After a bit of confusion about using bills/coins to purchase tickets, I wound up on the Airport Rail Link’s City Line, where I alighted at Makkasan and walked the not so clearly marked and at times roads with no sidewalks to Phetchaburi MRT station. From there, I went one station over to Sukhumvit to find the Four Points by Sheraton. It took me awhile to find it because I went in the wrong direction, but eventually a stranger pointed me in the right direction, and I was checked-in to my room.
Room at Four Points by Sheraton Sukhumvit
Even though I had a standard room booked for 3000 SPG points, the room was incredibly nice with a great layout, nice furniture, and an impressive bathroom with a separate shower and bathtub, with one of the walls opening up into the room. Feeling rich from the generosity of Thai Airways, I decided to pony up the 450 baht for internet to get a quick bearing on where I was in the city and to decide what to do for the rest of the day.
My first destination was Siam and the malls to find something to eat for lunch. Although I love street food, because I needed to be healthy and well to teach a few days later, I vowed to not have any while I was there. I walked around for a bit before settling on a restaurant, where I had a decent meal.
Jim Thompson’s house
Close-by was Jim Thompson’s house, so I walked there from MBK Center and took a short tour of the place. It’s a nice little house put together from six traditional Thai houses on stilts. At this point, I was starting to feel the effects of jet lag and from only sleeping a few hours the night before at Changi, so I headed back to the hotel to take a quick nap.
The quick nap turned into quite a long one, and by the time I woke up, it was well past 9pm. I headed over to Patpong to check out the night market, looking for good deals on a few things I wanted to replace.
Patpong night market
I didn’t end up eating dinner, so I woke up in the morning and decided that I would opt for the hotel breakfast. Upon checkout, I learned that it cost a whooping 650 baht – I expected that it might be around 400-500 baht, but never thought it would be that expensive given how cheap food is in Bangkok. I settled the bill using my stash of cash and then headed out toward Rattanakosin, transferring to one of the canal boats from the Skytrain at Hua Chang.
My first stop was Wat Ratchanadda, where I was able to get a pretty good view of the area from the top of the temple. From there, I took a taxi to the Grand Palace. I went ahead and got the audio guide as I had extra cash to burn, but I think it is worth it regardless and would recommend it to anyone who visits. The architecture in Bangkok is exquisite and unlike anything I’d ever seen before.
Grand Palace
Afterwards, I walked around the Grand Palace and crossed the street to Wat Pho to take a peek at the reclining Buddha and the rest of the temple complex. The architecture and the decorations on the temple are beautiful, and the texture gives it a different look and feel from the temples of East Asia.
Wat Pho
From Wat Pho, I crossed the Chao Phraya river to get to Wat Arun, which perhaps was the single most amazing building I was able to visit during my short stay. There are stairs up the very steep sides, and I climbed to the highest accessible point and got a great view of the river in both directions as well as back towards Rattanakosin. Climbing up was not so bad, but it took a bit of courage to climb back down as the steps are incredibly steep.
Wat Arun
View from Wat Arun
Crossing back to the other side of the river, I tried to get a taxi to take me back to Sukhumvit so I could eat a late lunch near the hotel before going to the airport. I failed to get a taxi that would take me on the meter, so after several attempts, I gave up and found one that would take me back to the Golden Mount. There was a Formula 1 race that day which was to pass by the area, so the traffic was bad and it took me awhile to get back. The area was also crowded with people when I arrived to take the canal boat back towards Hua Chang.
I eventually made it back to the Four Points, and I decided to skip lunch because it was nearing time to head to the airport. I picked up my bags from the hotel and hopped on a taxi towards Suvarnabhumi.
