Bangkok Three Days

Azamara early January.

We are not museum and temple enthusiasts so we'll give them a miss.

My initial thoughts for the three days are:-

The Floating Market - 60 miles away I understand so a day trip.

Flower Market - which I assume is not the same thing, (Dummy??)

Patpong Night Market. For a bit of fun - I hope.

Khao San Road. Vital according to TripAdvisor. Any view?

Siam Paragon. A market that I do hope is not a supermarket.

Fresh ideas requested and 'avoid at all costs' equally welcome.

Tony

My suggestion would be to pickup a Fodors guide at your local library, we find them to be most useful.

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So do I Acrusa.

Tony

We have only 2 days in Bnagkok do you think touring Lantau Island is a good use of day 2. We will have a city tour on Day 1

We have only 2 days in Bnagkok do you think touring Lantau Island is a good use of day 2. We will have a city tour on Day 1

No, it's over two hours each-way by plane, or up to 2 weeks by road.:eek:

Much easier to visit Lantau Island from Hong Kong ;)

JB :)

sorry brain in turkey coma!!!

sorry brain in turkey coma!!!

No, no, no !!

Not Turkey !!

That's thousands of miles in the other direction :D

But sounds like you had a good Thanksgiving Day :)

JB :)

We did a day long tour that included temples & markets AND a long boat tour in the canals. Definitely my husband's favoite part. He felt like James Bond ;-) Got to see lots of monitor lizards (and feed the catfish which is really weird and touristy but others seemed to like it...)

Azamara early January.

 

We are not museum and temple enthusiasts so we'll give them a miss.

 

My initial thoughts for the three days are:-

 

The Floating Market - 60 miles away I understand so a day trip.

 

Flower Market - which I assume is not the same thing, (Dummy??)

 

Patpong Night Market. For a bit of fun - I hope.

 

Khao San Road. Vital according to TripAdvisor. Any view?

 

Siam Paragon. A market that I do hope is not a supermarket.

 

Fresh ideas requested and 'avoid at all costs' equally welcome.

 

Tony

We love just getting a water taxi on the Chao Praya. Azamara’s free shuttle which goes to Central Plaza. From there you can walk around the corner and get the Skytrain to Saphan Taksin, which links with a river boat station. The Bangkok Skytrain website is very helpful. http://www.bangkok.com/bts/#

We love just getting a water taxi on the Chao Praya

Good suggestion.

One question though. We plan to book the Amazara trip to the Damnoen Saduak floating market. My reading is that is different to what you are suggesting.

Yes?

Tony

A good number of years ago on our first visit to Bangkok we spent 9 days on a hotel/land holiday then twice found ourselves back there onboard ships overnighting. Neither time were we docked in the city itself, which I believe Azamara does, so you will gain some time.

Best not to restrict your reading research to only Tripadvisor, because I was somewhat shocked and amused to see you describing Khao San Road as "vital". It may indeed be "vital" but only if you are under age 25, backpacking on a miniscule budget, staying in hostels and shared dorms and into serious partying. Try googling Khao San Road and reading the results. I would give this a miss.

Siam Paragon is a shopping centre. One of the largest in Asia. It is located close to others. Lots of them in Bangkok. Take your pick. Try googling Bangkok Shopping Malls/Centres to compare which offers which stores.

Patpong Night Market. Hmmm. Before you go, be aware that it is located in the red light district. We went out of curiosity but left after a half hour or so as it was all a bit too much "in our faces". As with every market in Bangkok, expect goods to be fake and of poor quality. Also expect them to be overpriced and to haggle hard. You cannot even see just how bad some of the "workmanship" is at night, better in daylight. You could probably buy genuine items and of reasonable quality in a proper store. We found the "fakes" in Vietnam to be of superior quality!

The flower market is colourful. Worth going if you are in the area. We got off the ferry at the nearby stop and walked to it as it was fairly close to a Wat, and nowadays also a museum.

The Floating Market at Damnoen Saduak (the most popular with tourists) was an excellent trip for us, and we opted for the full day tour which included the Rose Garden, Cultural Show and lunch. You could do a half day, only visiting the floating market. The Cultural Show sounded a bit cheesy but in fact was very entertaining. We were in a hotel that time, but you should find lots of tours with different combos online. They would likely pick up at the dock.

We also booked a car and driver from the hotel to take us to "Little Thailand" AKA Muang Boran (The Ancient City) Info online.

Depending on the days of the week you are there, we also went to the enormous Chatuchak Market (Sat and Sun only) Info online

We rode the public ferry to Ayuthaya and back just for the sheer enjoyment of watching life on the Chao Phraya River.

and got off a ferry at one of the piers and hired a longtail boat to take us a tour of the smaller klongs where all Thai life can be seen. Absolutely loved that. We enjoyed it so much we repeated it on a shorex on one of our cruises but they stuck to klongs which were larger than those we saw independently and not so interesting, and it was a shorter time overall.

Although you are not at all interested, we visited lots of museums, wats, (big, small, gold, reclining, jade etc) and the Grand Palace. I would suggest that you at least visit the Grand Palace because it really is splendid. Read about it and look at photos of it online

Use the Skytrain to get around if you can. With A/C and very inexpensive. Doesn't go everywhere of course, but could be useful. And practice your jumping skills for getting on and off the ferries. When you see the water in the river, you will jump higher and longer and more accurately than you ever thought you could.

Can I suggest that you go on to the Frommer's website and enter Bangkok into the search box. I use Frommer's a lot, in combination with Tripadvisor and others. There you will find lists of places to go, things to see, itineraries to follow for 1/2/3 days, suggestions for out of town visits and all sorts. It would be a good starting point for you and might give you some ideas.

Thanks Edin...

Lots of good advice. Especially about the markets. We asked to be taken to one in Bombay and ended up at a supermarket departmental store.

You mention The Ancient City. Amazara sell it as a tram trip. I was put off by feeling it was a theme park and all rather repro. Am I wrong?

I was in Bangkok over thirty years ago and I loved the river exploration. We have listed the trip to the Damnoen floating market and I think that is some way out of town. Certainly we'll add another one nearer the centre. Any idea how we find one that does the backwaters rather than the larger klongs?

The red light area. Yes, I realise how in your face this will be. Maybe we'll not bother. Thirty plus years ago it was probably a little less overpowering.

Thanks again for the input.

Tony

The Khao San Road comment surprised us as well. We have spent three winters in SE Asia, soon to be a fourth, always with Bangkok as a flight hub. We have walked along Kao San Road but did not see what the fuss was about.

In any event you can certainly combine it within your touring. It won't take long to do nor is out of the way.

We enjoyed Jim Thompson house/musuem. You can easily combine it with a canal boat trip or with a visit to the big SIam shopping center. Last time we were there we passed by the auto stores inside the complex. Bentley, McLaren, Masaratti, and a few others had vehicles in the showrooms.