April 2018

We would recommend spending at least 3 nights in Bangkok.

Day 1: Old Bangkok.

 

Start the day with a ferry ride on the Chao Praya River. Cab to Sathorn Pier (3rd from the bottom on the left bank) or take the Skytrain to Taksin Station and walk a short way toward the river. Ask someone where to get on the ferry to the Temple of Dawn (Wat Arun). When he or she hears the word “Wat Arun,”  he/she will be able to point out the right pier to you. There’s a ticket seller by the pier. (Or you pay on the ferry if it’s not the Express.) This may sound confusing, but it will work out somehow when you get there. Bottom line is, someone will make you pay.

Walk around the Wat Arun complex. Tell the people at the pier “Phra Arthit” as your next destination. You either get on the cross river ferry and  get on another ferry to get there or there might be a ferry that will take you there. Depending on time of day and what month of the year you are there, different services are available. Someone will tell you at the pier what to do. Basically by pointing.

From Phra Arthit pier, you can walk to the lunch spot, May Kaidee. Or you can get a cab if you want to save energy. It is a wonderful vegetarian restaurant that serves delicious meals. You will not miss the meat.

After lunch, either walk or cab to the Grand Palace. It is a big place and there can be busloads of people, so don’t be too ambitious. See what you can. Built as a royal residence in 1782, it has its own temple, Wat Phra Kaew, where the famed emerald Buddha resides. The royal family does not live there any more, and monks do not live in Wat Phra Kaew.

Next door to this palace complex on the south side is Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha. Even though these two major attractions are next to each other, it will not be a short walk because of the size of these places. That’s why you will see lots of tuktuk drivers waiting for you. If you do take one, agree on a price before getting in. 50 baht would be a fair price, but they will want more.

By this time you will be ready for another thing Wat Pho is famous for: a Thai traditional massage($10-15/hour.) Follow the signs for “massage,” and you will be treated by a masseur trained by the monks.

If you feel rejuvenated, you can walk to the dinner spot. It is hiding in an alley, but the restaurant at Arun Residence is worth your trouble. You will be sitting across the river from Wat Arun, now all lit up looking pretty. The food is pretty good, too.

Potpong is not really a part of “old Bangkok” but it is not terribly far from the dinner restaurant, and it is one of the things Bangkok is known for: sexy entertainment and more. So you can cab there and see for yourself if you are curious. There’s a night market around there, too.

Day 2: New Bangkok

Start at Jim Thompson’s house that was built between 1958 and 1959. He was an architect, OSS(precursor to CIA) operative, silk merchant, and collector of Asian antiques. Then he mysteriously disappeared in Malaysia at age 61. He put a lot of work into building an authentic Thai wooden house & filled it with his collection. Now the house is a museum.

From there you can walk to Siam Square and the surrounding shopping centers in the area. It is quite a sight to see crowds filling up all these malls of varying sizes and shapes.

Hop on the Skytrain, go to Taksin Station, and then go to Sathorn Pier. This time you are looking for an area reserved for “hotel shuttles.” When the boat that has “Chatrium” written in big letters appears, hop on. This free boat ride will take you to Chatrium Riverside Hotel. Find the elevator that will bring you to the 36th floor, and this is where you are having your lunch. Last time we were there, it was a Chinese restaurant called Silver Waves. Their dimsum was quite good. But you are there mostly for the view. You will see the modern Bangkok skyline in full view. And whatever restaurant is in Chatrium will not charge 5 star prices. So here’s your secret to having a million dollar view without paying a million.

After lunch, you will need a break. Get back on the boat, and, when you reach Sathorn Pier, get off and wait for another free hotel shuttle boat from Anantara Riverside Hotel. Once you arrive at the hotel, go to the front desk and ask for a day pass for the pool. For $15, you can have an all day access to the huge, beautiful riverside pool and a warm, spacious, Jacuzzi. Heavenly!

When you get back to Sathorn Pier, walk to the Sky Bar, not too far from there. This is how hipsters in modern Bangkok enjoy themselves. Watch the sun setting behind the temple while sipping a cocktail.

