Bangkok...Stripped
- cocosandswimwear
- Jan 4, 2017
- 6 min read
The monkeys came and left quickly (check our previous post in case you haven’t gotten a chance to). To continue our travels in Thailand, we headed up north to Bangkok to get a little bit of the city experience in South East Asia. Our ride was long, with many stops and different vehicles to switch to in between our ride. We arrived around five in the morning and our bus seemed to stop in the middle of a highway, where a large crowd of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers were waiting to get us. Let’s talk about Bangkok…
Accommodations:
After the hectic ride and sleepless night, we arrived to what seemed like a little piece of heaven in the middle of the city, The Banyan Tree Hotel. It was kind of rainy but the hotel had a fire pit going in the drop-off area which made us feel warm. The hotel staff welcomed us with traditional, fresh, beautiful, Thai flower garlands. Our check-in time wasn’t until 3pm but they did everything they could to have our room ready as soon as we arrived, which was early in the morning. We ventured out for breakfast and by the time we got back, our room was ready! Win! We walked into our room and WOW. The view was AMAZING. The entire city could be seen from the large windows surrounding our room. We barely had to leave the hotel because anything we wanted/needed was there. From their restaurants, shops, rooftop bar, pool, gym, spa, lobby with live instrumental traditional Thai music, you name it, they had it. We tried three of their restaurants, obviously, the rooftop being one of them, and spent a lot of time at the pool as well. The staff continuously brought refreshments, cooling towels, and tried their best to make us feel comfortable and pleased. We were lazy one of the nights and decided to try their buffet restaurant, thinking it would be like a typical buffet, but boy were we wrong! They had a large selection of all kinds of meats, vegetables, cheese (we hadn’t had cheese since leaving home!), fruits, sushi, desserts, there is not one thing I can think of they did not have. Big shout-out to everyone at Banyan Tree for going above and beyond with their customer service. We were more than pleased during our stay there.
After several nights at the hotel, we booked an AirBnB which also exceeded our expectations. My husband and I love tiny places and this was the cutest tiny condo. It had everything we needed, including a washing machine (which came in so handy!) and a saltwater infinity pool that we had no idea was there. The price couldn’t be matched. There was public transportation nearby, many malls and markets, and again, with a pool like this it was hard to leave our room.
Food:
We had an amazing time while dining at Vertigo and Moon Bar, which was the rooftop place at Banyan Tree. You can look at the pictures and judge for yourself. Also, we were allowed in with our hiking boots and ugly sandals! Since we are traveling long-term, we only brought a couple of footwear options and going to fancy places has been challenging and risky, but so far, nobody has said no.
Romsai was also one of our favorite options. It is a buffet but this is no ordinary buffet. I am a huge passion fruit fan and the dessert table was heaven for me – I was passion fruit high after our meal.
We were craving good steaks and decided to venture out into the city. After some online searching, we decided to try El Gaucho, an Argentinian steakhouse near Terminal 21, one of the main shopping centers in town. The food was to die for and our steaks were just perfect. At the end of our meal, the treated us to a shot of their “homemade” honey vodka which was a sweet touch and a perfect way to end our meal.
You can never go wrong with street food in Bangkok. We tried it for breakfast and lunch multiple times and enjoyed fried chicken, spring rolls, sticky rice, mango sticky rice, pad kaprow, and so much more! Be careful if you ask for “spicy” because they are very generous with their chilies.
Things to do:
Temples. Everywhere. You can spend days just visiting temples, learning about their history and all of the details in them. The Grand Royal Palace by itself could take days. This was one of our favorite sights. The reclining Buddha, which is the biggest Buddha in Thailand, and the Emerald Buddha were also great sights.
We drove a little bit further out of the city to visit one of the nearby town’s floating market. It was so nice and relaxing. They offered a fresh coconut and food to start and drive you around the canals of the town, which is filled with vendors that can quench your shopping thirst. You can find absolutely anything here, and enjoy the pretty views. I highly recommend this one.
We couldn’t leave the city without going to Lumphini Stadium to watch Muay-Thai Boxing fights. This was an experience in itself. The locals have their seating area, while foreigners usually sit by the ring and pay more. It seemed a bit exclusive at first but when the fights started, we completely understood why they do this. The locals go NUTS betting, yelling and encouraging their preferred fighter. There are hand signals flying, some fights breaking out in the stands, and just non-stop commotion. We had a lot of fun watching and trying to figure out what the hand signals meant…we never did, lol.
Nightlife was interesting in the city. We were feeling adventurous and asked a taxi driver to take us to a place where we could dance. We drove for a bit and ended up in what seemed like a 90’s club. Lights everywhere, big signs and all. We walked in and the space was large but not fully packed. We were the only foreigners in the place and a waitress immediately came and ordered us to get something. There was a local group performing in the stage, while the customers were just standing, some sitting, but none were dancing. After about three songs, a different group came up to perform. They were all imitations of boybands. After two different groups and a DJ break, a third group came up, this time all women wearing very little clothing. We were a little nervous of what was next. Our waitress came by offering stickers, which we kindly declined since we had no idea what was going on. Their performance started and mid-way through the song a group of men came out wearing very shiny and funny looking outfits. Our biggest fear became a reality – they started singing, dancing and stripping. The crowd was all in, fighting for stickers (that you had to pay for), and placing the stickers on the bodies of the performers. It was all very interesting and odd. We definitely had a unique experience there. If you want a normal nightlife experience, go to Soi 11 and don’t worry about any surprises.
The last activity in Bangkok we want to mention is The Theta State Floating Center. I wrote a little bit about it on my personal Instagram page (IG: @isterg20) but guys, if you are looking to relax, you absolutely HAVE to visit this place. I will go into details about it in a later post in the categories of random things I never thought of doing before coming here, so stay tuned!
Our advice is to not have high expectations of anywhere you go; we have found that you will be surprised and have better experiences this way. Many people we talked to spoke negatively about Bangkok but it is just like any other big city anywhere you go.
This post could include a million other activities and places but we left some out for you to explore on your own. Come back next week for more of our stories and experiences! Have a lovely day and remember to smile! Happiness looks gorgeous on you!
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