Bangkok Main

Bangkok was the second destination on my SE Asia trip in 2023, a huge change from Vientiane. My first walk in the city, from my hotel in Chinatown to the Wat Pho and back, left me breathless with excitement. I was fascinated by the canals, the density, the urban craziness of the city. This view of the city only deepened during my stay. In Bangkok, it was not just the old areas of the city that felt almost overwhelming, new commercial zones were equally intense and overdone, even if they were just shopping malls. Bangkok, for all its flaws, felt like a completely new kind of urbanity to me, and I came to love its messy and sometimes beautiful complexity.

Photo List - (Total 745 Photos) Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour

Old City (118 photos) - I'm not sure if the area around the Grand Palace and the Wat Pho is truly the "old city", but it is certainly the ceremonial heart of Bangkok and this gallery captures some of the biggest tourist draws in the city, but also has regular commercial buildings. The gallery starts near the mouth of the Rop Krung canal, continues up through the flower market, through some of the commercial streets east of the canal, and then shows the massive reclining Buddha and other lovely buildings at Wat Pho. Just north of that is the Grand Palace. The gallery continues east, on two walks past the Saranrom Palace Park and the Rommaninat Park, and then on a separate walk on Bamrung Mueang Road.
North of the Old City (56 photos) - I strolled north of the old city one day, to the Phra Sumen Fort, along Khaosan Road, past the Democracy Monument, along the Lot Wat Ratchanatda Canal, over to the interesting Wat Ratchanatdarum Worawihan, and to the extremely tacky Golden Mount temple.
Chinatown (68 photos) - My hotel was in Chinatown, right on Yaowarat Road, which is a fairly intense street to step out into every day. These photos are all over the place, and I didn't make an attempt to organize them geographically or in the order I took them, but they show general scenes in Chinatown, street food and crowds, run down buildings. There are more night shots here than in any other gallery.
Chao Praya (25 photos) - Bangkok's main river is both quite accessible, and hard to see at all. Hard to see, because almost the entire waterfront is occupied by private or government buildings, very few of them really accesible to the public. There are hardly any parks alongside the river at all, and those that exist are small. However, it is accessible as it is a means of public transportation. There are express boats that run up and down the river, stopping at "piers" as a subway car stops at a station. They are remarkably efficient, and provide lovely views of the city as you move along.
Southern Walk (94 photos) - I meandered south from my hotel one morning, making random stops as I went along. This gallery starts with the Wat Traimit Withayaram Worawihan, which is rather pretty but I happened to arrive just as some tourist buses did, so I found it overwhelming. Lots of random stuff here, from the Post Office to the Assumption Cathedral to the Holiday Inn with porthole windows, and the very large and strange State Tower. I also went to the Wat Don Cemetery. The gallery ends with views from the King Power Mahanakhon building, one of the largest towers in the city with views from the rooftop.
Lumphini and Area (141 photos) - Before I went to Bangkok, I was trying to figure out where the commercial core of the city is, and guessed around Lumphini Park. I was wrong; the city is so sprawling that there isn't really a "downtown" per se, but the area around Lumphini is indeed quite built up. This gallery starts at the Bangkok Train Station, winds its way to the JWD Artspace which was participating in the Bangkok Art Biennale, wanders over along the deeply unpleasant Rama IV Road to Lumphini Park itself, explores some buildings in the area, then moves on to Benchakitti Forest Park and more of the Biennale at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, and ends with a wandering journey to the EmQuartier mall and nearby Benchasiri Park.
Rama I Road and Area (76 photos) - This area, north of Lumphini Park, is a crazy-busy commercial street packed through with malls. That doesn't sound promising, but the BTS Skytrain here has shops on the level above the street, and the barrage of commercial activity, the shops and walkways and ads and excessive architecture, is a bit of a modern wonder. This gallery also includes visits to the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre, which was hosting exhibits for the Biennale, and the Jim Thompson House Museum.
Chatuchak and North (86 photos) - I went up on a Sunday to the Chatuchak Weekend Market, in the northern reaches of the city. Here's the thing: I like the idea of markets but not shopping, exactly. I was there early and had to wait for stalls to open, when the did, I wondered what I was doing there. I left before the crowds arrived, I guess it gets really hot and crowded by the afternoon. North of the market, there are three parks that border each other, but in Bangkok fashion, they are fenced and can actually be a bit hard to get from one to another. These are the Chatuchak Park, the Queen Sirikit Park, and the Rot Fai Park. I also took the commuter rail Red Line from Bang Sue to Bang Khen, and went to the delightful Museum of Contemporary Art, which had a Banksy exhibit on.
Everything Else (81 photos) - This gallery mostly has photos of my last day in Bangkok, but also a few things that didn't fit elsewhere. On my last day I took a combination of subways and boats to explore some buildings that were a bit scattered across the city. The boat I took was one of the canal boats, similar to the river boats, but smaller. I also took the People Mover to the crazy upscale Icon Siam Mall. The gallery also includes: a visit to the Siriraj Medical Museum where I saw deformed foetuses encased in plastic; a few photos of a night out in the gay village; a visit to the odious Asiatique night market, and some shots of the airport. The photo names indicate which group they below to.