Bangkok Attractions

Bangkok is viewed to be among the world’s top tourist hotspots. According to Travel and Leisure magazine it is Asia’s best tourist destination, the 3rd in the world in 2006 and overall best city in the world in 2008. It is also voted the best city in Asia according to Conde Nast traveler magazine. Bangkok is Thailand’s major tourist gateway, which means that the majority of foreign tourists arrive in Bangkok. The city boasts some of the country’s most visited historical venues such as the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun

Grand Palace: One of the must do’s when in Bangkok is to visit the Grand Palace, it is a stunning place with beautiful architecture and probably the most popular landmark in Bangkok.

The Grand Palace is over 200 years old. The Palace is rectangular shaped, with the western side next to a river and the royal temple situated to the east side, with all structures facing north. The palace itself is divided into three quarters: the outer quarters, the middle quarters and the inner quarters.The Palace is however still very much in use; as many royal rituals are performed here by the King every year. Other royal ceremonies celebrated here are coronations, royal funerals, marriages and state banquets.

The Grand Palace has a strict dress code as this is one of Thailand most sacred places, males will need to wear long pants and either a t-shirt or a polo shirt, females will need to be modestly dressed as in no see through or showing bare shoulders. If sandals or flip flops are worn, you will need to wear socks underneath.

MBK Center: Shopping in Bangkok is known worldwide as one of “The places to shop”. Bangkok offers a wide range of high quality suits at absolute bargain prices, some of the biggest shopping malls in south east asia and designer copies of almost any brand.

MBK Center, also known as Mahboonkrong, is an enormous marble shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. At eight stories high and 330 meters long, with 2,500 shops using a total selling area of 89,000 square meters, this shopping mall used to be one of the biggest malls in Asia when it was first founded in 1985. It is particularly well known for its many vendors of mobile phones, electronics, designer copy clothing and almost anything else you can think of.

Khaosan Road: Is a short road in central Bangkok, Thailand. It is located in the Banglamphu neighborhood (Phra Nakhon district) about 1 km north from the Grand Palace with Wat Phra Kaew. It has developed over the years into probably the most profound worldwide example of a “backpackers’ ghetto”, with cheap accommodation compared to other areas of central Bangkok. The accommodation varies from ‘mattress in a box’ style hotels, to full Western-standard luxury.

Many tourists use Khaosan road as their base for exploring the rest of Thailand as there are many direct coaches from the street to virtually all major tourist destinations in Thailand, from Chiang Mai in the North to Ko Pha Ngan in the South. Many visitors will also take advantage of the abundance of relatively cheap travel agents to arrange visas and transport to surrounding countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia, though many (if not most) of these travel agents are scams of some sort, and travelers would do themselves wise to use Thai public buses instead.

Crafts, paintings, clothes, pirate CDs, DVDs, fake educational diplomas, fake driver’s licenses, food, second-hand books and many other useful backpacker items are among the common goods traded along the road.

Khaosan road has in recent years also become popular among local people, especially artists and art students. The road hosts a number of pubs and bars, where people of many nationalities meet and discuss their travels. Khaosan and the streets nearby are also Bangkok’s center of dancing, partying and splashing water during Thai New Year (Songkran festival) on April 13 to April 15.

It is one of Bangkok’s most vibrant streets, host to people from around the world. One Thai writer described the road as “a short road that has the longest dream in the world.

Sightseeing Along the Chao Phraya River: There are special boat trips designed for foreign tourists along the Chao Phraya River to take in sites such as the Grand Palace. They are quite pointless though, as the public passenger ferry does exactly the same trip. In fact, they are even better as they go all the way up to Nonthaburi Town. For a good trip take a public passenger ferry from near the Saphan Taksin BTS skytrain station and go up to Nonthaburi Town, enjoy the afternoon in this pleasant laid back traditional urban town and take the boat back.

Thai Boxing: Muay Thai or Thai boxing is both a sport and means of self defense. Contestants are allowed to use almost any part of their body: feet, elbows, legs, knees, and shoulders, are all weapons. The playing of traditional music during bouts makes for even greater excitement.

Boxing Stadiums: There are two venues in Bangkok for this type of sport.
Ratchadamnoen Stadium, Ratchadamnoen Nok Road, open every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6.30 p.m.-10.30 p.m., and Sunday at 5 p.m.-8 p.m. and 8.30 p.m.-12.00 p.m. Tel: 0 2281 4205, 0 2281 0879, 0 2280 1684-6.
Lumphini Stadium, Rama IV Road, every Tuesday and Friday at 6.30 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. Tel: 0 2251 4303, 0 2252 8765.