Lately I heard from the news about politics unstable in Bangkok that made the city is at the moment so havoc. The country’s 2 main international airport, which is Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi have been closed where thousands of people stranded. Almost all travellers trying to go to Malaysia for connecting flighs. Anyway, I want to share with you my experience during the beautiful days at Bangkok. I could say once upon a time in Bangkok.

The first day was overwhelming to say the least. Our hotel includes breakfast and while they have a few American items it’s an international buffet so there were a lot of new foods. I had boiled rice with a spicy chili sauce mixed in. If you’ve ever eaten at Tommy Thai’s in Denver this is the same soup that they serve with lunch. I was really suprised at how much I liked it.

We started the day off at the Chatakuk Weekend Market (I’ll fix the spellings when I get home). Since it’s a weekend market we wanted to get there since we are only in Bangkok until Wednesday. This market is huge. Yes, they have everything. Gucci purses, dogs, cats, fried livers, knick knacks galore, flowers, furniture. The Patpong night market. This was on the main street, during the daytime. Imagine what we’ll see after dark. …everything. I was so suprised to see this much that I wasn’t able to find any gifts for my friends and family at home. I just walked around with my jaw open.

Getting to the Market was actually pretty easy. Our hotel is located on a Sky Train (a commuter train) route and we just took that to the market which is just a few stops away. I’ll do a review of the Sky Train when I get home so I can scan in the map.

One thing I’ve been very suprised about are the prices. Thailand uses the Baht for their currancy and it’s about 30 Baht to one US dollar. But even then things are just cheaper here. It only costs 120 baht, so $4 for an all day ticket to use the Sky Train.

After the Market we went to the Siam Center. This is a group of three large malls. Again, they have everything here only the stuff here isn’t fake, and it’s not cheap. Cartier, Gucci, Burberry, and more. There was either a concert or an appearance by some rock group here so as we were leaving the crowds started to form. They stood everywhere there was room.

While we were looking at the Erawan shrine which is near the Siam Shopping Center we spoke with an older woman who talked us into visiting the Thailand Export Market which, supposedly, was only open today. She gave us directions and encouraged us to take a Tuk Tuk. A Tuk Tuk is like a motorcycle with an attached cart. They will drive you just about anywhere for pretty cheap (30 baht or $1 will get you almost anywhere). They are known to scam you though and this was no exception. We ended up at some sleezy gem outlet. Neither of us are interested in buying gems so this was useless and we were frustrated. As luck would have it as we were walking to the Sky Train, which fortunatly wasn’t too far away, a monsoon like rain storm started. Once we got to train we just rode it back and forth until the rain stopped.

The next stop was the Patpong night market. It was only 4pm at this time so were were a bit early. The roads were still flooded from the rain so we didn’t walk around too much. I can’t wait to go back tomorrow though because this place is what people talk about when they talk about Bangkok. We drank a few beers, had dinner at a japonese place, and then hit the sack about 8pm withoug really exploring the market. I was exhausted, and a bit drunk after drinking a ton of sake.

It was a great day and we’ve got some neat places we want to see tomorrow so it should be good too. That’s my experience in Bangkok Thailand before the unstable politics hit country and made it so tourists unfriendly.