Southeast Asia adventure: Last Day in Bangkok!

My second full day in Bangkok I was on my own because it was a workday. I started off the day by walking to the Grand Palace. The Grand Palace is not one building but a complex filled with old buildings that have been ornately decorated and painted. Thai people can enter the palace for free but foreigners have to pay a fee. But paying the fee is worth it because the palace is an amazing site. It took me about two hours to see all the buildings, and various statues in the Grand Palace.

The next stop after the palace was visiting On’s work place. I went to her office and met some of her staff that were all very kind to me.

After enjoying lunch, I took a cab to the Wat Traimit, or the Temple of the Golden Buddha. It was my first solo cab ride in Bangkok. The temple is known for its five ton solid gold Buddha. It is in a very interesting location, because unlike the other temples I visited this one was in the middle of Bangkok’s Chinatown. Many of the other famous temples are located in Bangkok’s old town so the architecture surrounding the temple matches the temple’s architecture. Wat Traimit is surrounded by much more modern buildings.

After climbing to the top of the temple to see the Golden Buddha, I hopped another cab to go to MBK or Mahboonkrang, a huge shopping mall in downtown Bangkok. I had heard about MBK from my best friend who told me I had to see it. She was right. MBK is seven stories of wall-to-wall shops. You can find anything and everything you could every want.

I stayed at MBK for a couple of hours didn’t really buy anything but it took a while to walk each level. I did find a bookshop that carried books in English and bought one, then I hoped a cab and went back to On’s house.

I left Bangkok the next morning and got a taste of Bangkok traffic. It is amazing how busy the streets are in downtown Bangkok. Rode the airport express train from downtown train station to the airport, cost 150 Baht but was worth the price to miss the headache of traffic! All in all a great trip to Bangkok!