This was something different. I knew what I am get into just I wasn’t sure what to really expect especially after first experience in Singapore and I was planning to spent much more time here than in any another city in Asia before at all. I made whole plan of activities what to do in Bangkok. I still didn’t have enough experience which places to stay in huge cities are strategically best but after time I discover real value of Bangkok/Thailand and it taught me a lot. This is time when I had to reconsider all my knowledge and experience. The world has been changing, in my mind now during every moment.
The smell of city sometimes nettle me, the atmosphere of this thriving city itself was something I had to accept first. Lot of tourist I had met refuse to stay in Bangkok no longer time than few days mostly because of smell, busyness and rush, it was just unacceptable.
Yes, I could just go through the city like any another “basic tourist” but it wouldn’t have influenced me a lot. I wanted to feel more, to notice details, real experience, to hear real heartbeat of the place. And It worked during first two weeks I have spent in north part of Bangkok.
At the begging I didn’t bothering myself with position of my hotel now but unfortunately mostly I had to use taxi to get in some interesting part of city. Taxi is cheap here, start at 35 bhats, and distances great so great that usually it’s no other choice. But there is another options which I will mention later.
Bangkok is city without any official center or main downtown some would say center represent Siam Square and somwhere you can
read about that whole Sukhumvit area has been recognized as main downtown . It’s very busy and overcrowded place fill with approximately 13 million of citizens. I always like to use ironic phrase, Bangkok the “organized chaos”. Many things can be shocking for newbie traveler especially if somebody originate from some humble small country, like somebody from Slovakia for example :).
From street food markets filling almost every sidewalk in Bangkok, swarming of thousand people in public transportation to traffic collapse every day since early morning until late evening it was still incredible to admit that the city actually works somehow without any critical mayhem.
So here are my first impressions. As always I started with food experimentation. Exotic fruits was first choice. I have never seen so many street markets to offer so many various exotic fruits. I couldn’t resist. I tried Rambutan, Dragon eye (Longan), Noni but above all I have to mention Mangosteen fruit. Yup this fruit amazed me, I just bought pack of Mangosteen without even knowing what it is. I will highlight this fruit in separate article. Later I have gone through local restaurants to try every meal they have and generally the Thai food is definitely one of the best. It’s healthy tasty, various, from soup to noodles and rice. I prefer dishes with coconut milk, it’s very delicious. By time spent in Thailand I have realized that the street food was the last component which had brought me into perfection of full Thai food enjyoment.
I knew I have much more time than I had in previous destination so didn’t rush to visit every known place. First two weeks I was walking through local place nearby of my hotel and if I consider location there was obviously nothing much to see. Because I had to use only taxi for transportation.
The important things to check first: the metro and BTS sky train station, timetable and cost, best is to try it by yourself. It’s good to start with public transport at beginning in cities like this so you can realized which locations are easy to reach and how expensive it would be and how long it takes to get from point A to point B. In Bangkok it’s very important. As example If you would like to cross the city from up north let’s say from Don Mueang aiport to south to the Erawan museum the distance is almost 70 km and it could take approximately even more than 2 hours consider it with usual traffic situation. So tried everything I possibly could.
There are still many things to mention so I split it in to two parts...:)
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