Hi,
I had been to Bangkok last September with my office friends. The word ?Bangkok? is derived from the name Bang Makok which means the ?Place of Olives?. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand is known for its value shopping apart from the various religious and/or historic structures and definitely the night life. Bangkok attracts lots of tourists from all around the world because of amicable populace, mild winters, ancient history and various entertainment options.
Home for seven million people, the city prides itself on temples, museums, markets including the night markets, heavy metal pubs, bars and the modern art galleries. Among the markets the Chinatown, the floating markets and the Pahurat market (where one can find lot of Indian salesmen) are known for its silk, fabrics and bags. Thai silk is good and famous all over the world. Bangkok, though being a small city traveling takes a hell of a time due to bumper to bumper traffic, which inspite of the multilayered flyover sprawling all over the city. The alternative for the tourists is to take the boat charters and cruises to avoid the traffic jams.
Temples are known as ?Wat?; quite a few vie for attention. Some Wats are a must visit for the tourists are the Wat Phraw and the Grand Palace have structures more 150 in numbers, which are about 200 years old depicting the royal history of Bangkok. Wat Pho houses the very famous and magnificent reclining Buddha. Wat Pho also headquarters for the teaching and preservation of the traditional Thai medicine. An introduction to the Thai art and culture is provided at the National Museum which is largest museum is South East Asia.
Bangkok has to offer one of the best delicacies in non-vegetarian food and very sparsely found vegetarian food. The couple of places I dined were the Thai cuisine which off Silom road and the Dinner cruise on the Chao Praya river. Dinner cruise was really amazing since the nights in September is quite pleasant alongwith some live music and good food and wine.
Accommodation: There is wide of options, the costs ranging from 200 to 10, 000 Thai Baht. The best time to visit is between November to February.
Bangkok is a shopper?s paradise for clothes, shoes, gems, arts and antiques. Bangkok apart from the splendid shopping malls are more famous for bargain shopping on the streets. There are markets during the night and some markets which are only for the weekends known as weekend markets. But one has to take the following care while shopping (streets) in Bangkok:
1. Most of the big names are fake, though the sales person will claim to be genuine. All big names including Reebok, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Adidas, Rayban just to name a few are found on the streets.
2. Since not many sales person know English very well, they often display the prices on the calculator. Never pay the price they demand?. one can easily get at almost half the price, irrespective of the brand name (fake ofcourse). When you give your quotation, one has to display it back on the calculator.
3. Beware of pick-pocketers in the crowded market places.
Though the big names maybe fake?.they are quite good. There are also very few locally manufactured products or products imported from Malaysia or Singapore which is also worth buying. One can get good neck-ties in Bangkok because the Thai silk is very good.
Last but not the least: DO TRAVEL BY THE MOST FAMOUS ?TUK-TUK? (THE AUTORICKSHAWS).
Any comments / views.
Regards
Vijay