Tag Archives: Bangkok

Private Guide in Bangkok

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Get A Private Guide in Bangkok

Bangkok, or Krung Thep as it is called in Thai, meaning The City of Angels (no, not that one), is a gem among eastern cities. As the most populous city in Thailand, it is among the world’s top tourist destinations. Named the “World’s Best City” by Travel + Leisure magazine three times in a row, it carries that title with pride, along with being the Guinness Book of Records holder of the longest place name in the world.

And that is only the beginning of the many mysteries held by this magical place.

golden mosaic Bangkok temple

But do you need a private guide in Bangkok? Sure, you could stick with the general tourist public and see the sites everyone sees, but a private guide can show you places few have seen and even fewer know. They will take you to the right cultural areas, markets and art centers and give you a face-to-face experience of the people and places.

Why go with the crowd?

Isn’t a vacation about meeting interesting places and people? Each private guide can tailor your Bangkok experience to exactly what you need and are looking for, without the pressure of a tour group. Old Siam is a thing of the past, yet you can still experience the style and taste of it through private tours.

And since Bangkok has its own unique style and religions, a private guide can help you avoid embarrassment. Remember that with other cultures come other customs and even dress codes. What may seem like normal attire in your own country could cause a riot or at the very least banning from certain public and religious places. Let your guide guide you.

Don’t return home having seen only your hotel room and whatever else regular tours try to pass off as a cultural experience. A private guide in Bangkok can even help you with your business trip, if your reason to visit this ancient kingdom is more business than pleasure. It may cost you a bit extra, but the prices private guides charge are nowhere near exorbitant, and worth every Baht.

Once you have chosen your private guide in Bangkok, sit down with him or her and plan your itinerary. There is so much to see, it is wise to plan a bit ahead. Do you prefer the nightlife? The arts? How about a spiritual or religious tour? Bangkok is the residence of the Emerald Buddha, so you can imagine the enlightening experience you could have, if so you choose.

Don’t succumb to the pressure and haste of tour groups. Have your own experience of this wonderful place through a private guide in Bangkok, and get to know the people face-to-face. You will see the city through the eyes of the natives, and that will make for a fully rounded travel experience. Life is too short to limit experiences to preset tours and places. And who knows, maybe you can even learn to pronounce the full name of the city some day.

Contact us now to book your private guide in Bangkok…

Asiatique The Riverfront Bangkok – A New, Popular Tourist Attraction by the Chao Phraya River

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Asiatique is a relatively new and popular tourist attraction by the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok. It’s a place where you can spend a nice evening looking for souvenirs, fashion, enjoy some food and drinks and simply take in the lively and laid-back atmosphere.

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This place used to be warehouses long time ago, but they renovated it and made it into a shopping & atmospheric entertainment area, which was done quite nicely. It also opens every day (not just on weekends like most other Bangkok night markets), and since it’s made mainly for international tourists, the area is quite clean, neat and organized (as opposed to the often charming, but also chaotic arrangements you find on markets which cater more to the locals).

Since it’s by the river, you often get a pleasantly cool breeze when you sit at one of the cafe’s or restaurants on the terrace, although the prices here are really high.

There are plenty of cafes, restaurants and small shops and stores. The prices aren’t cheap, but still reasonable and overall it’s a very nice and pleasant experience. It’s an attraction mainly for tourists from other countries, but Thai people come here too, particularly for the atmosphere and shopping of fashion. There’s a big ferris wheel too, which is a nice way of catching a glimpse over the city by the river.

 

 

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This place is quite easy to navigate, so you can come on your own, or if you want with your own personal Thai tour guide.

There are plenty of clothing, fashion accessory and gift shops, and the style is kind of similar to the things you can find at the Terminal 21 fashion mall (although the selection is much smaller here than at Terminal 21).

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The place opens around 5 p.m. and it’s best to be here after dark, because then the temperatures are not too hot. You can also get a foot massage here or enjoy a fish spa.

Foodwise, there are plenty of choices. If you’re looking for a great Thai food experience, this might not be the place, but lots of international choices from Japanese to Italian to Korean, steakhouses, seafood, and so on. The prices are a bit high for Bangkok standards, but then this is normal for tourist attractions. Or you try the lower-priced food court on the vicinity.

The famous Joe Louis Puppet Theatre can be found here to, as well as the Calypso show.

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How to get there: You can take the boat shuttle service from Sathon Pier (BTS station Saphan Taksin), which operates daily from 4:30 p.m. to 11:15 p.m. We do not recommend going there by taxi (or leaving from there by taxi), as the traffic is often congested, and taxis waiting in front of Asiatique The Riverfront often charge inflated prices. If you want you can hire a private Bangkok tour guide for your visit here, or just go by yourself, it’s quite an easy attraction to explore on your own.

