Day 29 – Bangkok

Today we left our accommodation and used a Grab (which is a Uber like app) to travel from Baron Residence Bangkok to my first hostel called Oh Bangkok Hostel, closer to the touristy Khao San Road. By the time we got to the hostel it was mid afternoon.

The lobby area was nice, but while we were there they were doing renovations to the bathroom on the ground level, so it was pretty messy. The bathrooms were located on the 2nd level and our dorm room was on the 4th level which was exhausting to get to…only have stairs. There was at least 8 bunk beds in the room. We dropped off our bags and walked down toward the Grand Palace.

While we walked towards the Palace area, we met a “friendly” local, who randomly asked us where we were going. He told us the temple was closed today, but apparently it was our lucky day. Due to the king’s birthday two other temples have free entry today only and that we could go for 40 Baht / $1.67 AUD using a government tuk tuk. Luckily I had read about this sort of thing earlier and knew that they would be dropping us off at a shop/factory that will use forceful tactics to try sell us various items, so we said no.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We walked past the Supreme Court, City Pillar Shrine, Ministry of Defence, Grand Palace (which had massive grounds) and Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha temple), and went to the Siam Museum.

Siam Museum

While close to the entrance, another friendly local asked us where we were going. He told us the Museum was closed and after a while we were able to walk away. We went to the Museum, which was opened and had free entry after 4pm, as the Museum would close at 6pm. The Museum was cool displaying a history of Thailand and the theme was “What is Thai”. The museum exhibits started closing around 5.45pm so we weren’t able to see everything.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The exhibits were done really well and the free audio guide was educational. My favourite exhibit was the history of Thailand in the 2nd or 3rd room which had displays pop up out of a table with an audio description. Was super cool. 

Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha Temple)

After the Siam Museum, we walked to Wat Pho, The temple was large with various buildings. The temple has a massive reclining Buddha statue and several statues throughout the temple. Since we didn’t have a guide most of the buildings didn’t have much significance to us, but the architecture was unique and beautiful. By the time we left the sun had set.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Khao San Road

Then we walked toward Khao San Road, which is an extremely touristy area in Bangkok. It has a massive party scene with lots of street stalls and restaurants. The atmosphere was awesome, with plenty of loud music and people everywhere. Most of the people were tourists. We decided to have a Thailand classic, Pad Thai and some coconut ice cream before heading back to our hostel.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Thanks for reading 🙂