Exploring Bangkok: Chao Phraya River and Silom Night Market

Exploring Bangkok for the first time on a visit to Thailand.

Bangkok is amazing, a fascinating city full of contrasts, the traditional and the trendy living side-by-side in apparent harmony.

We arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport on a direct flight from Spain – the 15 hours that just flew by on a comfortable aircraft with excellent service, inflight entertainment, nice food and a few glasses of Chardonnay.

Taking one of the brightly coloured metered taxis for convenience (we’d started out from our home town some 30 hours earlier) we were driven directly to our hotel in downtown Bangkok. Quite surprisingly, Juan and I weren’t tired, so we immediately set off to explore, walking down tree-lined Silom road and found our way to the Chao Phraya River.

Exploring Bangkok for the first time

Chao Phraya River Trip

I purchased a day pass for a riverboat which took us past some of the main sites of interest…

…Wat Arun on the west bank (said to be the prettiest temples in Thailand, the image is depicted on 10-baht coins), the famous Wat Pho temple and the Grand Palace on our right.

You can hop on and off the ferry at the various stops, but we just enjoyed the guided ride for a while…

…watching the typical long-tail river taxis and cargo boats, fascinated by the contrasting scenery along the riverbanks…

…ancient bedazzling golden spires intermixed with glass-fronted swish hotels and poor shabby dwellings.

We jumped off at one of the Maharaj pier to sightsee…

Bangkok is jam-packed with busy street markets… shops, stalls and carts selling everything from cheap clothes to souvenirs, herbal remedies, exotic fruits, flowers and street food.

Like everywhere in Bangkok, the traffic was pretty chaotic too!

We wandered around soaking up the atmosphere in the heat of the midday sun, contemplated the typical riverside restaurants, but finally caught the boat back.

Wat Khaek on Silom Road

We eventually had a Thai lunch in the air-conditioned luxury of a little eatery back near the Narai Hotel where we were staying on Silom Road.

There seem to be temples and shrines just everywhere in Thailand, most of them Buddhist, and a general love of elephants! Elephant statues along Silom road mark the way to the Sri Maha Mariamman (1879)…

…an Indian Hindu temple which is known locally as Wat Khaek , it has an ornate façade, a tall tower at the entrance with carved images, and a copper dome. Like most temples in Asia, it’s only respectful to walk barefoot and to cover your arms and legs.

After making a small offering of a typical marigold flower garland, the Pujari blessed us, tied ‘sacred thread’ bracelets on our wrists and pasted a vermillion Tilaka sign on our foreheads as a gesture of welcome.

Inside the temple there are various shrines dedicated to Hindu deities – Sri Maha Mariamman, Ganesh, Kartikeya, Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma – and images of the Goddesses – Kali (Mother of the Universe),  Mahalakshmi (wealth and good fortune) and Saraswati (wisdom and arts).

Silom Night Market

After an afternoon of religious enlightening it was time to see the ‘sinful’ side of the city! Silom night market is one of Bangkok’s colourful sites – popular with tourists, the hundreds of stalls in Patpong market may not be the cheapest place to get a bargain even after haggling, but it’s a lively, entertaining atmosphere…just avoid the ‘Ping-Pong’ bars!

After browsing the stalls, Juan and I eventually sat down to relax at street café terrace, and ordered some tasty Thai food and some cool lager which was served by amusing waitresses who were, I guessed, ‘lady boys’.

A crazily dressed, smiling old lady (pictured here with Juan) came by selling fashion jewellery for a pittance, so I finally got my bargain – two beautifully engraved metal bracelets which miraculously haven’t tarnished over time.

Thailand is a contrast, impossible to gauge by ‘western’ standards, apparently laid-back and permissive, the people we met during our holiday were easy-going, friendly, respectful and polite… that was our experience.

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