I arrived in Bangkok again today after 5 months. The first time I was here was when I first landed at the beginning of my journey, at the end of November 2018. My flight was Milan-Bangkok, with AirIndia (quite a funny airline company that kept on changing my time of departure), and I had then bought a flight from Bangkok to Sydney with Emirates (which was, of course, amazing. Just for the small detail of having the ceiling of the airplane with little shiny lights resembling stars). I had little less than 24 hours to explore the city before going to Australia and I did my best to enjoy it at best even without having a guidebook or anything with me!
A Day in Bangkok: attractions you should not miss
I was lucky enough to choose a hostel that was nothing interesting in itself but was very close to a ferry stop (I love ferries, probably since when I lived in Istanbul and had a ferry-ride to work and back every morning). Mascot Hostel was really nothing special (apart from being 5 euros per night), but the easy access to the city center made it up to the overall dirtiness of the place. From there, you just need to walk a few minutes until you reach Chitolom Pier, and from there you can get directly to the most famous temples.
Also, the ticketing system is so picturesque! There is basically a ticket collector wearing a lifevest who crawls among passengers, leaning dangerously from the edges of the boat!
I got off at the Phanfa Bridge right next to the Golden Temple (one of the most famous attractions of Bangkok) and from there walked to the Loha Prasart, just because it looked interesting from the outside. It turned out to be very interesting! First of all, architecture is quite different from the other temples, it was completely empty of tourists, and I was also lucky enough to witness the morning prayer (I think, it was really early in the morning since I was still jetlagged and woke up at 5:30 am). It turns out it is quite a recent temple and that it hosts a relic of Buddha on the top floor (there is a section of the temple which is made on several floors, with history and philosophy of Buddhism explained). Very very beautiful indeed! Have a look at yourself!
The Golden Temple
From there I wondered a bit, passed by some smaller temples, and then went to visit the more famous Golden Temple, Wat Saket, which was by then already quite full of tourists. Apart from that, this place is still very important for locals for pilgrimage. Built on an artificial hill, you can get a great view from the top, where a huge golden pagoda stands. Every year the temple turns into a real religious festival in November when people come to worship the relic of Budda (no intention of being offensive here but Budda sounds like being spread all around).
Wat Pho and Wat Arun
At that point, I have to say that I was really impressed with the temples in Bangkok and I decided to check online which one was the most important and I got a tuk-tuk. One of the most temples is Wat Arun, which takes the name for the great warrior Arjuna, the mythological character of Baghavad Gita. Considering my very strong interest in the topic, (being a yoga teacher), I had all the intentions of going straight there. But the tuk-tuk dropped me in front of a golden temple that looked too beautiful that I could not really resist and I went inside the Wat Pho instead. And..and it turned out to be the temple of the very famous reclining Budda!!!! But apart from that, the whole complex itself is just stunning, colorful, green, magical. I loved it so much that I ended up spending too much time there and it was then time to go back to my hostel and then to the Suvarnabhumi Airport (super easy to reach by the way with the metro line).
Parks in Bangkok
I decided to walk back to the pier walking through some parks I noticed on google maps: Saranrom Park and Rommaninant Park. It was such a great idea! Parks in Bangkok is so clean, peaceful, with small pagodas and open-air sport areas. I was also lucky enough to cross a local market on the way. And did I mention Wat Ratchabophit Sathitmahasimaram between the two parks? Too beautiful to be told in words…too beautiful. So beautiful that I won’t even give you a preview. You’ve gotta come yourself! 😉
The power of universal flow
My main point here is just the beauty of letting it go, and getting rid of all this modern way of traveling of constantly checking what not to miss, what is the best. Trust the universe, it’s gonna bring you there ?