Asia Travel Guide

There can be few cities in the world where transport is such a headache as it is in Bangkok. Bumper-to-bumper vehicles create fumes so bad that some days the city’s carbon monoxide emissions come close to the international danger level. However, the opening of the elevated train network known as the BTS Skytrain has radically improved public transport in certain parts of the city, including the Siam Square, Chatuchak, Silom and Sukhumvit areas. Unfortunately for tourists, the Skytrain system does not stretch as far as Ratanakosin or Banglamphu where boats still provide the fastest means of hopping between sights. Otherwise, the cheapest, albeit slow form of transport in the city are still buses .

To get around the city, you’ll need to buy the blue and yellow Bangkok bus map , available from guesthouses and book shops. TAT gives out a free map of Bangkok with some bus and boat routes (available from the TAT/police booth on the corner of Thanon Khao San and Chakra Bongse). Skytrain stations don’t yet appear on most maps. The most detailed accurate street map is GeoCenter’s Bangkok 1:15000, best bought before you leave home.

1. The Grand Palace
No visitor should miss the huge Grand Palace complex, which boasts the country’s holiest and most dazzling temple, Wat Phra Kaeo. Allow at least a couple of hours for strolling around the grounds.

2. Thonburi Canal Boats
Jump on one of the public longtail boats that whisk locals around the back canals of Thonburi - a cheap and exciting, if malodorous, way of getting a feel for the city.

3. Jim Thompson’s House
Legendary Jim Thompson, the American who revolutionized Bangkok’s silk industry and mysteriously disappeared in 1967, filled his teak house with a stunning array of Thai arts, crafts and oddities.

4. Chatuchak Weekend Market
For Bangkok’s most exhilarating shopping experience, catch the Skytrain out to the vast Chatuchak Weekend Market, where you’ll find six thousand stalls and a bewildering collection of fabrics, woks, jewellery, foodstuffs, animals, ceramics, lacquerware and more.

5. National Museum
The rambling National Museum hoards a mammoth collection of Thai art, taking you through the full gamut of Buddhist sculptural styles. Look out, too, for the outlandish collection of royal funeral chariots.

6. Thai Boxing
Attend a traditional Thai boxing match - sessions are staged nightly, complete with live orchestral accompaniment and frenetic ringside betting, in the capital’s two national stadiums.

7. Alms Giving at Wat Benjamabophit
Get up early to catch Wat Benjamabophit’s saffron-robed monks lined up before the gleaming marble temple, bowls extended to receive the ritual offerings of food, drink and sundry alms.

8. Chinatown
The narrow, crowded alleys of Bangkok’s Chinatown are packed with intriguing bazaars selling everything from quivering fish heads to paper funeral art. This is also where you’ll find the world’s largest solid-gold Buddha.

9. Thai Massage
Put your body through the works with a traditional Thai massage at Wat Po, considered to be the country’s most distinguished teaching centre of this ancient art.

10. Hemlock
Feast on unusual Thai dishes - such as banana-flower salad and stuffed wild tea leaves - at Hemlock, a charming restaurant in the Phra Athit area of Banglamphu that’s popular with students and other young penniless trendies.