Wat Arun is a popular temple among tourists and locals.
I have never travelled overseas, so when one of my colleagues suggested that we go on a trip to Bangkok, Thailand, I jumped at the chance. I love photography so I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to take many pictures of new and interesting places and things.
When I packed for the trip, I didn’t really think much about what to bring because we were only going for three nights. But at the airport, I was detained for carrying too much liquid in my cabin bag! My shampoo was confiscated and thrown into the bin.
One of the best experiences in Bangkok is sampling food from street vendors like this one. — Photos: KOH KAR SIONG
I did not know that there was a ruling on how much liquid was allowed in my carry-on bag, so that was a good lesson for me.
Our flight was in the morning and when we arrived in Bangkok, it was still too early to check in to our hotel. Luckily, we were allowed to keep our bags at the concierge so we didn’t have to drag them around with us when we went to search for something to eat.
We walked to a nearby shop that served local food. Once we were full, we headed straight to the popular Platinum Fashion Mall to start our shopping spree. There were so many stores to check out, and I thought the prices were pretty reasonable too. I bought a few pieces of sports attire and was very happy with the quality.
Shopping and walking around made us hungry again, so we went to the famous Chatuchak Market for dinner, but there were just too many options there that we had some difficulty deciding on what to eat.
Bangkok is an interesting city to visit.
Finally, we went with something simple, but then the place was so crowded there was nowhere for us to sit.
In the end, we packed our food to go and went back to the hotel to eat in our rooms.
The next day, we visited two well-known Buddhist temples: Wat Arun and Wat Pho. There were so many people at both temples as it was the weekend. Still, I managed to take a few nice pictures of the temples.
Since it was a really hot day, we decided to go to the nearest mall once we were done checking out the temples. Everyone was sweating profusely by the time we got to the shopping mall – the heat was just so unbearable. I’ve read about how the weather can be unforgiving in Bangkok during the middle of the year, but I never imagined it to be that hot!
On the third day, we visited another famous temple, the Erawan Shrine. We arrived there early in the morning but there was already a huge crowd there. We offered our prayers and then walked around the area in search of something to eat for breakfast. After that, we checked out the CentralWorld shopping centre, as well as the Big C Supercentre, where we bought various kinds of snacks.
At night, we went on the White Orchid River Cruise for dinner and cruised along the Chao Phraya river.
Overall, our trip was a memorable one, especially for me as I experienced so many new things despite the short time span. I think Bangkok is a food paradise as we tried so a large variety of dishes, desserts and snacks when we were there, and from many different places too.
We did not have time to visit or experience a number of attractions, like going for a massage or visit a night club, but that’s okay as there will be other chances to go back, I’m sure. For a first-timer, this trip was very memorable and just perfect for me.
The views expressed are entirely the reader’s own.
