First full day in Bangkok
When I woke up on my first morning in Bangkok, I was in for a real shock. It had been so dark when we had arrived, you couldn't really see much. I went to the balcony, opened the curtains, and suddenly I had been transported to a completely foreign time and place; there were countless boats on the river, of all types and sizes, all moving in different directions. It was an unforgettable moment for me.
After we got ourselves together, we headed out for lunch, to a place we read about in the paper that morning. The skytrain is the local transportation, and it's easy to use and great to get around with. DO NOT try to get around with taxis in this city; you will use up all your time in traffic jams, and use up all your money.
We wandered some side streets, let ourselves get a little lost for the fun of it, bought some silk at Jim Thompson's, which is really famous but truth be told, was my least favorite of all the silk I bought on the trip. It was cool to see the store, but I don't know, it wasn't my favorite silk. We found a little internet cafe and let people back home know we were alive.
On the way back to the skytrain, Michelle found a place selling Mangosteens. Since her family is from Sri Lanka she knows about this gift from the gods - but Gracie and I were completely ignorant to it. For those of you who don't know, mangosteens are the greatest fruit in the world, but you can't buy them in the US at all.
That night we ate dinner at Salathip, a restaurant at the hotel. It is right on the river, and is an amazing Thai restaurant. We loved it, and had an amazing time. After dinner, there were fireworks over the river. Again, a truely unforgetable experience. What a night.
This restaurant is behind the Bangkok Shangri-La. Even if you don't stay at this lovely hotel (although I recommend you do), you still need to stop by to have dinner at Salathip; it's a wonderful experience.
The free standing building is right on the banks of the river, and you spend your meal with all the boats going by. You actually have a choice to eat right outside, but even the inside seating is quite open air. The food is fantastic (all Thai). We had a lot of different things brought out to us, from three different kinds of soups, to several different curries, to fantastic fish cakes, and wonderful satays... all of it was out of this world. I loved it.
They also had entertainment, which usually I don't enjoy, but the dancers and musicians were wonderful, and sporadically throughout your meal there would be a different sort of song played, or dance, and it was lovely.
Toward the end, fireworks went off over the river, and this is the perfect place to watch them. This was a wonderful place, and while I'm a HUGE believer at eating at street vendors also, take one meal out and try this too - I don't think you'll be sorry!!
This beautiful hotel right on the banks of the Chao Phraya River was our home away from home for 4 nights in November of 2004. There are two different wings of the hotel, the main wing (called the Shangri-La Wing) and the Krungthep Wing, which is supposed to be a little nicer and fancier.
We got the original room on Priceline for $60 a night, (wow!) and then called in and upgraded to the Krungthep Wing for about $20 a night more - VERY WORTH IT!!!
Really, if you stay at this hotel, make sure you stay in the Krungthep Wing; it's amazing. Every single room has a private balcony that is over the Chao Phraya River, and sitting out there any time of the day is a true joy. The entrance to the Krungthep wing is directly next to the Skytrain station, which is by far the best, cheapest, and easiest way to get around the city.
The hotel can also arrange for a personal boat ride through the back canals of Bangkok, and that was wonderful; and they did it for a great cost, I think it was $20 total for all three of us, for about 3 hours. Fantastic. We also took advantage of their drivers service to and from the airport, which was a huge help to us, and a reasonable price.
Please contact me if you want anymore info on this great hotel, it was wonderful.
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