Welcome Aung San Suu Kyi to Bangkok

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Even though this has nothing to do with tourism, but tourism is about people, and when it comes to people then one of the most inspiring figures of our times is Aung San Suu Kyi.

For so many years she never left her country because she had to fear that they wouldn’t let her come back. For so many years she sacrificed her personal and family life for the people of Burma. It’s so great that she now can leave the country and be sure that they will let her return. And we’re glad that she has chosen to visit Thailand as the first country after her long period in Burma.

We wish her the best and hope that the ideals and dreams she has sacrificed so much for will become a reality. Welcome to Bangkok, Aung San Suu Kyi!

The Treehouse “Hotel Room” in Bangkok

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If you want something special, the Bangkok Treehouse Hotel might be the right choice for you. Just take note: it’s not your typical kind of low-comfort treehouse. This is a luxury treehouse – and that’s reflected in the prices as well, starting just around 5000 Baht by night (around 150 USD), going up to 10000 Baht a night.

But it’s a beautiful place and a great experience. Bangkok is a busy metropolis, but when you stay in the treehouse, you don’t feel like that at all.

And if you’re passionate about the environment and care about mother earth, then you’ll love this company. For every booking, they remove 1kg of trash from the Chao Phraya river, and they go to greath lengths to make sure to be as environmentally friendly as possible. (And in their case, it really isn’t just a marketing gimmick).

You can learn more about their green efforts on their website.

Of course you can enjoy all the amenities of modern life you like: free WiFi, free cell-phone rental with local Thai-number, a generous and yummy breakfast, free bicycle rental and free ice-cream. Free ice-cream? Yup, free ice-cream 😉

It’s located across the river of the “main Bangkok”, and within 20 minutes you can be at the BTS skytrain that connects you to all the hustle and bustle Bangkok has to offer.

Our Bangkok tour guide team loves this place, also because the staff here consists of 100% friendly people.

If you’re interested in staying there, we can help you.

Try Pottery in Bangkok

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When you visit Bangkok, it’s a great opportunity to not just go sightseeing, but also to try something new. It’s a melting pot of cultures and people and lifestyles. And doing something creative, like visiting a pottery workshop in Bangkok, can be a great way to travel not just “on the outside”, but also “on the inside” – it’s a very visceral experience.

And you’ll probably get to know some interesting locals too – because this isn’t a pottery workshop for tourists, but mainly for locals and expats who want to give it a try.

You can just try your hands at just trying to shape something out of clay with your hands and fingers (hand built ceramics), or you can use a pottery wheel (wheel-thrown ceramics). If you’ve never used a pottery wheel, you’ll probably be surprised how fragile a vase made out of clay can be, because more often then not, the first time takes a couple of tries to actually succeed in making a vase.

You can come as an individual and enjoy private instruction, or come with a group, or join an already existing group and participate in a pottery workshop with others.

Both kids and adults can participate, and it’s a great experience at any age. Our Bangkok tour guides will help you to make the most out of your time here and have the maximum amount of fun.

Oftentimes adults are kind of inhibited when it comes to creative activities – because they hold believes like: “I’m not creative. I’m not an artistic person.”

But ultimately, everybody has some artistic talent in them, it’s part of being human.

And pottery is ideal to get in touch with your inner artist – because it is very direct. It is very unfiltered. It’s not so abstract. It’s an immediate medium. You take something into your hands – and you create something out of it. It’s primal, it’s easy, and at the same time it can be taken to the highest levels of complexity. But for beginners it’s wonderful because you can start and immediately see and feel the art which you create.

And why Bangkok? Well, for one, you’re already coming here. And another reason is that Thai people are very friendly and easy-going, and in a relaxed atmosphere it can be a lot more fun to express your creative self.

There are many other options to become creative and artistic in Bangkok, and if you’re interested our personal tour guides can show you some of the many creative corners of this vibrant city, where ancient traditions and modern development merge in ways that are unique to this place.

Vegetarian Restaurant near Rama 8 Bridge in Bangkok

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If you are looking for a vegetarian restaurant near the Rama VIII bridge in Bangkok, May Kaidee 2 is a good option. They are located in Samsen Road, between Soi 1 and the canal (see location map), or you can give them a call if you have trouble finding the place at 08-9137-3173. (Replace the 0 in front with +66 if you call from outside of Thailand).

May Kaidee is a vegetarian & vegan restaurant and cooking school with three branches in Bangkok, and they have been around for many years delivering consistently good quality and a menu with lots of choices. If you think that vegetarian food is boring, this place will prove you wrong.

