Was it 10 years ago? The last time I was in Bangkok? It was for sure more than 8 years ago that I’ve been to Thailand’s capital. Actually, I was in Bangkok for 1 night 2 months ago when I flew into it from Brussels. My hostel back then was close to Chinatown, so after check-in, I went out to explore the neighbourhood. Chinatown in Bangkok is quite huige! It has so many little alleys where you can easily get lost in. I got lost in a part where they sell all kinds of 2nd hand motorbike parts, and then again a part with shops full of iron parts for making iron accordion doors. At the end I did found Chinatown with its food stands and street vendors.
It was december and in the streets of Chinatown you noticed well that Chinese New Year was around the corner. Stands full with Chinese Newyear decorations and people buying stuff to welcome the year of the horse.
While I was lost I bumped into the Golden Buddha in his temple (Wat Traimit).
And now 2 months later I’m back again in Bangkok! Now for a week, taking my time to get to know this bursting place and relaxing a bit from my previous adventures :-)TIP: If you dare, consider exploring Bangkok by bike like I did! It’s free! The project is called ‘Bangkok Green Bikes’. You only need your passport to register, then they take a picture of you with the bike (for propaganda of to get after you in case you don’t return it?) and you get a really good map. It’s really worth doing it. On my bike I passed all major sights like the Grand Palace, the National Museum, Tha Tian Quarters, Wat Pho, the Giant Swing, Democracy Monument, Khao San Road, the Klongs of Bangkok, Prasumen Fort, and other small sights that I forget to mention.
Out of all these sights I only revisited Wat Pho, the temple of the Reclining Buddha..and only to make someone jealous who was here before and envied me being here, heheheh…:-D
I also joined a Thai cooking class 😀 It was great fun! We were divided into small groups of 6 persons, we went to the market and made some delicious Thai dishes!
When I was in Bangkok there were also some reformation demonstrations going on, the so called ‘Bangkok Shutdown‘. I wasn’t particularly looking for those places but if you walk around Bangkok you can’t avoid bumping into one or two. It was not as dangerous as people would think. Some major crossings and streets were shutdown for cars and other vehicles, you see many Thai people wearing the Thai colors and in the evenings those squares turn into ‘festival’places with music and dance!
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