Bangkok, Thailand has always been on everyone’s travel list. The city’s reputation for food, fun and friendly people has always loomed large as a destination. Bangkok is filled with museums, historic sites and temples. Wat Pho is one of the city’s main temples and Royal Palace as well. Both were very beautiful. April 13th is New Year’s Day, but the whole country celebrates from April 12-16.
Conrad Bangkok is a very nice luxury hotel in one of the city’s main business districts which is filled with a lot of embassies, including the American, near a giant luxury mall called Central Embassy. It’s also close to the large, green Lumphini Park. Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok, which sits right next to the Chao Phraya River. There are two large buildings, both with incredible river and city views, along with the luxury hotel brand’s usual range of amenities. Thailand has excellent and relatively safe street food. There was a little food market with vendors right next to the Conrad. This was a market mainly used by locals and that’s an important tip, try to eat where the locals eat. It’s probably best to avoid street food in tourist-filled areas like Khao San Road.
Karmakamet Diner is a beautifully designed, restaurant and winebar in the heart of the city. The menu was varied and eclectic and it was so cool, if you could lift the place up, move it to Silverlake or SoHo and it would work there. With walls covered in Moet champagne bottles, Osha is one of Bangkok’s most exclusive, upscale fine dining restaurants. The food is excellent, as is the service. It’s modern Thai cuisine, done in a very contemporary style with a touch of molecular gastronomy. The traffic is beyond crazy. Finding the scooter taxi is the best way to go. There’s a whole fleet of scooters and small motorcycles with orange vest-wearing drivers. You hop on the back and hold on for dear life as the driver zips between cars, between lanes, on the road shoulder and other places to get you where you need to go.