If you are willing to venture a little farther away from Rama VIII, there is another very good vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Thanon Tanao (nearly Khao San Road). They serve international vegetarian food and are called Ethos, you can visit their website here. or give them a call at 02 282 2748.

Bangkok Must Sees

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One of the charms of Bangkok is that it’s really what you make out of it. When you go to New York, you have to visit Times Square at least once, when you go to Berlin, you have to walk through the Brandenburg Gate at least once, when you visit Paris, you simply can’t miss the Eiffel tower. And when you go to Bangkok, you have to… um… well, Bangkok doesn’t really have must-see places. Bangkok is more like the Elephant from that ancient Indian story with the six blind man.

Six blind men and the elephant

There once was a mighty king who wanted to teach some quarreling ministers a lesson. He called six blind men to his court and led them to an elephant, without telling them what it was. Then he told each of the blind men to describe the animal.

One of the blind men feels the leg of the elephant, and proclaims: “This animal is like a colum!” The second blind man feels the tail and proclaims: “This animal is like a rope!”. The third blind man feels the stomach of the elephant and proclaims: “This animal is like a wall!” The forth blind man feels the elephants ear and proclaims: “This animal is like a basket!” The fifth blind man feels the just the tip of the tail and proclaims: “This animal is like a brush!” And the sixth blind man feels the tusk and says: “This animal is like a spear!”

Depending upon which part of Bangkok you see, you might have very different experiences.

Having said that – if you spend just a couple of short days in Bangkok, you probably still want some ideas on what to do and where to go. So here you are:

Temples

Thailand is the country with the highest percentage of Buddhist people – and religion plays an important role in the everyday life of Thai people. That is why you can find many temples in Bangkok.

The Temple of the Emerald Buddha
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This is the most important temple for Thailand, and it features the most important Buddha statue, the Emerald Buddha. You can also see beautiful wall paintings that tell the story of Thailand’s national epic, the Ramakien.

Wat Pho Temple
Reclining Buddha

Here you can see the huge Reclining Buddha statue and get an authentic traditional Thai massage on the temple compounds.

Wat Arun
Wat Arun

This temple is just across the river from the Wat Pho temple. You can climb the steep stairs here up and enjoy the view over the river. Best to come in the early morning hours, avoid during lunchtime because then it can be very hot.

Bangkok By Boat

In the past, Bangkok was called “the Venice of the East”, because transportation happened mostly on waterways. Nowadays, most of these waterways have been turned into roads for cars – but in some areas, you can still see the old way of living by water.

Khlong Tour
Bangkok Longtail Boat
You can charter a long-tail boat at the Tha Tien boats pier, nearly the Wat Pho temple, and go on a 60 or 90 minute khlong tour. This will give you an impression of how live in Bangkok used to be. You can see many old wooden houses built on the river, children playing in the water, more green nature and a very nice atmosphere.

Chao Phraya River Express
Chao Praya Express Boat
The Chao Phraya is a large river that runs through Bangkok. There is a boat that goes up and down the river, and for around 1 US-Dollar you can get on the boat and do a little sightseeing tour from the river. The boat is full of people, and sometimes you have to stand, but it is a very cheap way to get to see Bangkok by the river.

Dinner Cruise
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If you want something more fancy, there are many nice dinner cruises. Especially fun if you travel with friends, and can be romantic when you want to have dinner with your partner. Price is around 1000 Baht (around 33 US-Dollar) per person.

Shopping

Bangkok is a great place for shopping, particularly if you are looking for handicrafts, silk, jewelry, gold, gems and fashion.

Glitzy Shopping Malls
Siam Paragon
There is nothing particularly “Thai” about these shopping malls – if anything, they are testimony to the globalized world we live in. But if you want to tickle your credit cards in the air-conditioned shopping bubble, Siam Square is perfect. Siam Paragon is the newest and most impressive shopping mall in the area, right next to Siam Discovery, Siam Center and the more ecclectic MBK shopping mall (cheap shirts, fake “brand name” phones.

Markets
Chatuchak Market - V
The Chatuchak market is open only on Saturday and Sunday between 10AM-5PM, and it’s the biggest weekend market of the world with 8000+ stalls. If you are looking for souvenirs, home decor, handicrafts, furniture, indipendent designer shirts, antiques (fake and real), this is a good place. Always crowded, always busy, it’s an amazing place – if you are you with the fact that it is very hot and crowded here.

Eating

Bangkok is the city of food – and honestly, it’s great not just for Thai food, but since this is a blog post about Bangkok must-sees, we’ll stick to talking about Thai food.

