We woke up early in the morning, 4:30 AM to be exact. Our feet were aching from the miles of walking that we did last night and my buddy was already complaining. But we had no time for that. We first ate our breakfast on the second floor of the hotel. The dishes were simple yet they tasted good. Since it was buffet, we made sure that we ate enough in preparation for another day of walking under the scorching sun.
It was already 7:15 AM when we left the hotel. Since it was a Saturday, our first stop was the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Although shopping wasn't our primary agenda, we were curious how big the market was and how cheap the goods were. Infront of the Platinum Mall, we rode a cab and asked the driver to take us to the Ratchathewi station.
Getting out of the maze in Chatuchak Weekend Market
We had decided to buy the one-day pass which was worth 120 baht. We thought that we will be able to maximize the card. Well, that's what we thought. From Ratchathewi, it was just a 10-minute ride going to Mo Chit Station. The traffic on the road was very light and there were still few people in the area. The Chatuchak Weekend Market was walking distance from the BTS so we had no problem with that. It was already 8:00 AM and we knew that the weekend market usually opens around that time. To our dismay, there were only a handful of opened stalls. Good thing that by the time we decided to go back to Mo Chit BTS Station, many stalls were already opening as we strolled along starting from the other end of the market. Getting out of the so-called Chatuchak maze was not an easy task. It had eaten some precious time before we were able to come out from the maze but we made sure that we were able to buy someting. A 99-baht shirt was a great buy!
At 9:55 AM, we rode the Skytrain and alighted at the Victory Monument station.
Victory Monument
There was nothing else to see in the area except for that monument. After taking some pictures of the area, we started our walk going to Suan Pakkard Palace. It was almost noon when we reached Suan Pakkard. The place looked so uninteresting to us, so we didn't bother to check out what's inside. All we knew was that it was another museum. We were already satisfied taking photos of ourselves infront of its sign. Since it was time for lunch, we decided to eat at Siam Paragon. We rode the Skytrain again and alighted at the Siam station. I told my friend to try something new but, surprisingly, we were again in the food court ordering the same meal that we had the other day. Haha! It was more delicious the second time around!
After an hour of lunch and rest, we left Siam Paragon and rode a cab going to MArble Temple.
A view of Suan Pakkad Palace from the nearby overpass
It was more or less 25 minutes of travel going to the said temple. Since it was just a temple, a thirty-minute of tour and picture-taking inside was enough for us. From the Marble Temple, we rode a cab since the heat was unbearable if we decided to just walk going to Vimanmek Mansion.
It was a 15-minute travel going to Vimanmek Mansion. After paying 100 baht for the entrance fee, we proceeded to an area where we need to place all our belongings in a locker for another 30 baht. We also placed our shoes in the basement of the world’s largest teak mansion before joining the English tour. Going around the air-conditioned mansion for one hour was a welcoming respite from walking under the scorching sun.
Posing infront of the Marble Temple.
All the pieces being displayed were owned by the Royal Family of Thailand. Lady guides toured us around and gave short history of these pieces in every section of the mansion. We barely understood what they were discussing because they talked nasally (I hope I had described it right).
We left Vimanmek Mansion at 2:45 PM, took a cab and headed towards the Royal Barges Museum. The idea of going there was not worth it all (to think that the travel time from Vimanmek Mansion to the museum was 35 minutes, had to pass by alleys, and pay an entrance fee of 30 baht just to see few large Thai barges). Good thing I decided not to pay an additional 100 baht just to take photos of these.
Next stop was Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace.
I wasn't able to go inside this hall called Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall due to lack of time.
Unfortunately, when we reached the place, the guards were no longer accepting tourists to come in because it closes at 3:00 PM and it was already 4:15 PM. It added to my disappointment awhile ago because it was supposed to be one of the highlights of our Bangkok trip. We then decided to take a rest in the park infront of the palace while watching some people flew their kites. Suddenly, we thought of visiting the other temples within the area and try to see if they were still open.
After some brisk walking, we reached Wat Pho. Hurray! Hurray! It was still open. After paying the entrance fee of 50 baht, we ran hurriedly inside and wasted no time. The funny part was, as we took photos of the reclining Buddha and the rest of the compound, we were running, like wild geese, from one point to another because we knew that the temple closes at 6:00 PM.
Posing infront of Vimanmek Mansion which is the world's largest teakwood mansion.
When we thought that it was exactly 6:00 PM already, we were already panting like toy poodles. As we were about to leave the temple, we were surprised to see that they were still allowing tourists to come in. That's the time when we realized why. During that period of running and taking photos, I was the one checking the time in my watch. Only to find out that I forgot to change the time from Manila to Bangkok! And that Manila time is always ahead by one hour!
We were really laughing as went towards Tha Wang Pier. From the pier, we got to see Wat Arun or Temple of Dawn. One lady, who happens to be a guide, asked us if we were going to Wat Arun and it was at that moment that we knew the possibility of going nearer to the temple.
Wat Pho or The Temple of Reclining Buddha which is the birthplace of traditional Thai massage.
We said yes right away and rode the small ferry for 3 baht to be transferred on the other side of the river. The ferry transfer was short but we were able to swap some stories with the kind lady. It was exactly 6:00 PM when we reached the other side and was still uncertain if Wat Arun was still open. We were just right on time. The old lady who was manning the booth was about to leave but she still welcomed us to come in to check out Wat Arun.
Oh boy, you should see the excitement in our faces after paying the entrance fee!
We then took photos of ourselves with the Temple of Dawn and stayed for a few minutes more. By 6:30 PM, we were on the other side again and waited for another hour just to catch the turning off lights of Wat Arun.
Finding solemnity and taking rest as well in Wat Arun
Majestic!
We took a cab at around 7:25 PM and reached our hotel twenty minutes later. We rested for awhile and had a quick shower before proceeding to Suan Lum Night Bazaar. We also called the taxi driver named Sam who took us to the Grand Palace from the Royal Barges Museum. We called him up because we would like to take his offer of bringing us to the Damnoen Saduak Floating the following day. We made sure that he will just take us to the floating market only but during the entire call, he was persistent on adding some places after the floating market. I politely declined, although we would like to, but we already made our own itinerary for that day. It was 8:30 PM when we reached the night market. It has four pavilions that contain stalls selling items of different kinds, a ferris wheel, a big stage for band performers and food court on the side. There were a lot of tourists in the area even though the items were a bit expensive compared in Chatuchak.
Nope, it is not a theme park. It's Suan Lum Night Bazaar
I was able to buy cheap shirts for 150 baht each. Spending two and a half hours there was enough for us so we took a cab and went to our next stop, Patpong. I knew Patpong, based from what I had read from travel blogs, was popular because of two things: its night market and night clubs. Most of the items sold in Patpong were imitations of branded watches and cheap-looking clothes. There was nothing nice to buy. The only interesting about Patpong was the nightclubs that lined up the street. By just passing by, you can already see beautiful girls dancing on the ledges inside the nightclubs and enticing us to come in. They were feasts to our eyes but sorry, we were not tempted. HAHA! If there were clubs with girls dancing, there were clubs with male dancers on the other side of the street. Out of curiousity, we just passed by this lane and took a photo of it.
After an hour in Patpong, we decided to go back to our hotel. There was no longer heavy traffic so the travel was a breeze.
Look at the name and you will know what's inside that club
It took us just 15 minutes to reach First Hotel.
1:00 AM. ZZZZZZzzzzzz
