Overall Plan
I planned to visit Cambodia in July and decided to fly to Bangkok and then travel to Cambodia by road. This was because I was not sure how long I would stay in Cambodia and wanted the option of traveling in Thailand on my way back. I did a stop over in Bangkok for a few days and while I was there, met up with two of my ex colleagues who were currently working in Bangkok.
Sukhumvit
I stayed in the Sukhumvit area which is a lively place and where all the major hotels, restaurants and entertainment options were. Food options are plenty and include excellent Western, Thai, Burmese, Indian, middle eastern, Ethiopian, Chinese and Japanese restaurants. I and a big fan of Adam Gottschalk who is a journalist-turned-chef and runs the OTR channel on YouTube. In one of his programs, he had covered Burmese food and I wanted to ensure that I ate at least one Burmese restaurant. One of the first things I did was to visit ThaNaKa Myanmar Restaurant and taste its food. I tried the picked tea leaf salad which was flavorful and crunchy and had Pork with sour Bamboo shoot curry with rice. It was wonderful and reminded me of North East Indian food.
I was told Bangkok had over 20 lakhs Indians who had settled when the king had given them land near Sukhumvit at very low rates. Now this part of the city has become the main area and very expensive. These Thai Indians can be differentiated from their Indianized names. I asked my friend about his experience working in Bangkok. He said that today there are people from across the world working here including Indians. The school system is very good where the medium of instruction is Thai and there are also international schools. In many ways like India, society favors respect and politeness for individuality and creativity. Therefore while Thais are good at Tourist and services related activities, the level of innovation and use of Technology within the country is limited. Most technology companies are mostly from Singapore and Indonesia.
City Pillar and Wat Pho
The city Pillar is where the foundation of the city is kept in the form of a Lingam and is common across Thailand and Laos. Both this temple and Wat Pho which is one of the important Wats in Bangkok are just outside the royal palace area and I spent a few hours in both these places. I had visited the Royal Palace and the Emerald Buddha temple several years back and I decided to give it a miss.
The city pillar was set up by Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty and the city of Krung Rattanakosin or Bangkok. The shrine also has five guardian spirits including interestingly Chao Chettakup or Chitragupta who is an assistant to Yama, the God of death and keeps a record of all the deaths of a person.
Wat Pho was built by King Rama I and contains his ashes. It has the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand including the famous reclining Buddha. It was also a Center for public education and has illustrations and inscriptions for public instructions.
The best time to visit these places is early morning before the day gets hot and the tourist crowds start pouring in. Before going to these places, I stopped for breakfast at the Trok Mor Morning Market which is near the Palace and has got great street food.
Wat Arun and Souksiam
While exiting Thailand back to India, I made it a point to go to Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn which I had visited a few years back but at that time it was being renovated. It is an impressive structure on the other side of the Chao Phraya river and is very popular for photo shoots. Dedicated to Aruna, the charioteer of Surya God and the father of Jatayu, the temple is very impressive with its colorful tiles and the towering 200 ft spire of the main pagoda.
It's a day well spent traveling along the river and the best way to do it is to buy an all day river pass on the tourist blue boat at Sathorn Pier. One can hop in and out of the various sites. One of the stops I made was to Iconsiam, a stylish mall and one of the best places to taste Thai street food from across all regions in an airconditioned Souk called Souksiam. I would highly recommend it to every visitor.
City Parks and Art
If you love art and antiques, River City Bangkok is the place where I spent half a day wandering around its wonderful art galleries and antique shops. I bought a modern painting from MT Gallery which has a decent collection.
Before exiting, I had to make a stop at Thaniya shopping Center which is a mall just for Golf equipment and accessories. It is a customary place for me and my friends to visit when in Bangkok and a great place to shop for Golfing gear.
