BANGKOK- more than the name may suggest
(December 2025)
Had a day’s visit in Bangkok — on our return from a wedding we attended at Hua Hin.
Contrary to what the name Bangkok may imply- the city offers much more than massages!
There are numerous beautiful temples (Thai, Indian, Sikh…) a deep religious faith among its citizens, there’s delectable cuisine, affable efficient service with smiles and bows, terrible traffic jams, Tuk-Tuk weaving in and out, shopping, bargaining (which even locals do!) elephant merchandise galore and of course the Chao Phraya River running smoothly within the city.
Although a city with skyscrapers galore — it was not claustrophobic (as is Gurgaon at places)- as the roads were wide and had ample green cover all around.
{AI fact: of the 10.5 million population of Bangkok about 70–80% populations stay in the 6000 or so high rises}
Graffiti was another constant all over the city — walls and even shutters of shops. Typically, these were words written in bloated curved text in black and not the colourful images associated with the word.( The net showed many colourful walls But we did not see any)
Besides the regular contributors to the traffic — there were more than the usual no. freight trucks seen on road. {AI fact: Thailand’s freight road transport accounts for nearly 66% of the total market share — used in domestic delivery as well as being the last mile connection between port, godowns, and consumers}
Bangkok taxis come in various colours- from the traditional green and yellow ones to neon pink, bright yellow, white, blue, orange — depending on the service provider and then of course there is the Grab Taxi (like Uber) accessible through an app. Grab taxis are about 25- 30% more expensive but are more reliable and safer as the other taxi drivers quote prices which may require bargaining (locals do it too) and then there is the attitude of the driver !
I’m guessing most taxi drivers are consistently watching something on their phones (especially if driving through a jam) — we experienced 2 such drivers. One kept hearing an annoyingly loud and repetitive episode while driving. When we requested him to switch off the Phone — he was so affronted that he stopped his taxi on the side and cancelled his ride- leaving us stranded midway to our destination!!! Entertainment seemed more important than earning.
We had a replay of the Iconic Visa ad showing James Bond traveling on a Tuk-Tuk when we took one to our hotel around 10:20 pm (hardly any vehicles on the road) — the driver Flew down the road!
The sky rail and the boats on the river are other modes of travel- our hotel had hourly boats going to two opposite pivotal points in the city and there were many other ‘long boats’ plying the river throughout the day.
We took a two-hour dinner cruise on the river which gave us an overview of the main city (and highlights) as they were brightly lit. Multiple companies offer cruises from the average priced to highly exclusive ones. Prices for non-Thai folks were much higher. AI wisdom said the higher priced ones are generally better the lower priced ones– and going by the nearly full 500 capacity on our cruise compared to the others we crossed with scattered customers vindicated our choice 😊
A pleasant 2 hours eating drinking, live music (tho’ the last half hour could have been reduced I felt)
The city seems obsessed with elephants- we saw elephant statues which had three heads, elephants which were crouching, standing, and even
upside down, there was merchandise (pants, skirts, bags, totes, keychains, cups, incense holders, magnets and so many more) featuring elephants in fact also a museum dedicated to them BUT we did not see a single LIVE elephant.
In fact, we saw a Huge shrine to the Ganesh Deity and to Brahma ji — complete with banana leaves, kalash, attendant smaller elephants surrounding it and we saw the local people offering prayers and fruits and sweets.
Were there just a day so saw temples (Wats) only from the outside- impressions: narrow structures, with intricately carved steep and slanting roofs with golden accents set in vast courtyards.
The inner sanctums were even more beautiful…just a glimpse here courtesy my friend who visited the temples. (My previous blog has mention of the sleeping buddha wat we had visited then- link below)
Shopping malls: we went hunting for down pillows and ended up visiting a few malls right from the wholesale ones to the super premium ones but were unsuccessful — couldn’t find what we were looking for.
Were able to visit 3 malls in a brief time as they were right next to each other.
The Platinum Fashion Mall (went by recommendation) was a wholesale selling garments, bags, luggage, fashion accessories, incense and diffusers, packaged food, cosmetics …We were told bargaining works here but we were quite unsuccessful.
The Big C Supermarket next door (had the best exchange rate) was a huge store with all things a homemaker would require- fresh food, dairy, grocery, confectionary, utensils, crockery, appliance, linens- kitchen, dining and bedroom, … a must visit for those who enjoy cooking and look for local spices and staples of places they visit
The One World mall as well as the Iconsiam Mall had high end international as well as local brands
The Chatuchak Market is a weekend market — another must do — missed it by a day as we reached Bangkok on Monday afternoon and were too tired to do the Night markets.
However we did have dinner at a rooftop Bar (not the Iconic Sky Bar) with a view of the river and its plowing brightly lit up boats.
Last but not the least we did take in a relaxing massage- My take on the many packages/ options available –a 30-minute foot massage and a 30-minute shoulders and neck massage is the best combination…. but each to his/ her own.
Not too much to write about this time- but had visited Thailand earlier — if interested please read here… Finally , I too see Thailand. (June 2019) | by Anju Mangla | Medium