Our 4D3N Itinerary Around Bangkok

Just sharing some ideas on how to spend 4 days and 3 nights in Bangkok. For our trip, we arrived on the Saturday, during the long Chinese New Year weekend.

One important thing to note for our itinerary: it's 50% sight-seeing and 50% shopping. You've been warned. :) Also, some of the originally planned trips did not go as planned so we had to improvise on the fly. Some improvised trips are indicated below.


Day 1 (Saturday, January 21, 2012)

Arrived at the Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport before lunchtime. Hired a taxi straight to Banyan Tree Hotel Bangkok. After checking in, went straight to our first stop: Chatuchak Weekend Market.

Spent most of the afternoon in the first day here. Good prices (always start bargaining below half the tag price), tasty treats (try the garlic pork with rice at Section 23 and the coconut ice cream). A real shopper's delight.

After hours of wandering around and bargaining everywhere, we went back to the hotel to drop off all the shopping bags and rest for a while. Then, we're off to Yaowarat (Chinatown). It is Chinese New Year weekend afterall.

The streets are alive that night. Many choices for dinner. We settled with one of the restaurants which expanded into the sidewalks: T&K Seafood restaurant. After dinner, we just walked down the street along with other hundreds of people who are still doing their late-night shopping for the CNY. It was agreat night; lot's of things to see.



Yaowarat (Chinatown) - Sidewalk extension of the T&K Seafood restaurant



Day 2 (Sunday, January 22, 2012)

Next stop: Muang Boran. It's a 30-minute cab ride from our hotel to the Ancient City. You'll get a close look at the cultural heritage of Thailand. We paid the entrance fee (300 baht?) which includes a tram ride around the site. There are also golf carts for rent. At the time, a two-seater golf cart is worth 150 baht per hour.

We went for the golf cart first and rode along the site taking pictures and what not. Time flies fast; that one hour was not enough to get through the entire site if you're taking pictures. 10 minutes before the time limit (we didn't want to pay for the extra hour), we raced down the path -- got lost for a time -- but we reached the exit just on time.



Pavilion of the Enlightened -- Muang Boran, Bangkok

 After that, we then took the tram ride that was just about ready to go. The guide was speaking Thai so we really had no idea what she was talking about. Anyway, we just enjoyed the ride and finally decided to stop at the "Old Market" section, where we bought a few more trinkets. We then waited at the nearby tram stop that should take us back outside. It was quite a painful 20-minute wait for the next tram to arrive. It was only then that we realized that the exit was just a few meters away. :))

It's just after lunchtime but we still haven't had lunch. Time to go to the mall -- we decided to go to the MBK Center (Mahboonkrong). Not much to say here: another shopper's paradise. Got a good pair of shoes there. :)

Night time, so we headed back to the hotel. Shortly, we went to the Latitude Lounge and Bar at the 51st floor of Banyan Tree Hotel to claim our complimentary drinks. After that, we went to the rooftop at the Vertigo and Moon Bar to get some more drinks and get a nice view of Bangkok. We also caught a glimpse of some CNY fireworks down below -- apparently, Chinatown is visible from that height -- 61 floors up.


Day 3 (Monday, January 23, 2012)

Now, we come to the part we didn't expect -- and in not in a good way. We went to the Wat Phrakaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and Grand Palace, only to be stopped by one of the "tourist guides" on the outside walls. He said that the place doesn't open up until 12 noon. With two hours to kill, he guided us to a tuktuk driver who would take us around to see some sights nearby. He mentioned the Golden Mount and the Siam Center.

The first stop was actually great: we were taken to the Golden Mount -- a Buddhist temple built on top of an artificial hill. Quite therapeutic actually; you had to climb 318 steps up to the top. Along the way, you can get some good shots of the city. We then went to the nearby temple, Wat Saket, which houses a huge golden Buddha.

Then, everything went downhill from there -- we haven't confirmed it (not in the mood) but apparently, Siam Center is an area of Bangkok where several local businesses are setup -- and the damned tuktuk took us to practically each and every one of them. One thing we learned was that two of Thailand's natural mineral resources was ruby and sapphire -- we learned that, as we were taken to around ten jewellers around the city. That's two hours of wasted time that we're not gonna get back. The midday heat was not helping our mood either.

When the tuktuk finally took us back to Wat Phrakaew, we were hungry, annoyed, and had very short temper. We still went into the temple and palace grounds but we did not go inside the temple -- pictures not allowed anyway -- and we just had a passing interest on the architecture of the temple. We did, however, go into the Grand Palace -- that's like the only structure at that time that was not jam-packed with people. And still no pictures allowed inside.

We originally planned to go sight-seeing all day in that area, but that tuktuk ride really soured our moods so much, that we decided instead to go to a mall instead: Platinum Fashion Mall, great place to bargain for clothes. Got some good deals from there.


Day 4 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)

Nothing actually planned for this last day. Just the previous night, we logged online to check some good places to get the traditional Thai massage near our area. After some calls, we decided to go to the place about two blocks from our hotel. Well worth it. Never leave Thailand without trying their massage! :)

After that, we walked around the nearby side streets where we had our lunch. Shortly after, we headed back to the hotel to checkout. We still had around four hours to kill so we just stayed at the hotel lounge and availed of our complimentary neck and shoulder massage (we didn't see the vouchers until we checked out). It's another round of 10 minute massage which was refreshing. We almost slept again at the lounge. :))

Anyway, for last minute shopping, we opted for the duty-free shops in the airport. Surprisingly, there are a lot of good deals there too, but we were full anyway, so we just settled for window shopping.