Insight Guides Pocket Thailand

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Apa Publications
• ISBN:
  9781789192346
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Ideal itineraries and top travel tips in a pocket-sized package.-Brand new edition of Insight Guides Pocket Thailand-Innovative extra = incredible value, and unique in the market. -High production values - fresh colour-coded design and full-colour throughout.Content overview:-Compact, concise, and packed with essential information about Where to Go and What Do, this is a practical on-the-move travel companion - Includes Top Ten Attractions, Perfect Day itinerary suggestions and an insightful overview of landscape, history and culture

Where To Go

Bangkok

Thailand’s capital might well come as a shock to the senses, but there is plenty to see for anyone prepared to put up with the heat and confusion. King Rama I modelled Bangkok 1 [map] after Ayutthaya, with canals that ringed the city and many magnificent temples. The temples are still beautiful attractions, along with palaces and historic buildings, but today the city has expanded beyond the old town into a bursting metropolis. It is a mix of huge shopping malls, bustling markets, sleepy canals, and, of course, the city’s notorious nightlife.

Gold statues at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Peter Stuckings/Apa Publications

The heat and the urban sprawl make it one of the world’s least walkable cities, and aimless sauntering may result in nothing but a twisted ankle, for the pavement is chronically torn up. Three preferable options are to find yourself a taxi, a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled passenger-carrying motor scooter) or a coach tour, which can be arranged in any hotel. There are also two mass transit systems – called the Metro or subway (an underground network) and Skytrain (an elevated service) – which enable you to circumnavigate the city in air-conditioned comfort. Both operate frequently between key points such as Hualamphong Station, Silom Road, Sukhumvit Road and the hotels by the river (for more information, click here).

City districts

The city’s sights are widely spread, with several major neighbourhoods vying for attention. Start your tour with the area called Ko Rattanakosin, which has the greatest monuments and is situated just a stone’s throw from the Chao Phraya River. This is the original royal centre of the old city, and is home to the Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace complex (for more information, click here), as well as Wat Pho. North, within the old city, Banglamphu contains the famous backpacker area of Khao San Road, and beyond is Dusit, which developed as a royal enclave from the time of King Chulalongkorn. It has wide boulevards, European-influenced palace buildings and Dusit Zoo.

Food stall in bustling Chinatown

Peter Stuckings/Apa Publications

East of the old city, lively Chinatown has a profusion of entrepreneurs along Charoen Krung and Yaowarat Roads and the small lanes (sois) that cross between them. Walk along Sampeng Lane (Soi Wanit 1), the original 19th-century market, or Soi Itsaranuphap A [map] for shops that sell everything from Chinese lanterns and wigs to gold necklaces and street food.

Charoen Krung (also known as New Road) was the first paved road in Thailand. It leads south to Bangrak, one of the city’s original centres for Western businesses. Several churches and embassies are situated between Charoen Krung and the river, as are now-faded examples of 19th century architecture and the Oriental Hotel, once the haunt of such luminaries as Joseph Conrad, Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham. The area is well supplied with gift shops and ‘instant’ tailors.

Running east from Charoen Krung, Silom Road contains the modern business district and Patpong B [map], the most famous of the city’s red-light strips.

To the north, cinemas, restaurants and giant shopping malls populate Pathumwan, where Siam Square, a low-rise grid of streets, houses the boutique designers fashionable with the young. Look out for the 30,000 marine creatures at Sea Life Ocean World (www.sealifebangkok.com/en) in Siam Paragon shopping centre (www.siamparagon.co.th), and Bangkok’s branch of Madame Tussaud’s (www.madametussauds.com/bangkok). Erawan Shrine, the city’s most important spirit house, is on the corner of Ratchadamri Road and Ploenchit Road. It was built by the owners of the former Erawan Hotel following various mishaps. There have been no further incidents, and today, a steady stream of the faithful arrive to offer flowers and carved wooden elephants to the resident spirits.

Further east, Ploenchit Road becomes Sukhumvit Road, a busy shopping, entertainment and residential area. It has cheap beer bars aplenty, red light districts at Soi Nana and Soi Cowboy and several of Bangkok’s best clubs.

Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace Complex

If you have time for only one sight in Bangkok, make it the Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace complex (tel: [phone]; daily 8.30am–3.30pm), near Tha Chang pier. No temple so typifies Thai aesthetics as Wat Phra Kaew C [map], the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Its glittering surfaces and wealth of art make it one of Asia’s architectural wonders.

Visiting tips

If visiting the Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace, make sure you allow at least a couple of hours and don’t forget that respectful dress (no sleeveless T-shirts, low-cut tops, short skirts, shorts or flip-flops) is required and the guards at the main entrance vigorously enforce this dress code. For a small fee you can hire more modest clothing.

Wat Phra Kaew was the first major complex to be built in Bangkok. As you enter the compound, you will encounter an imposing trio of structures to your left – the huge golden Phra Si Rattana Chedi, the Phra Mondop (Library of Buddhist Scriptures), and the Prasat Phra Thep Bidom (Royal Pantheon). Behind the Phra Mondop is a large sandstone model of Angkor Wat. Along the northern edge of the model, you will also find Viharn Yot (Prayer Hall), flanked by Ho Phra Nak (Royal Mausoleum) on the left and Ho Phra Montien Tham (Auxillary Library) on the right.

Next you will come to the Chapel of the Emerald Buddha, which was specially constructed to house the kingdom’s most sacred image, the Emerald Buddha. Sitting high on a pedestal, the 66cm (26in) -tall jadeite image is surprisingly small, but the belief in its power is apparent from the pilgrims who prostrate themselves before it.

From Wat Phra Kaew, turn left into the adjacent Grand Palace, where the first building of note is the Amarin Vinitchai Throne Hall, which served as a royal residence for the first three kings of the Chakri dynasty: Rama I, II and III. Built during the reign of Rama I, the hall contains two thrones, the upper in the shape of a boat, the lower covered by a magnificent nine-tiered white canopy.

The Chakri Maha Prasat, centrepiece of the Grand Palace

Peter Stuckings/Apa Publications

Next is the majestic Chakri Maha Prasat (Grand Palace Hall). It was built in 1882 by the internationally minded Rama V, and blends Asian and Italian Renaissance styles. The approach stairway and central balcony are of particular note. These are topped by a traditional roof, which rises in stages to three seven-tiered spires. Below the central spire stands a golden urn containing the ashes of most of t...