Many friends and travelers suggested we “get out of Bangkok as soon as possible.” But, both Sammy and I were skeptical of such dismissal of a city with 10 million inhabitants. Ever since we left LA to go to college, we would hear people not from LA tell us how much they disliked our home-city, how much they hated where we were from. Nowadays, LA has gained a hipper reputation, and folks who used to talk shit about our home have often come to talk about how great their life in LA is.
Long story short, we have a tender place in our hearts for misunderstood cities.
That said, we heeded travel advice and chose to stay in Bangkok for just a short time (just about 36 hours).
And I tell you, the entire time here was a whirlwind of magic and serendipity.
We flew in from our plush time in cosmopolitan Singapore around dinner time. Checked into our Doubletree (free w our Hilton Honors points), and asked for a nearby recommendation for dinner. The sweet host suggested Lemongrass around the corner. As soon as we walked in, I was flooded with a memory of being a tiny human with my parents at the first Thai restaurant I recall going to — on one of our summertime vacations to Santa Barbara. I was taken aback by this whoosh of a memory, and overcome with revelatory gratitude. It was at this moment that I realized the seed of “always wanting to go to…..insert dream place” gets planted in us in so many ways, and we often forget the origins of our wanderlusty desires. As soon as I learned about countries outside the US (even from eating Thai food as a child), I wanted to stretch outside the bounds of my own country’s borders.
So, our descent into Bangkok and our first eat all had me remembering the power of setting intentions and witnessing as they manifest.
Lemongrass was divine, and we then went home to sleep before our full day in this amazing city.
Bangkok in 14 hours
We started our morning by bouncing downstairs at 8AM to get delicious coffee at a little cart down the street from our hotel. Next door, we had our first Thai breakfast: noodles with yummy meat, incredibly complex umami, and chili hot enough to make my lips burn (which I love).
By 8:30AM we were meeting the folks of Cooking with Poo at the nearby mall.
9AM whisked to the central marketplace Khlong Toei market (like none I’ve ever seen), and a super fun experience that we both 100% recommend. Read more about it here.
1:30PM we were back at our hotel for a tiny rest and quick change into pants (for entering temples). We took a few minutes to catch our breath and then realized there was no way we could get to the Grand Palace (the tour de force of tourist trap temples in Bangkok — think the Vatican) with enough time to make the trek worth it (it closes at 3:30PM daily and we couldn’t have gotten there til 3). So we opted to check out an audio walking tour a couple we cooked with recommended! VoiceMap can be downloaded in the app store, then you purchase different city tours that talk automatically using your GPS.
About 2:30 I got some Thai iced tea, and Sammy got bubble tea. I chose to ask for the tea sans ice, just cold, to stave off potential tummy ache from the ice. We hopped on the BTS (metro sky train) to head to the river ferry that would take us north to where our walking tour would begin.
Two stops from the river, I started to sweat. I started to shiver. My tummy started to ache and I needed to get off the train immediately. Lo & behold, I was a scene out of Bridesmaids: running off the metro to ask where the nearest toilet was. A friendly metro guard pointed me to a swanky mall, thank the goddess. So I spent a half hour in a luxurious private bathroom stall. A little traveler’s tummy ache, but nothing serious.
After that, a little tender in the tummy, I grabbed sparkling water from the Dean & Deluca right across the hall. Sammy came and found me. Then, we hung out on a bench for about an hour as I nibbled crackers and sipped sparkling water. A raucous time! But, it gave us some time to chill & rebrand our travel Instagram account 😂😂
By 4:30 we were back on the metro headed to the ferry at Sathorn Pier. For 9 baht each we got on a boat that took us down the Chao Praya river to Khao San Road and prepped the audio tour recommended for the day, recorded by a westerner who makes his home in Bangkok.
We walked the streets, saw a lotta tourists and then wound around to Wat Suthat. The tour guide said this was arguably the most important temple in Bangkok, more so than the Grand Palace. As we entered the courtyard, I could hear there was a service happening: the monk was giving a sermon over the loudspeaker. Respectfully curious, we glided up the majestic stairs, tip toed out of our shoes and onto the temple floor, seated among a sea of local devotees.
Saturday night worship got turnt all the way up. 😉
The sermon/dharma talk was all in Thai, so we couldn’t understand a word. But, there was something so clearing of the mind about sitting in a group of humans devoted to ritual.
A friendly soul named Somporn befriended us as we listened. We giggled and chatted and she explained what the monk was saying. Then, as the service ended, the crowd began to shift. She explained that someone was becoming a monk, and so we would all become part of that ceremony/celebration.
It was beautiful.
After the ceremony completed, we gathered ourselves to leave the temples we were given sweet cake and started our way back home by foot.
Uncertain of how to get there, we stopped into a bicycle themed hostel and asked where the MRT (acronym for the metro in Singapore lol) was and were pointed in the right direction. You could also hop on the #1 bus, he said.
As we walked, we saw the #1 bus, with its windows open, and so we hollered hello and asked if we could hop on. The bus folk were more than happy to oblige and slowed down their rig to let us on.
So we sailed through Bangkok, arriving at the local train that luckily has the same acronym as the Singaporean metro (MRT) and happily got our ways back home.
We decided to sleep in the next morning and forgo the heavily touristic Grand Palace because we needed to get to the airport. So we enjoyed delicious coffee and the same noodles we had the day before. We left happy and in love with the magic of Bangkok.