Our flight departed Penang only 15 minutes behind schedule... phew. Airasia is notorious for flight delays. 1 hour 45 minutes later, we arrived at Bangkok's Don Muang International Airport. But we gained an hour because Bangkok's time is 1 hour behind Malaysian time.
I've heard stories about the traffic congestions in Bangkok. Now I got to see them in person. In retrospect, I noticed Thai drivers are very courteous, patient and very skilled at weaving between lanes. Taxis are everywhere, and they are easily spotted by their garish colour schemes - green and yellow, shocking pink, bright orange. I spotted a few 4x4 trucks, but the majority of the cars were Honda and Toyota.
How can we visit Bangkok without trying the "tuk-tuks"? That's what we rode on our first day in Bangkok. The ride was exciting - very bumpy, noisy and dusty.
On the first day, we visited Chinatown. I don't know where the "tuk-tuk" dropped us, but I'm guessing it's somewhere along the Yaowarat Road. There were throngs of people in the market. We walked (or waded) through the sea of people busy buying a variety of items - fruits, vegetables, meats, dried foodstuff, some I can't even identify.
We got back to the hotel before nightfall. I was really happy with the hotel room. I specifically asked for a non-smoking room, and that got us a room at the 39th floor. The room was very spacious, with a large bathroom and a cavernous walk-in wardrobe. The staff were very friendly and helpful.
A good night's rest and we were raring to go the next day. Our next destination - the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. We were fortunate to witness the changing of the guards at the Grand Palace.
These formidable looking guards stood at attention at three points at the Grand Palace. They stood so still that I thought they were decorative statues from a distance.
That's us at the Grand Palace. Right next to the Grand Palace compound is Wat Phra Kaew, an enclosed area with many many temples, stupas, halls, statues.
The lack of tourists in the picture may be because it started to rain. I liked the rain because it made everything look clean and shiny, and kept most of the tourists away except for hardcore tourists who didn't mind getting wet (I got sick when I arrived in Penang 2 days later...).
That's a view from our room at the 39th floor. But we made plans for dinner at Baiyoke Sky Hotel located at the 76th floor. The dinner buffet was nice, but nothing to shout about. Even so, I enjoyed the dinner. I had several rounds of Banana Mataba that looked like "roti canai pisang".
The highlight of the night was the visit to the observation deck at the 84th floor. The sky was clear from the rain the morning so the view was impressive. The observation deck rotates so we just had to pick a spot and enjoy the ride/view.
We didn't get to visit many places in Bangkok this time around, but we told ourselves that we'd be back next year.
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