Cab to Taling Pling for an authentic home style Thai food in a tastefully decorated setting. It is hiding in a narrow street, thus, relying on a cab will be easier than trying to find it on your own.

You will want to get a full scale night market experience tonight, so, after dinner, grab a cab and head out to Ratchada Rot Fai Train Night Market.

Day 3: Markets and Museums

If you are in Bangkok on a weekend, you are in luck. You can go to Chatuchak Market, the biggest weekend market in the world with 15,000 stalls and 11,500 vendors in 26 sections. Take the Skytrain or MRT Blue line and get off at Mo Chit/Chatuchak Park station. Just follow the crowd: 200,000 people will be going there. It is HUGE. You can’t possibly cover all the areas, thus, start from the section that you are most interested in, such as food, art, fashion etc. You can get a map from one of the information booths.

If you end up at Chatuchak, you should eat there. Try different things. Discover what the locals eat.

But you are not there on a weekend, then what? Don’t worry. There’s Pratunam Market, a wholesale fashion market that is big enough to tire you out. There’s morning market, day market, indoor market, outdoor market, night market to fill your day.

Pratunum has food stalls, too. If you want a sit down meal, try Hua Seng Hong a Chinese restaurant a few blocks south of the market.

If you still have energy after a shopping spree, you can fit in a museum, maybe. If you are interested in art, try Bangkok National Museum, Museum of Siam, or Museum of Contemporary Art. If you want to know how people lived in old Bangkok, go to Bangkokian Museum. Royal Barges Museum is another unusual museum that houses 8 royal barges. It is a bit tricky to get there, but you can get a nice little glimpse of Thai culture if you visit.

You have two choices for dinner: a fancy Thai cuisine at Baan khanitha(at Sukhumvit 53 location) or a Greek/Italian/International food at Seven Spoons. Bangkok has so many great restaurants, and most luxury hotels offer top dining experiences. But you don’t have enough time, and these two will give you a chance to justify a splurge on your last night.

Where to Stay & Getting Around:

I’d say stay along Sukhumvit Road a few blocks north or south of the Skytrain track. The light green line on the map above is the Skytrain track on Sukhumvit.  Or near a Skytrain station on the dark green line. Having a Skytrain station near by will prove to be be very convenient. Cabs are cheap, but the traffic can be bad. You don’t want to waste too much time sitting in a car.

There is no public transportation available in the old city area(the light brown area on the map above about 2 mile/3 Km radius) where the major attractions are. To reach a place in this area from a Skytrain station, you will have to get a cab or tuktuk. Or just walk. Walking can be wearing due to heat and humidity, though.

Getting In:

Most international flights arrive at Subarnabhumi Airport, west of the city. There are different ways to get into the city, but I think taxi is the most convenient option for first time visitors. It should not cost more than 240-400 Bahts($8-13) to get to the center.

Don Muang is the old airport & is now used more for domestic flights. It is smaller, thus, it can be quicker to go in and out. Some airlines from Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, China, and some others do go there.

The cruise port is 2 hours away in Laem Chabang, a container port. A private van service will be the best way to do this trip, and you can share the cost if you can get together with other cruise passengers. We paid $100 for a 6 passenger van. The traffic can be really bad and that will add 30-60 minutes to the trip.

Out of Town:

If you have more time, you can visit: Ayuthaya(an old capital) or Kanchanaburi(a riverside resort with WWII/River Kwai historic sites)

• our one month in Bangkok

March 2018

We’ve decided to spend a month each year in one place, and Bangkok(BKK) was our first stop. We had been to BKK(population: 8.2 million) several times and always thought we should spend a little more time there.

Food. If you ask me to name the single most memorable thing about BKK, I’d say food. Thai people know what to do with the abundant ingredients they have.

Where we stayed:

What made this decision so easy was the fact that we had free housing. A friend offered us her two bedroom condo for free. The area where we stayed is called Suan Luang, mainly a residential area off this map on the east side toward the main international airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport.

