If you’ve been itching to go somewhere completely out of your comfort zone, Thailand is the place for you.
Bangkok is home to 10 million people and is bustling with energy. However don’t let the high population of people scare you away. Bangkok is what I like to call organized chaos. It is a city with a literal endless list of things to do; from temples to markets to street food to nightlife. It’s safe to say you’ll never be bored. Bangkok has some of the most efficient public transit systems in the world; making it extremely convenient to get across the massive city in little time.
Let’s start with the temples. As much as we hate to admit it, we all want that perfect travel photo to add to our collection. With over 400 temples to choose from, Bangkok will not let you down. From visiting the largest golden Buddha statue in the world or exploring the colourful Wat Pho complex, it is safe to say you will not be disappointed. Some temples may have a small entrance fee but most of the sites are completely free to visit and explore at your own pace.
Bangkok is one of the best places to shop in the world. With an abundance of markets and malls, it is safe to say you’ll never run out places to shop at. Bangkok can almost be described as one giant shopping plaza. My first day in Thailand I went out to explore the city around me. The hotel I was staying at was attached to a mall. I soon realized that the mall fed into a market mall, which fed into a market. I’m the type of person that likes to try and see everything when shopping, but let me tell you that mentality will have you stuck in Bangkok for the rest of your life. With some of the largest malls in the world with top designer brands to local markets of food and clothing, you can literally shop until you drop.
If you haven’t tried street food you are seriously missing out! Street food is exactly what it sounds like, food sold on the street. Everywhere you go in Bangkok you can find stands selling cut up fruit, smoothies, meats, bubble tea and of course Thai dishes. A lot of tourists avoid eating street food for fear of getting sick, but after spending 8 months in Thailand I can safely say I did not get sick once. Now I’m not saying that you can’t get sick eating street food, because you definitely can, but with common sense and few rules to follow, it’s no different than eating at an unfamiliar restaurant. One of the key rules to eating street food is picking a stand with long line. Now I’m not saying that it needs to be a line of 100 people, but take a look around and notice if it’s busy or not. Are they cooking the food in front of you? Has the food just been sitting out in the sun? If you are buying meat ask them to cook it fresh in front of you or if it has already been cooked ask them to heat it up again.
When purchasing fruit, you should only buy fruit that has a peel and that is cut up in front of you. A great place to try an assortment of different street food dishes is at a night market. Added bonus to visiting a night market is it’s not as hot at night as it is during the day and there is tons of food options to choose from all located in one place. Bangkok is a busy city with lots of people, so it is often safer to eat street food in Bangkok than it is more remote places in Thailand. However it is always good to have some medication on you just in case.
Now for the nightlife. Most people picture the nightlife in Thailand as an absolutely crazy experience with ladyboys and women throwing themselves at you. This is true for some parts of Bangkok like Soi Cowboy or Nana Plaza, however there are a few areas of Bangkok that often get overlooked by tourists. Sukhumvit is an area I highly recommend and one of my top recommendations for a night out. It has restaurants, street food, rooftop bars, lounges, bars and clubs. There are a lot of international establishments like an Australian pub, a New Zealand bar and a Cuban club. Most places do not close until early in the morning, and if your at a bar that closes early, you can take your drink into the street and go to the next place. There’s also a lot of speakeasys, aka bars with secret entrances. One of my favourites is Havana Night Club, which you enter through a phone booth.