Bangkok in Review
Bangkok gets your blood pumping. This dazzling city where you can bargain the best prices for the best quality, load up an extra suitcase with handicraft souvenirs, textile and jewellery, share the Thai passion for food savouring famous curries and spicy salads is as funky and hip as it is ancient and traditional. The Grand Palace, the Emerald Buddha of Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho where you can see the serene reclining Buddha are the cities most popular cultural attractions. Lumphini Park is an oasis of tranquillity in the middle of the hectic city and the Flower Market is truly spectacular.
Rooted in the past, with over 400 temples to visit, Bangkok is racing into the future. Siam square is an entire wi-fi zone with a Starbucks on every corner. A shopper’s paradise, Bangkok offers you its old style markets and the famous Chatuchak Weekend Market, but if you are not on a budget try the new Paragon Shopping Center, 7 floors high and displaying every brand you can imagine.
Streets and waterways are always alive with vendors, commuters, school kids, travellers, monks, tuk tuk drivers and the occasional elephant. Combined with delicious food from upscale restaurants, stall traders or night markets and a vibrant nightlife scene, the locals have turned Thailand’s capital into the city that never sleeps. An evening in Bangkok is not complete without a ticket to one of the world famous thai-boxing fights in Lumphini or Ratchadamnern Stadium before enjoying a cocktail and the skyline on one of Bangkok’s unique rooftop bars.
At breakneck pace, the “City of Angels” is one of the most stimulating cities on the Asian continent.
- From our editor T. Ireland – Sydney