This condo had been built while our friend was a college student in Bangkok, before she came to the U.S. for a graduate program many years ago. It is just a 5 minute walk to a big shopping mall called “9 Center” on Rama 9 Blvd. where there are a food court, a super market, restaurants and shops.

What we ate:

One thing interesting about this apartment: there was no kitchen. In Thailand, a kitchen is optional and up to the owner of a condominium to install it. Being a college kid, our friend did not bother. But we did not find it to be a problem.

The food court opened at 8 AM. We went there almost every morning, picked up our fresh juice, usually mango($1.50), and chose our breakfast ($1-2) from endless options. Everything we tried was delicious.

Right below our unit was a restaurant whose name we never learned because it was written only in Thai. They had excellent food, and we never got tired of eating there. Best chicken wings ever! Most items on the menu cost about $1.50-3, and nothing was over $5. Despite of lack of a common language, they always understood us perfectly.

There are so many great restaurants in BKK. Almost all the restaurants we set foot into were pretty good no matter how cheap or expensive. A meal for two, including a beer or two, would typically cost us from $5 to $20. A few times at a fancy restaurant, we’d spend $30-40. There were super fancy hotel restaurants and such, but we did not feel the need to go to them.

One particular restaurant we really liked, even though we were not vegetarians, was a vegetarian restaurant, May Kaidee. You don’t even notice what you are eating is meatless. It is hidden in an alley not too far from Khao San Road, a bit tricky to find. They have a cooking school on the premise, and there is a branch in Chiang Mai and New York City according to their website.

What we did:

Of all the things we did in Bangkok, what we miss the most now is: the massage. In our condo complex, there were two strong Thai ladies providing one of the very best massages we’ve ever had! We could get an hour of blissful relaxation for 200 Baht($6.50). These ladies meant business: they worked hard on you. You do not get this in a tourist area. They were so good that we always tipped them 100 Baht, and the whole cost each session under $10.

The weather in Bangkok tends to be hot to super hot. Thus, we could not go out all day. We would pick a spot and go there, spend a couple of hours, then come home. We had 9 friends visiting us during our stay, so we had to show them around. When we were alone, we visited mostly night markets or neighborhood local markets.

Swimming can be a welcoming activity in BKK for obvious reasons. Some hotels offer day passes for non hotel guests to use their pool, and our favorite was Anantara Riverside Resort(day pass: $15) which had a nice big pool and a very spacious outdoor jacuzzi. We eventually discovered that there was a swimming pool sitting right on top of our condo building, and it was always empty. Too bad we did not have enough time left in BKK by then.

Bangkok is not an indoor museum kind of a place: it’s more of a being there and feel it place. Modern high rise buildings dot the skyline with old Thai architecture sprouting out unexpectedly all over town. People are gentle and treat you nicely. One month went by quite quickly.

shopping:

We are not big shoppers and we like to carry as little as possible when we travel. In BKK, we always found super bargains in aloha shirts and t shirts at night markets. There were some clothing shops in the Pratunam Market area specializing in slightly imperfect items made in South Korea, and their prices were unbelievably cheap for well-made goods. In our area, there was a night market at the parking lot of Rajamangala National Stadium. It was a smaller market but had enough food and clothing items to browse.

In general, bargains are every where in the city. If you see something you like, just grab it. You may not remember where you saw it later on. Haggling is almost expected, but many shops do have price tags nowadays. We are not good at haggling and most items were inexpensive, so we did not try it much. If we felt a price was too high we would simply walk away.

The Chatuchak weekend market was a great trove of treasures. We had to make room in our suitcases for the impulse buys we made there. It is a bit overwhelming with 15,000 stalls selling everything from food to antiques. It was fun even just to walk around.

Out of town trips:

Thailand has so many places to visit. As a 1,800 year old country, there are tons of historical sites, and then there are lots of ocean side towns and islands.

We took overnight trips to Ayutthaya(an old capital, 1 night, by train), Kanchanaburi & River Kwai(a resort town near the WWII sites, 1 night, by bus), Hua Hin & Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park(a beach town and a natural wonder, 3 nights, hired a driver/van), and Chiang Mai(2nd biggest metropolitan area in Thailand with lots of temples, 3 nights, by plane).

