaya with a traditional design.

He moved in in 1959 and opened the house to the public when he saw how much interest there was - all income was donated to Thai charities and heritage projects. He disappeared in Malaysia in 1967, never to be seen again.

The house is beautiful and peaceful, surrounded by greenery and fish pools.

 

 

 

 

Chinatown

Chinatown
Chinatown

A huge Chinatown. The streets are crowded but very atmospheric and colourful. Tuk-tuks and bicycles but not much else can get into the narrow lanes.

Chinatown

There are loads of shops, from small to massive, selling all kinds of things at very cheap prices. In particular there seems to be lots of jewellery stores selling huge ranges of goods, especially necklaces.

Chinatown

In truth there is an awful lot of tat for sale, but also lots of food sellers on the streets and many fairly basic-looking places to eat. Very few tourists seem to make it this far.

 

Two Excellent Restaurants

We found that the hot and humid conditions suppressed our appetite during the day. We enjoyed the Silom breakfasts but were happy with drinks and appetisers at lunch time - a great way to sample a wide variety of Thai food. In the evening, however, appetite returned and we had some great meals, several at the Silom from Thai to Chinese via burger and fries! Others at two memorable restaurants: the Blue Elephant and the Mahanaga.

The Blue Elephant

Blue Elephant symbol

We had heard good things about this restaurant before we arrived in Bangkok so were keen to eat here. One Wednesday evening we just dropped in and were lucky to get a table. The Blue Elephant in Bangkok is one of a string of Thai restaurants around the world. Curiously it was not the first to be established, that honour belongs to the Blue Elephant in Brussels, opened in 1980 by a Thai woman with a passion for her homeland cooking. The Bangkok restaurant opened in 2002. It is housed in an old colonial style mansion opposite a Sky Train stop so very convenient too.

On this first visit we had buffalo satay, lamb curry and various other dishes - all excellent. We enjoyed it so much we reserved a table for the following Saturday. We had the Royal Thai Banquet on our second visit which was good but a little too much on the fishy side for our tastes. Felt we were better off choosing individual dishes, though the banquets do give you an opportunity to taste a good range of traditional dishes.

Mahanaga

Mahanaga card

Mahanaga is a fantastic place. We checked it out first to make sure we could find it and had beers and excellent satay in the colonial style bar and reserved a table for dinner.

It's a beautiful restaurant, set around a romantically lit courtyard, and styling itself as Thai fusion. Andrew had satay followed by Australian lamb with mango sauce. I had prawns in crispy batter and plum sauce followed by duck in peanut curry sauce. Desserts were rum and raisin and coconut ice cream. Our most enjoyable meal of the holiday.

Before our meals we had a Mahanaga Cocktail and a Gin Fizz, well, it seemed the thing to do!

 

Chao Phraya River

Chao Phraya River
The tower of Wat Rakang can be seen to the right.

Chao Phraya River

Chao Phraya River

 

The river is a fascinating place and as a working river there are not just ferries but long barges transporting goods.

 

Chao Phraya River
The Grand Palace from the river.

Chao Phraya River

As the traditional "highway" there are settlements along its banks, as well as temples and eating places. Ferries and water taxis carry people to and fro.

 

Chao Phraya River
Wat Arun
Chao Phraya River
A long-tail boat.
The propeller is on a long shaft and propels the boat through the water as well as being used to steer.

Travelling on ferries allows you to see all kinds of things in a very relaxing way.

Chao Phraya River
Chao Phraya River
Chao Phraya River

On the four hour return trip from Ayutthaya there was rarely a stretch of the river when there wasn't something interesting to look at.

Chao Phraya River
Chao Phraya River

On our final day in Bangkok we again bought one day river passes and went up and down the river. We made a special visit across to the Thonburi side, just to wander among the places where people live. We had to ask an official for the correct ferry and he didn't seem too keen for us to go. Maybe it was because the area we saw was very poor indeed. People were living in wooden shacks perched just above the water, connected by wooden walkways. It was very dark and the water waa just inches below the living spaces.

No way would I take photographs here, it would have been far too intrusive. People were lying languidly in doorways and it was impossible not to walk close to them and it was obvious that we were tourists. It was a very uncomfortable feeling but gave us a glimpse of how some people still live in this otherwise wonderful city.

Chao Phraya River

 

Chatuchak Weekend Market

We're not much for shopping but Chatuchak had been recommended for its spectacle and it really is quite amazing. We visited one Sunday morning, travelling by Sky Train, to this immense covered market of around 9000 stalls, though some of the shops are really quite large and couldn't be called stalls. Anything and everything can be bought here. There are many clothing and crafts outlets but also furniture, kitchen equipment, animals - from cockerels to snakes (we were being careful for this was the time of bird flu scares!), electrical goods. I bought a couple of tops but really we were just taken by the sights and atmosphere. It was immensely hot so two hours was enough for us, but it's well worth going.

We were looking out for a new camera so also visited MBK (Mah Boon Krong) shopping centre - eight floors and 2000 shops - ridiculously large. Hundreds of "stalls" sell the same item - for instance the choice of mobiles was staggering. There is incredibly cheap software - we assumed pirated. Cameras weren't the bargain we'd hoped so we didn't linger. We also briefly tried the more upmarket Siam Centre but without buying anything. Probably more diligent shoppers could find great bargains.

Markets are everywhere in Bangkok, colourful night markets are particularly interesting not just for the array of stalls, many being food of one sort or another, but also because everyone seems to come out in the evenings and eat, though an awful lot on offer looked very strange to us!

 

The Royal Barges National Museum

Royal Barges
Anantanagaraj

Royal Barges
Garuda on an escort barge.
Royal Barges

 

A must if you're not lucky enough to be here when the barges are put onto the river. Up to 50m long with rowing crews of 50 men, these are the ornate boats of kings and their entourage - the Rolls Royces of kingly transport in their day. And, yes, those are cannon on the bows, harking back to their origin as warships.

 

Royal Barges
Anantanagaraj
Royal Barges
Asura Vayupak - half bird half ogre.

Royal Barges
Narai Song Suban H.M. King Rama IX

The Suphannahong (Golden Swan) boat was King Rama VI's, first used in 1911, has on the prow the golden swan or hamsa, the mythical animal on which the the Hindu God Brahma rode. Made from a single piece of timber it is the largest dugout in the world.

Royal Barges
Suphannahong

 

The Narai Song Suban H.M. King Rama IX is the most recent, having been launched in 1966, and carries Vishnu on Garuda at the prow.

The most impressive is the Anantanagaraj with a seven-headed naga serpent (sea dragon) on the prow.

Even if you do get to see the barges in action, it's worth coming here to see them up close - the detailed decoration is fabulous.