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This was our first trip to Thailand and I really did not know what to expect. We had been traveling  South East Asia for ten days and decided to spend three in Bangkok.  

Had some Best Western hotel points, which allowed us to stay free for the first night. 

We arrived late and purchased a fixed price taxi at the airport, which delivered us to the Best Western Premier near Sukhumvit road.

The hotel was very nice and comfortable with great helpful hospitality.

A few blocks from the hotel is the BTS Sky Train easy transportation to Saphan Taksim station where we boarded a water taxi to visit some of the top attractions the city has to offer. 

The friendly staff at our hotel warned us not to take a taxi, because the traffic in the city is horrible, but rather use the water taxi to get to our destination. 

From the window of our moving train we could see exactly what they meant and on our second day experienced it first hand.

We got off the boat at exit 9 to visit the Grand Palace and grand it was. Even though it was a weekday other tourist had the same idea and upon entering through the gates were surrounded by thousands of people, making it difficult to take proper pictures. 

I did enjoy the grounds and especially the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew). This twenty- four-inch statue is made from a single piece of jade and covered with a gold jacket, which is changed periodically by the ruling king.

The Grand Palace was built in 1782 and was used not only as the royal residence, but also housed many government offices. It takes a while to walk the 54 acres and many buildings are not accessible. 

Your first impression will be the magnificent bright colors and intricate Thai architecture.

This is definitely worth waiting in line to pay 500 baht ($14.45) each to enter and it includes entrances to the palace grounds, Bangpain Palace, Sanam Chandra Palace, Art of the Kingdom Exhibition, Emerald Buddha, Royal Decorations and Coins museum.

A short walk from the Grand Palace is Wat Pho a UNESCO site with many statues of Buddha, one in particular being the Reclining Buddha. 

It is 46 meters in length and 15 meters high.The temple complex was built around 1656 during the rein of King Rama I and completed in 1783.

Just before our trip I saw a special on TV about the monitor lizards that roam Bangkok. We adjusted our agenda to include a visit to Lumpini Park not far from Sala Daeng Sky Train Station. 

When we first entered the park we walked several kilometers with no lizards in sight. I asked one of the food stand ladies and she said keep walking around the lake and you will find them. 

It was around three in the afternoon and the temperature was already 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) with 100 percent humidity. We were slowing down rapidly and just when I was about to give up I came across several monitors resting in the shade. We kept walking and more appeared.

I was able to take many pictures while slowly walking back to nice the air-conditioned train. We reached the Best Western just in time for supper at the hotel roof top restaurant. 

Miwa and I both love Thai food and we tried the Red and Green Curry. Compared to the Thai restaurants in Japan the dishes were a bit more spicy, but manageable with a cold Tiger beer and some extra water.

For the next day we had reserved a tour to the floating market. They told us it was 80 kilometers and would take about an hour and a half to get there. 

What they did not mention was the morning Bangkok traffic. It was almost two hours before we actually left the city, but the trip was worth the time. 

This was a weekday and thousands of other tourists made it wall to wall people, imagine what the weekends are like.  

Despite the crowds we enjoyed the atmosphere even if it was a bit of a tourist trap. Part of the tour included a speedboat ride through a coconut plantation. During our ride back to the city the rains came and slowed us down, as well as the traffic. 

We finally asked the driver to let us off near the Sky Train station at Sukhumvit where we walked to a nice German deli for some sandwiches and beer, which we ate back at the hotel.

The next morning we walked back to Terminal 21 Shopping Mall for breakfast before catching a flight to Singapore. 

This mall is where we experienced the famous mango and sticky rice dessert, very tasty.

Bangkok is a vibrant and busy city. The economy must be doing ok, as there were construction cranes everywhere. The trains were on time and the commuters a little noisy compared to the quiet Japanese riders back home.

There is much more to see in Bangkok especially along the river. It definitely deserves a second look.

I have hundreds of high quality photos available from our Southeast Asian Trip

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