Street Food
Bangkok Street Food.
Some of the best meals you can enjoy in the streets of Bangkok, rather than the restaurants, for about a tenth of the price. Particularly in Chinatown in the evening – around 6pm, the whole area basically turns into a huge food bazaar.

Restaurants
Thai-Food-for-Lunch-Set
Bangkok has many great restaurants, and we’ll focus on the restaurants serving Thai food here. Taling Pling at Silom is a good place to start if you are not familiar with Thai food – not very spicy, but still quite authentic, and the prices are pretty fair.

Soul Food Mahankorn is a great place run by a former good critic that fell in love with Thai food and opened his own Thai restaurant here. Awesome Thai food, great cocktails, hip music in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, good prices.

If you want to go fancy – Nahm restaurant at the Metropolitan is run by David Thompson, who opened the Nahm London (the first Thai restaurant ever to get a Michellin star).

The Nara Erawan is a popular upscale Thai-food place, and if you come for lunch make sure to make a reservation before.

Amazing views over the city at night

This is really nice at the end of your Bangkok trip – a way to say “goodbye” to the city. It’s best to arrive here around 20 minutes before sunset, so you get to see the beautiful change of colors and how the city lights up at night.

Lebua State Tower

Lebua at State Tower
A fancy dinner experience and great cocktails can be had on the rooftop of the Lebua State Tower.

Vertigo Bar at Banyan Tree
Vertigo at Banyan Tree - Bangkok
They have a great open air rooftop bar with nice cocktails and fruit shakes here, with some relaxing jazz tunes in the background. The view is just as amazing as at the Lebua State Tower, and the feeling is more “in the air” – it’s kind of like being on a huge ship that hovers in the sky.

There are many things you can do in Bangkok – these are just some of the general highlights. If you are interested in any particular topic, just post a comment below. Particularly the restaurants are just an “introductory selection” for first timers in Bangkok. They’re not the best, but they’re good places to get started, serve consistent quality, and you’ll be able to discover a lot more from there on.

If you want a personal tour guide for your Bangkok trip, just contact us – it’s a great way to get to know the city with a friendly local by your side.

Depending upon interests, budget and the time you have, there are very different things that could be “must sees” in Bangkok. So be free to just comment below and let us know, and we’ll be great to share some tips custom tailored for you too 🙂

And finally: Thank you Ideth for giving us the inspiration to this collection of must sees in Bangkok!

National Museum Bangkok

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The National Museum in Bangkok is actually a really interesting place to visit if you have any interest whatsoever in Thai history and culture. It is located where previously the palace of the Prince Successor was.

It is divided into different compartments. You can learn about the ancient history of the region, early settlers and archaeology. Especially the old ceramic works here are quite interesting.

When you go there, you can “walk through Thai history” – different rooms display information from different periods. It’s good to have a personal tour guide who can make sense of the different bits and pieces of information and string it all into one coherent story, otherwise you might be feeling a bit on your own and overwhelmed by detail.

The Buddha images from the Dvaravati period are particularly interesting in the National Musem Bangkok, and you can learn a lot about Brahmanistic rituals and the mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism that has been (and still is) very important in the Thai royalty. The Buddha images from the Sukhotai period are generally considered the most beautiful ones, because of their fine shapes and formations.

My personal favorite is the section that focuses on ethnological arts. Here you can see intricate mother of pearl inlays, textiles, ceramics, carved ivory, royal emblems, gold treasures, musical instruments, weapons and more – it’s brimming with religious and mythological symbolism.

You can also see the huge door panel that was brought here from Wat Suthat, a temple in Bangkok. It is kind of sad that this door panel isn’t at the temple anymore but instead in this museum – but if you look at it, you will understand why it’s stored in a museum (and will probably marvel at how much work and effort went into building this gigantic “door”, which is really more a piece of art than a door).

The ceramics display nice Benjarong pieces, which is a certain kind of ceramic typical of Thailand made out of five different colors.

When Thai kings got buried in the past, there were often precious stones and metals and scriptures buried together with them – many of them later got stolen, but some made it into the National Museum Bangkok where you can see them now.

And of course, the ancient Ban Chiang pottery can also be seen – it’s some of the world’s oldest pottery, and in many ways the patterns on this pottery are similar to patterns that archaeologists know from the ancient Mesopotamia.

The museum also hosts special events about which you can inquire here.

There is also a small book shop in front which has lots of special interest books on Thai and Southeast Asian history, art and culture.

You should at least plan 3 hours if you want to visit the National Museum Bangkok, but you can easily spend several days here learning about thousands of years of history and culture, with many thousands of stories that reside within this compound.