Getting in:

We flew from LAX to BKK via Chengdu, China, on China Eastern Airlines($405, R/T) Cheapest tickets tend to be on a China based airline, and you will have to go through an airport in China. Seoul(South Korea), Hong Kong, Singapore are other cities from where one can find a cheap flight to BKK.

Getting around:

taxi: from our area to the center of town cost around $5-10, depending on traffic, which, could be pretty bad. Within the center, it was $2-3. Grab(like Uber) was readily available & a bit cheaper at times.

metro: there are Skytrain and MRT in Bangkok, but our area was not served by these systems, thus, we did not use them much.

tuktuk: you negotiate the price before getting on, and the drivers tend to charge the tourists much more simply because they know they can. Because of this, tuktuks can be more expensive than cabs in Bangkok. Tuktuks are not all the same size, however. And many tuktuk drivers are willing to cram in more than 4 people. We used it to have our group of 5 together.

car hire: we found that hiring a van service(car+driver) made sense for out of town travel for a group of more than 4 people. We used two different companies, and they all had nice cars and great driver who arrived on time. (1)BKK to Hua Hin and back:4,200 baht, (2) Hua Hin to Sam Yoi Rot and back: 2,500 baht. Both companies offered BKK to Hua Hin  and the Sam Yot Rot transfers, but each had a different price. We chose the local company for each segment.

water taxi: Hopping on Chao Praya River Express Boat  and ferries is one of our favorite things to do whenever we are in BKK. Many of the major sites in BKK are located along the river, and you can get a really nice view from the boat. It costs from about 35 cents to $1.30, s  you can combine different lines to get to where you want to go. Or there’s a day pass for about $3.30.  We usually take our visiting friends on a city tour starting from Sathorn(Taksin) Pier on the east side of the river. (3rd from the bottom)

A new method of waterway travel we discovered was the canal shuttle. We found a stop(Ramkhamhaeng University, the 6th stop from the right) in our general area on this shuttle service, and it was faster than a cab to get to downtown during the traffic hours . The collector counted the stops you want to travel & charged you 2 baht per a stop. With lots of people getting on and off all the time, she/he remembered who paid for what. Amazing!  You can’t quite call it scenic due to the color of water and fact that you are cruising along seeing the uglier backside of houses and buildings, but it is a unique, local experience. The thick plastic “window” goes up and down manually, and whoever is sitting closest to a pulling handle is in charge of this operation. What an important responsibility! You will know what I mean when you try this shuttle.

bus: Our area was not served well by the bus lines, but there were “songthaews.” These are basically a pick up truck with a canvas cover and benches, and they act like mini buses serving designated local areas. In BKK, these have route numbers, and each route has a different price. We paid 6 baht(20 cents) to go from our condo to a local market area 15 minutes away. It started from a small parking area in front of our condo, thus, we always had a seat. It left when there were enough customers, and you paid the driver when you got off.

communication:

Our condo was sitting empty until we arrived. This meant there was no WiFi and no phone. We went to a local mobile store in the “9 Center” and got a SIM card that was good for 4 GB of data plus some local calls for a month for about $15. We could add money for more calls at 7-11 stores. Using my phone as a hot spot, others could get online.

budget:

We spent about $1,000 for food and shopping, $500 for domestic travels, and $405 x 2 for the international flights.

– 3 day itinerary suggestion: click here

 

May 2019  [by Pat]                                                                                          itinerary link

 

After our two nights in Killorglin we set out on a drive around the Dingle peninsula, the northern most of the peninsulas in southwestern Ireland.

After the tour we stopped for lunch in the town of Dingle

After lunch we continued north to our AirBnB which was in the middle of nowhere, just fields of grazing sheep. Our host told us that the restaurant in the Cliffs of Moher hotel had music every night, so we went there for dinner and finally found some traditional music.

Later that evening we visited the village of Doolin (pop. 500,) which is known as the traditional music capital of Ireland. Sure enough, we found a pub with music.